No spite from City over time of derby, says Pearce

Manchester City did not turn down Sir Alex Ferguson's request to push back tomorrow's derby 24 hours out of spite, the City manager Stuart Pearce said.

Ferguson is deeply unhappy that his side must travel to their neighbours tomorrow lunchtime, having only got back from their Champions League semi-final in Milan in the early hours of yesterday. The United managerbelieves it is unfair to ask his players to return so quickly.

Yet, despite agreement from Sky TV, Ferguson's efforts were blocked by the Premier League, which wished to maintain the "integrity" of its tournament, and City, who refused to budge.

"We have not made this decision to spite Manchester United, we have made it because this game has been pencilled in for Saturday all season," Pearce said.

"They made a request to move the game to the Sunday morning at roughly the same time [11.30] as we played against Everton last year. On that occasion, we received letter after letter, from both our fans and Everton's, with respect to travelling plans that had been made on the basis of the game being played a day earlier. The list of problems we encountered was endless, so when it came to this situation we felt it was unfair to supporters who had spent a lot of money on travel and tickets. That is why the game wasn't moved."

Celtic are among the clubs who could be willing to offer Joey Barton an escape route from City. Gordon Strachan is in the market to replace his departing captain, Neil Lennon, and it is understood that Barton is among those being considered.

Barton has been suspended for the rest of the season, and will be sold in the summer, following his alleged training-ground attack on Ousmane Dabo this week. Celtic, who would be prepared to pay about £5m for the England midfielder, know they face competition from Everton, Newcastle United and Sunderland. But the Scottish champions are alone among potential bidders in being able to offer Champions League football.

Rangers are considering a summer bid for United's Alan Smith, hoping to tempt the 26-year-old to Ibrox if he is not guaranteed a major role in Ferguson's plans.