Manchester United has always been praised for their travelling supporters who are vocal and present at every club's away games throughout the season.
They spend a good amount of time and money to do this, sometimes having to travel for hours across the country and staying overnight to make sure that they can be in the stands supporting their team at every opportunity.
And the latest move by the Premier League, which was not to announce the cancellation of United's away fixture to Brentford, until midnight of the day before.
Manchester to Brentford alone is a four-hour drive. You can't do that after a day at work, nor due to the last minute nature of the announcement, are you likely to be able to cancel any time that you have booked off work to make the long trip down.
And of course, United fans are not all based in Manchester (as many rival fans will be quick to point out, but it's the case with any fanbase), and some will have made long journeys to get to London in time for the game.
Calling the game off is the right thing to do, but to do it so late is unacceptable. No unnecessary travelling was one of the first guidelines initially introduced to combat COVID. Still, several fans have unfortunately already made the journey by waiting so late now.
It further fosters the already existing belief among some fans that whether it will be broadcasted is the most important thing and the fans who watch the game in the ground are unnecessary.
At the end of the day, it comes down to the crux of many issues between fans and governing bodies; communication.
With the Omicron variant spreading to more and more teams in the Premier League over the past week, including Brighton, Aston Villa, and Leicester City, now added to a list that already included Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City and Brentford themselves, there will likely be further postponements.
Therefore the league must improve their communication and make sure that fans know well in advance whether the game has been postponed and whether they will need to rearrange travel and possibly accommodation for when the game is finally played.
At the moment, this issue has affected United fans. Still, all fans need to consider it over the coming weeks. Therefore, this must be the last instance of the Premier League making a similar blunder.
Were you heading to the game this evening? Follow our United On My Mind writer Casey Evans on Twitter and get involved in the discussion in the comment section below.
