At 3pm on Saturday, June 3, Manchester United and Manchester City will face each other in an FA Cup Final for the first time. And just to add to the prestigious occasion Wembley stadium will be celebrating its 100th anniversary.
It promises to be an historic day for both Manchester and English football. But with a train strike scheduled for the same date, and with both sets of fans having already made the expensive journey south for the semi-finals, should the match be played elsewhere?
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Tommy Muir, secretary of Manchester City supporters club Cheadle Blues, said the branch would be taking 142 fans to Wembley on two coaches and two mini-buses. He said: "For me the FA Cup final should always be at Wembley.
"I enjoy going down and you can fit more fans in. But the semis should be played somewhere else - that makes the final more special.
"The train strikes are absolutely ridiculous. The coach companies are charging an arm and a leg. A coach to London normally costs us £1,600. Last week I was quoted £2,950 and that was before the strike was announced, so you can bet it's gone up even more by now."
Jacqui Sugden, from the Heywood branch of the Manchester United supporters club, said this year's unusual circumstances meant the final should be moved away from the capital. She said: "I think it definitely should be played somewhere else.
"The situation is different this year because of the train strike and because you've got two teams from the same place. We both had to drive down for the semi last week and driving down for the final is going to be mayhem.
"They should play it in the Midlands somewhere. When they used to play the semis at Hillsborough or Villa Park it was great. They should have built a new stadium in the Midlands for everybody."
On Thursday morning train drivers' union Aslef announced they had rejected the 'risible' latest offer from the 16 train companies they are in dispute with and announced three new days of industrial action, including on cup final day. Avanti West Coast, which runs trains to London Euston from Manchester Piccadilly, is one of the 16 operators due to be affected.
With each club expected to be offered around 30,000 tickets for the final, it means ten of thousands of supporters from Manchester could be making the journey down the M6. And that's led to fears there could now be a shortage of coaches and chaos on the motorways and at service stations.
An FA insider said they were aware of the situation and were looking at options to support fans. The M.E.N understands Manchester City bosses are also assessing the situation and will be liaising with the FA and fan groups.
Neil Mitchell, from Rusholme and Moss Side City Supporters Club, said: "I haven't got a problem with the final being played at Wembley, but the way the transport is at the moment, even before the train strike, it just means it's a bit of a rigmarole to get there.
"But the semi-finals definitely shouldn't be at Wembley. Everyone knows the only reason they are is because they want to get the money back for the stadium.
"I've always said they should build a national stadium in the Midlands, that suits everybody. But they didn't because the FA think London is the bees knees.
"The general consensus is they don't give a monkey's about the fans."
Paul Fildes, from United's Royton supporters club, said: "It's an historic occasion for Manchester football, but at the end of the day we just want get down there safely. If you were to move it you'd need a stadium where you could get a decent capacity.
"You'd be looking at somewhere like Villa Park maybe, but for the final the two teams get around 30,000 tickets each, so you wouldn't get the same number of fans."
Paul says playing the semi-finals at Wembley has 'taken the gloss' off the FA Cup and like all the fans we spoke says the FA missed a trick by not relocating the national stadium to the Midlands. He said: "It's like when they built the NEC in Birmingham. That was a big venue for bands and it was fantastic because everyone could get there.
"Building a stadium in Birmingham would be advantageous for everyone. And I think that England should play games around the country, like Italy do. They don't play all their games in Rome.
"There are loads of England fans in the North who'd love to watch England play at a stadium near them."
An FA insider said hosting the semi-finals at Wembley - the largest ground in the country - allows more fans to watch the games, adding the revenue generated by the semi finals and the final is incredibly important for English football, with all profits made by the FA invested back into the game
