Can the derby date be changed?

[BlueAnorak]

The strange thing was that he was so surprised about it. I took it for granted that people at City and Liverpool would have had contingency plans in place given the possibility of one or both of the two derbies having to be rearranged. Surely they would have been fully aware of the possibility of games being switched? It was inevitable once they were allocated the Wed/Tues slots that their derby would be brought forward and would be given the 12.30 slot. And yet it seemed to come as a complete surprise to him. He seemed to be arguing that their derby should have been switched to 3pm (when it couldnt be televised) which was never going to happen.

I'm curious as to how the decision is taken as to which of the QF ties are played on Tues/Wed and which are played on Wed/Tues. I would have expected both City and Liverpool to have been lobbying strongly for the Tues/Wed slots given the importance of the weekend fixtures. Are the dates pre-determined by the order in which the draw is made or were we both stitched up by BT and/or UEFA?

UEFA decide after taking representations from the TV companies and clubs. If there is conflict between TV companies and clubs UEFA decides (normally they defer to the TV company that pays the most). As Wednesday night is the prime TV spot for CL games BT plumped for that for the first leg. Liverpool AND City would probably have preferred Tuesday and Wednesday due to the demands of the derbies but BT wanted the decisive leg on Wednesday so we both have 1 day less to prepare for the derby and 1 day less to prepare for the second leg. I can see BTs point as if we win at Anfield the tie is probably as good as over. If you sell your soul for money then the paymaster decides.