The Community Shield will kick off at an earlier time after Manchester City fans announced a boycott.
The game had been pencilled in for the weekend of August 5/6 but the announcement that the kick-off would be on the Sunday with a 5.30pm was enough for the 1894 City Supporter Group to call on fans not to attend the game in protest at the lack of consideration shown to tens of thousands of Blues that will need to travel for the game. A fundraiser was started for fans to donate instead to Manchester foodbanks, with the total nearing £5,000 after just four days.
City have been in discussions with Arsenal and the FA and a compromise has been reached to play the game at 4pm on the Sunday rather than 5.30pm. All sides accept that this may not be enough to win back fans who had decided not to go, although it does at least improve travel options and mean supporters won't be arriving back in Manchester after the game as late as they were.
"Having contacted the FA to express our reservations and clarify why the kick-off time of 5:30pm on a Sunday was originally chosen, we are pleased that the decision to bring forward kick-off has now been made," a City spokesperson said. "Whilst we understand that this will not fully alleviate travel issues for our fans and our preference would have been for an earlier kick-off time still, we hope that the new kick-off time of 4pm will make a difference.”
Also read: Guardiola claims Man City would've let Cancelo join Man United in January
Pep Guardiola's side qualified for the annual curtain-raiser to the season by winning the Premier League, and by beating United to win the FA Cup they ensured that their opponents will be league runners-up Arsenal. City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has already set out the intention for the club to win the trophy as well as the Super Cup and Club World Cup to make more history in 2023.
