YORK City boss Billy McEwan will ask old pal Jim Smith for a favour following the publication of Setanta Sports' proposed live Blue Square Premier games.

The Minstermen feature in five of the first 26 fixtures to be screened by the Irish broadcasters during the opening three months of the new season.

As a result, City's away trip to last season's play-off finalists Exeter has now been switched from Saturday, August 18, to Monday, August 20, the home match with Rushden has been brought forward from Saturday, September 1, to Thursday, August 30, and the KitKat Crescent derby clash against Halifax Town has been put back 48 hours to take place on Thursday, September 27.

Additionally, City will now entertain Torquay on Tuesday, October 23, instead of Saturday, October 20, while the Minstermen's visit to neighbours Farsley Celtic will be moved from Saturday, November 3, to Tuesday, November 6, but only if neither Blue Square Premier side reaches the first round of the FA Cup.

While attempting to digest the changes to his club's fixture programme, City boss McEwan foresaw one major problem. The new date for the Halifax game means City would be expected to play Oxford away 41 hours after the Shaymen match.

But McEwan worked as a coach under current Oxford boss Smith at Derby County and is hoping for a goodwill gesture that will allow the Minstermen players more respite between games.

The City boss, pictured, said: "That's not fair playing on a Thursday night and then having an away game on a Saturday afternoon, and I will be seeing if Jim will play that match on the Sunday, Monday or Tuesday."

Oxford, though, are already set to switch six games which have been chosen for live coverage by Setanta, leaving the experienced Smith bemused.

On hearing the proposals, the former Newcastle United and QPR manager said: "Nobody knows what's going on. All I know is you can't expect teams to play on a Thursday night and then again on a Saturday.

"It seems to me the league has just taken the money and not thought of the consequences. When you play on Sky, you are not normally expected to play a match two days later.

"You also have to train the day before a game so there is a situation where players might not get days off and could get burned out.

"We will lose a lot from our gate if we switch from a Saturday to a Thursday and we haven't been told how much money is involved."

City's board confirmed yesterday they are still waiting to hear what the televised matches will be worth to Blue Square Premier clubs.

A figure of £2.8 million over five years was bandied about when the Setanta deal was announced, but no official figure has been made public.

Based on that amount and the planned number of games, each live match could see £7,000 distributed between the two clubs.

But Football Conference chief executive John Moules was abrasive when asked to divulge any financial information concerning the Setanta deal. He said: "We will not be revealing the amount of money involved, no matter what Billy McEwan is demanding."

On fixture congestion, Moules added: "There will be other fixture movement to accommodate clubs who have been moved to midweek dates for televised fixtures."


Setanta TV games: Sun, Aug 12: Torquay v Grays; Thurs, Aug 16: Cambridge United v Oxford; Mon, Aug 20: Exeter v YORK; Thurs, Aug 23: Weymouth v Burton; Mon, Aug 27: Stevenage v Oxford; Thurs, Aug 30: YORK v Rushden; Tues, Sept 4: Oxford v Exeter; Thurs, Sept 6: Stafford v Halifax; Mon, Sept 10: Burton v Torquay; Thurs, Sept 13: Forest Green v Salisbury; Tues, Sept 18: Aldershot v Cambridge United; Thursday, September 20: Histon v Oxford; Mon, Sept 24: Ebbsfleet v Crawley; Thurs, Sept 27: YORK v Halifax; Tues, Oct 2: Aldershot v Exeter; Thurs, Oct 4: Woking v Farsley; Tues, Oct 9: Cambridge United v Rushden; Thurs, Oct 11: Oxford v Torquay; Tues, Oct 16: Halifax v Grays; Thurs, Oct 18: Stevenage v Burton; Tues, Oct 23: YORK v Torquay; Thurs, Nov 1: Rushden v Oxford; Tues, Nov 6: Farsley v YORK (if nether team is involved in FA Cup 1st round); Tues, Nov 8: Weymouth v Aldershot (if nether team is involved in FA Cup 1st round).


City's revised early season fixtures: Sat, Aug 11 v Cambridge United H, Tue, Aug 14 v Burton Albion A, Mon, Aug 20 v Exeter A, Sat, Aug 25 v Forest Green H, Mon, Aug 27 v Northwich Victoria A, Thurs, Aug 30 v Rushden & Diamonds H, Tue, Sep 4 v Altrincham H, Sat, Sep 8 v Kidderminster A, Sat, Sep 15 v Stevenage H, Tue, Sep 18 v Aldershot Town A, Sat, Sep 22 v Grays Athletic A, Thurs, Sep 27 v Halifax H, at, Sep 29 v Oxford A, Sat, Oct 6 v Histon H, Tue, Oct 9 v Stafford Rangers H, Sat, Oct 13 v Woking A, Tues, Oct 23 v Torquay H, Tues, Nov 6 v Farsley Celtic A, Sat, Nov 17 v Salisbury City H, Sat, Nov 24 v Weymouth A.