I would like to express my extreme disappointment with the information being supplied by Manchester City Football Club with regards to the forthcoming Lokeren v MCFC fixture in the UEFA Cup. The complaint surrounds the supplementary leaflet issued to all supporters with their match-tickets. This leaflet quite clearly states that ALL City fans should gather at the designated meeting point before the match, to be transported to the stadium on official Lokeren buses. This obviously implies that no fans are allowed to make their own way into Lokeren, and if they do, they risk being sent home. However, this information conflicts wildly with what is posted on Lokeren FC’s official website, and in correspondence passed onto City fans from Lokeren FC via e-mails, etc. What Lokeren FC are actually saying is that those fans on official trips and those travelling by car should make their way to the meeting point. However, those fans wanting to travel to Lokeren by train from any of the major towns and cities in Belgium are welcome to do so, whereby on arrival at Lokeren station they will be transported by bus to the ground.
What I and many other fans are upset about is that this information is sadly lacking on the leaflet, and that the leaflet itself appears to greatly exaggerate the implications of those fans who make their own way to the ground. Myself and 8 friends are staying in Ghent on both the night before and the night of the game and all of us have valid match tickets. The inconvenience of making our way to the meeting point to be “bussed in” and back out after the match is almost beyond belief, especially as we can travel by train between Ghent and Lokeren in less than 20 minutes. Like many fellow supporters, I can only conclude that the information given in the leaflet is an attempt by the club to totally dissuade fans travelling independently of the club, and hence advising fans to pay over the odds for one of the official packages, while travelling independently would enable supporters to make substantial savings on the official packages being offered and give those fans much greater freedom of movement. If this is the case then I find it disgraceful that the club should employ such “Scare tactics” in an attempt to persuade supporters to travel on one of the official trips.
I would appreciate it if you could review the points I have raised in this e-mail, and revert back to me with your comments.
Yours sincerely,
