Spirit of Shankly, the Liverpool supporters’ union, says it is “appalled” at what it describes as the “shambolic” travel situation facing fans ahead of the FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City.
Next month’s Wembley showpiece has been plunged into chaos after it emerged that there would be no direct trains running to London from either Liverpool or Manchester for the entirety of that weekend.
The Football Association has said it will be “liaising closely” with both Liverpool and Manchester City in order to find a solution.
What’s the problem?
Avanti West Coast, which runs services from the North West of England, confirmed that it will not be operating any trains into London Euston between April 15-18, due to engineering work which is scheduled to take place at a number of locations.
Services from Liverpool Lime Street will start and terminate at Rugby across Easter weekend while trains from Manchester Piccadilly will begin and end at Milton Keynes, running via Stoke-on-Trent.
The semi-final is likely to take place on Saturday April 16.
What have Spirit of Shankly said?
In a Tweet sent on Monday afternoon, Spirit of Shankly said that “fan reps of both LFC and Man City are appalled at the shambolic travel arrangements for the prestigious FA Cup semi final at Wembley, and are in contact with each other.”
A full statement, they said, would follow from both SOS and 1894, the Manchester City supporters’ union.
What about the FA?
The FA have also released a statement, via a spokesperson, on Monday.
It read: “The FA will be liaising closely with both Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC on all match arrangements, including supporters travel for the upcoming Emirates FA Cup Semi Final fixture at Wembley Stadium, with further details to be announced in due course.
“We are also continuing to work with both Network Rail and National Express to find a solution so that supporters of both teams are able to travel to and from the fixture with as minimal disruption as possible.”
Has anyone else spoken about it?
Jurgen Klopp was asked about the issue in his post-match press conference following Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
He said: "How is that possible? The whole of the North West is cut off from the rest of England?
"I don’t know which kinds of solutions are available but I hope somebody finds one. If we could play with supporters that would be really good for both teams.”
And Reds legend Robbie Fowler suggested that moving the semi-final from Wembley should be considered.
Fowler tweeted: “When all the talk [was] of the Super League going ahead it was money this, money that, taking away from fans etc. Let's hope they prove it's about the fans, can't continue at Wembley [plus] it takes away [the] importance of what it means to get to the final if you were there weeks before."