I do find it strange that the club waited till we were out of Europe before buttonholing the league about this. I wonder what would have happened if had we converted our chances against Benfica. With two games against Barcelona added to the schedule, would we have changed the date of the game? I'd like to think so but Rick Parry telling the Families that one day it “might be an inevitability that we'd have to play on April 15th” worries me. It's simple, Rick. There is no place for such a contingency no matter what the Premier League say. Try selling tickets to such a game if you don't believe me.
Don't get me wrong. Rick has his faults but I don't believe he's crass enough to adopt a “What the hell” attitude about the anniversary but I do think that he lets the F.A. and UEFA talk over him sometimes. Look at our meek acceptance of the first round qualifiers for the Champions League. Then there was the F.A. spin telling the world that it successfully lobbied for out return regardless of the fact that their passing the buck back to UEFA led us to have to beg in the first place. The first round qualifiers for the five time champions? Games in July while the major players put their feet up? Would MU or Chelsea have accepted that? Most of us would have accepted a compromise of going into the third round qualifier but the club doffed our hat and crept in the back door. There was an excellent chance here for Uncle Rick to say “actually, as the F.A. have nominated Everton instead of us we'll pass this year and retire as undefeated champions.” This would have at least de-valued the competition and issued a “don't mess with Liverpool” statement. Of course this was never going to happen as revenue comes before dignity these days but we could have at least tried to punch our weight a bit. Liverpool Football Club are the most successful club in Britain and only two continental Clubs have won more European Cups (and we beat them to get to our five) whereas “other Premiership clubs” can pick and choose playing in the F.A. Cup when it suits them, threaten referees into retirement when things don't go their way and even allow clubs to postpone games minutes before kick off leaving hundreds of fans stranded without fear of censure. We'd never do that but it does make you wonder if the powers-at-be sees us as a soft touch.
Still, the most important thing is that the date of the Blackburn game has been changed. Had it not there would have been a lot of empty seats at Ewood Park. Liverpool Football Club do not play football on 15th April no matter how bad the fixture congestion. There is nothing “inevitable” about any other arrangement.