The Spirit of Shankly have claimed the Football Association's decision not to rearrange Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City is a "purely financial '' one.
And the Liverpool supporters' union say fans of both clubs have been treated as an "afterthought" in a strongly-worded statement released in tandem with City counterparts, the We Are 1894 group. Thousands of fans will face a logistical nightmare for the game after it was confirmed there would be no trains running from Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston between April 15 and 18.
Avanti West Coast confirmed it will not be running any trains into the capital from the North West over Easter weekend because of engineering work scheduled to take place across a number of locations. The travel company said further work is also slated on the West Coast Main Line, which will cause further alterations and disruption.
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In a compromise that has been viewed as inadequate by many, the game has now been arranged to kick-off at 3.30pm on Saturday April 16 and 100 buses will be chartered from Anfield and the Etihad to Wembley and back on the day.
The FA are working with National Highways to ensure that the road networks are running as efficiently as possible over the Easter period and say the buses will allow as many as 5,000 supporters to travel to the capital free of charge.
SOS say they have yet to hear about the specifics of those plans, however, and have criticised the decision not to move the game to the North West as one that is motivated purely by money.
In the joint statement, they say: "The FA’s response to the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC on Easter weekend, when there are no direct trains from either city to London, is to charter 100 free coaches. A case of too little, too late, it also does nothing for the majority of fans involved.
"Expecting a minimum of 66,000-plus supporters to travel to Wembley from the northwest makes little sense to begin with, but without the availability of train travel it is ridiculous.
"The FA, according to Network Rail bosses, were told about the engineering works two years ago. They could and should have had contingency plans in place. Adding more coaches to the already overcrowded Easter weekend roads is against their own sustainability policies and still puts pressure on fans – it is the only way to get there.
"Of course, some of those travelling may want to use the free transport, but as yet the FA have given no information on how their gesture will work: how to book, departure times and places, etc.
"And what about the thousands and thousands who don’t get on one of these coaches, who will still need to make their way to London?
"The FA are not going to change the date or venue for this game, but we urge that they think about future fixtures, such as playing semi-finals at neutral grounds that aren’t Wembley and checking national travel itineraries.
"Their decision is purely financial and an insult to both sets of supporters, who again are nothing more than an afterthought. Unless fans begin to be put at the forefront of the national association’s planning, FA will stand for more than Football Association. And it won’t be sweet."
Last week, the ECHO learned the FA were made aware of the potential travel chaos for football fans as far back as 2019. Rail industry sources said the FA were first alerted to the planned work back in November 2019 before the governing body received a written request in September last year to consider changing the venue of the game.
