Manchester United supporters have been left fuming after seeing their Premier League clash with Brentford scheduled for 8pm on Easter Saturday.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Manchester United have seen their Premier League clash with Brentford on Saturday moved to a late kick-off. The two teams will meet at the Gtech Community Stadium at 8pm local time on Easter Saturday. This is the fourth time this season that Manchester United fans have seen their team play away from home at 8pm on Saturday, more than any other team in the English top flight.
THE EXPLANATION
The problem for visiting supporters is that train services between London and Manchester are facing disruption over the Easter weekend. The last train from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on Saturday leaves two minutes before United’s 8pm kick-off. Engineering work means there will be no services between the two cities on Easter Sunday. All of this means that Manchester-based fans who want to watch the game face having to spend the weekend in London, unless they fancy a 410-mile round trip by car.
WHAT MAN UTD FANS HAVE SAID
A spokesperson for the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust told The Telegraph: “For the fourth time this season, United are away from home at 8pm on a Saturday which just goes to show the blatant disregard the TV companies and football authorities have for match-going fans. During Covid they said that football without fans is nothing – it’s time for the football authorities to show they meant it.”
Chas Banks, secretary of the Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association, also hit out at the scheduling and called for change. He said: “I don’t travel to away games anymore. After years watching United home and away, it all became too much as the years passed – I’m in my 70s now and a disabled wheelchair user – and the football authorities clearly didn’t give a flying one about the problems it causes to fans when they schedule kick-offs at crazy times.
“They sit safe in the knowledge that whatever bonkers changes they made to the fixture list, the United away supporters would find a way to get there somehow. The scheduled kick-off changes seem even crazier if, like me, it takes three hours to get from your bed to actually leaving the house to begin your journey. As time has passed it really did start to feel like they were doing their absolute damnedest to stop me and other disabled United fans from watching my club playing away from home.”
WHAT NEXT FOR MAN UTD
United fans will head to London fresh from a thrilling 4-3 win over rivals Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup last time out. Manager Erik ten Hag said afterwards he hoped the victory could be a “turning point” for his team after what’s been a difficult campaign for the Red Devils.
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