The FA confirmed that Manchester City's FA Cup semi-final clash with Liverpool will take place on Saturday 16 April at 15:30. Despite the travel chaos facing supporters wishing to travel down from the North West, the match will still be held at Wembley Stadium.
With no direct train services operating between London and both Manchester and Liverpool all Easter bank holiday weekend, the FA's insistence on hosting the fixture at the national stadium means fans of both clubs are faced with the entirely avoidable headache of figuring out how to get to the match. Despite both sets of supporters - as well as the mayors of both cities and the Labour Party - calling for the venue to be changed to somewhere more easily accessible for northern fans, the FA has predictably stuck by its decision.
READ MORE: Date, kick-off time and travel arrangements confirmed for Man City vs Liverpool FA Cup tie
The FA also announced that it will provide 100 free buses to transport fans of both clubs to and from the capital on the day of the game, an offer that will at least cut costs for a few thousand match-goers and makes City's offer of a £40pp coach day travel package look a little steep. Limited free travel to City Womens' semi-final against West Ham, taking place in Dagenham at 12:30 on the same day, will also be provided.
However, this seems little more than a token gesture when you consider that each club will receive an allocation of 35,000 tickets for the game. Sky Sports News reported that the free coaches will transport 5,000 fans of each club to the game. So what about the rest?
The announcement brings an unsatisfactory end to a saga that has highlighted just how little the needs of match-going fans are considered by decision-makers in the game.
The FA claims to be the custodian of English football from grassroots right up to the elite level, but ultimately the interests of fans matter only when it suits. Laying on limited free coach travel will garner some good press, but ultimately it's a gesture akin to phoning the fire brigade after starting the fire yourself.
As was reported by the MEN earlier this week, the FA was allegedly made aware of the Easter weekend engineering works over two years ago. Network Rail say they reminded the FA last November, but that football's governing body ignored the warnings of the difficult situations supporters would be placed in.
While the FA didn't know back then who would be playing in the semi-finals, it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out that at least one of the four participants would have been from the North West. After all, that has been the case in 11 of the past 12 seasons.
The whole sorry affair goes to show that if the FA can avoid going out of its way to help supporters, it will, and if there is an opportunity to make a token gesture to try and save face and reduce reputational damage, it will take it. The coaches are a start, but it's nowhere near enough.
Here's what some other City fans made of the announcement on Twitter.
@Durms8: Going to be chaos, not enough coaches. One crash on the motorway and thousands missing game.
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