KENNY DALGLISH has slammed the decision to schedule Liverpool's Carling Cup quarter final with Chelsea just 48 hours after a crunch league clash with Manchester City - and warned fans he may be forced to field a massively weakened side at Stamford Bridge.
The Reds boss is furious that the Football League have rejected a request to postpone their trip to west London on November 29, just two days after his side welcome Premier League leaders Manchester City to Anfield for a key fixture kicking off at 4pm.
The Football League say they are unable to put the Chelsea game back 24 hours, due to policing constraints caused by Tottenham's Europa League tie with PAOK Salonika and an anticipated TUC Rally in London.
But Dalglish blasted: "It is disgraceful in this day and age that players are being asked to play a key Premier League game and then a League Cup Quarter-final in London just 48 hours later.
"It's understandable with the Spurs v PAOK Salonika match and the TUC rally that the Metropolitan Police have said that our game cannot be played on the Wednesday. But it's surely the duty of the football authorities to think of other solutions which consider the welfare of the players and this clearly hasn't happened.
"Manchester City are in a similar position to us with their game at Arsenal and it's for them to argue their case, but it is my job to stand up for the interests of Liverpool Football Club.
"Here you have two clubs who have treated this competition with utmost respect over the years and they are being treated like this.
"I'd be interested to know what the sponsors think of the situation and what it does for the reputation of the competition."
And he issued a warning for Reds fans considering buying tickets for the trip to Chelsea.
He said: "The one thing I will say to our fans is to think carefully before buying tickets for the League Cup game because we do not want them spending their money and then we decide there is no other option but to use only young players in the tie."
Dalglish also lambasted the decision to schedule the quarter-final fixtures for the same week as a full round of Europa League fixtures.
"It seems totally irresponsible," he added.
"If Stoke had beaten us in the last round and were through to face Chelsea then the tie gets rescheduled for another date - it's as simple as that. But when we ask the Football League to move our game to a later date, we're told it's impossible.
"Where's the logic in that?
"What would have happened if all four of the English clubs playing in the Europa League had got through to the Quarter-finals? If the Football League want to devalue their own competition, that's up to them, but they shouldn't then be upset if people use these games to help in the development of young players."
Dalglish revealed that Reds managing director Ian Ayre had met with both Premier League and Sky TV chiefs to discuss moving the Manchester City clash forward to Saturday November 26, but that their request had been refused.
He said: "We've also got the situation that both ourselves and Manchester City were happy for the League game to be moved back to the Saturday so we both had proper time to prepare, but again we are told by the Premier League that this is not possible either for TV reasons and just to get on with it.
"Ian Ayre specifically consulted with the Premier League who had some discussion with Sky, but neither were able to accommodate our position."
