Bruce points finger at FA

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce has blamed the Football Association for the fixture log-jam which has undermined the Blues’ hopes of Premiership survival.

Portsmouth and Wigan both benefited from the FA Cup quarter-final midweek schedule that has forced West Ham, Manchester City and Liverpool to play twice in three days.

While Liverpool’s squad is big enough to cope, neither the Hammers nor City were able to overcome the decision of respective bosses Alan Pardew and Stuart Pearce to make six and eight changes to their sides.

A Lee McCulloch goal gave Wigan victory at City but it was Portsmouth’s win at West Ham that could prove more noteworthy, given it moved the south coast outfit level on points with Birmingham and just three behind fourth-bottom West Brom in the battle to avoid relegation.

Neither Bruce, nor Baggies counterpart Bryan Robson were critical of Pardew’s move, but the Birmingham chief is angry at the scheduling which could yet prove so costly to the St Andrews outfit.

“I believe the FA are to blame,” said Bruce, whose side tackle Liverpool on Tuesday for a semi-final spot.

“If we cannot play all the games at a weekend, surely we could have played them all on a Wednesday to give everyone a fair chance.”

After agreeing to end their season a week early to accommodate Sven-Goran Eriksson’s request for a four-week break prior to the World Cup, the Premier League were unable to accommodate a spare weekend for the quarter-finals.

With their TV contract obliging them to play all four games at different times, the FA were consequently forced to spread the matches from Monday through until Thursday, when Charlton tackle Middlesbrough.

But, while the precedent of the UEFA Cup allowed the Premier League to move Charlton’s scheduled clash with Newcastle back 24 hours to Sunday in order to give the Addicks extra recovery time, it would have been impossible to find spare dates for this weekend’s games at Eastlands and Upton Park, resulting in yesterday’s unsatisfactory events.

“The decision to play the quarter-final games in midweek was taken after full consultation with the respective leagues and clubs,” said an FA spokesman.