Man City caught up in bizarre fixture row as EFL accused of 'favouring' Blues in scathing letter

Grimsby Town's Supporters' Trust have demanded their EFL Trophy fixture with Manchester City be moved after a number of fixture changes have caused one of their League Two fixtures to be postponed, accusing the EFL of putting City's needs ahead of theirs.

City were drawn with Grimsby, Derby County and Mansfield in the EFL Trophy, where League One and Two sides come up against invited academy teams such as the Blues. Brian Barry-Murphy's under-21s lost their opening game against Mansfield and sit bottom of their group after one game.

They were due to play away at Derby last week, however, the EFL postponed that fixture as City had 20 of their academy players called up for international duty. As a result, that fixture has been moved to Tuesday, October 18, when the final group game at Grimsby was originally scheduled.

Due to City's UEFA Youth League commitments, that means the next possible midweek for City to fulfil that game at Grimsby is Tuesday, November 8, with the EFL taking the decision to postpone Grimsby's League Two clash with Crewe that had been due to take place on the same date. The Derby game couldn't have been played on that November date as the Rams are in Carabao Cup action that week.

Now, the Mariners Trust have written an open letter to the EFL stating that they have broken their own competition rules by prioritising Derby's League Cup game and postponing their Crewe fixture in favour of the City clash, insisting the original league game is reinstated.

They wrote: "Grimsby Town fans are rightly angry that a fixture has been allowed to be rescheduled and then postponed a matter of weeks later when it could all have been avoided if, as it seems, rules of the competition were adhered to."

Asking if more weight was given to City when solving this fixture problem, the letter suggests that the outstanding EFL Trophy game be played on November 15, when both sides have no fixtures scheduled. The Trust add that the EFL Trophy rules state that matches cannot be postponed for international call-ups. The rules also say all matches must be played by November 2.

They ask: "The EFL’s decision to swap our fixture with Derby County’s because of their EFL Cup involvement is in breach of this rule as it is after the 2nd of November 2022. While [rule] 3.2 deems that 'The board shall have power at any time to alter, delete or add to these Rules in such a manner as it in its absolute discretion deems appropriate'. We can see no alteration here and if an alteration to this date is made, why not just alter it to the following Tuesday so that no senior fixtures are impacted? Or is the weight of the U21s ending on the above date heavier than an EFL League Two fixture?"

The letter finishes by suggesting that the 'wishes of an invited team [City]' have been prioritised over Grimsby's and that rules have not been implemented as they should.

"It seems apparent to fans, unless you can state otherwise, that the wishes of an invited team have been held in higher regard than an EFL league game and indeed the actual rules of the competition. Is that the case and if it is not, why do you believe it is not?

"Have all three Clubs in this scenario been equally involved in trying to sort a fixture conundrum that you have created by scheduling fixtures during an international week and effectively having an unusable month because of some invited Club’s commitment to the UEFA Youth League?

"The Mariners Trust are asking you to reinstate the league game with Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday 8th November and look for an alternative date as per the rules and if this cannot happen then invoke the rules as they are above. If you won’t stand by the rules, and fans feel this would only be the case for invited teams, why won’t you stand by those rules?"

MEN Sport understands that the Grimsby fixture cannot be moved to November 15 as FA Cup Round Two replays are pencilled in for that week, with Grimsby and Derby both potentially involved. The competition rules also state that the EFL can 'alter, delete or add' to their rules in extraordinary circumstances.

With the knockout stages of the EFL Trophy beginning on November 23 and the World Cup placing added congestion to the fixture schedule, the scheduled date for City's trip to Blundell Park is the only available time the game can be played, and there are no plans for the fixtures to be changed again.