invest in a pedal power tuk-tuk you’ll make a fortune! Sure I’ve seen one of the big uns in town where there’s like 10-15 peddling it with it’s own bar, definitely seen em in BlackpoolEmpty seats at home!...
I'll offer piggy-backs to and from Piccadilly for the FOCs on here - £50 return journey, take it or leave it.
Spot on. That lot across town has had various agencies falling over themselves to provide a decent infrastructure for getting to/from games for decades - trains, trams, the lot.A few of us were at Deansgate tram station earlier after going to see Cocaine Bear, waiting for a tram back to Chorlton
Had to wait fucking ages as SEVEN services passed only going to Trafford Bar, before presumably turning round at the depot for the rag game
Nobody can tell me they don’t treat us differently
Having been in Chairmans lounge after the Villa game Ferran does indeed hang round for quite a while talking to various folk in there such as Villa Chairman and his party, Sumerbee, Book, Horton, Tkiki, Oman etc. Downstairs from there, my lad met quite a few of the players post game too so not all of them leg it straight away. Grealish was with Will Ferrel for over an hour too :-) Pep was still there too :-) So a very happy boy with his selfies. Foden, KDB, Walker, Palmer, RiyadIt's about City recognising the problem doesn't start or end at the Etihad.
Fans leave early because of the issues getting to and from the stadium, not the opportunity to stick around it at their leisure.
I blame City for a lot of it, they have done very little to establish what the issues are because they see it like you seemingly do, it's not their problem?
But it is a problem for them, or they wouldn't be trying token gestures to address, but always with the mindset of how they can monetise fans further.
City don't need to care that someone from Sale or Alty can't get a direct tram to the stadium or it takes more than an hour to drive eight miles for any evening game, with no parking places to speak of.
What it does do, however, is impact the fans' mindset how they attend and for how long.
My criticism of City is the huge influence they have over the council and have done little to improve the relief roads or tram timetables, let alone offering solutions.
City don't want a transport solution that gets us to and away from games quickly.
They want us there early, they want us there late. We could build another tram stop on the south side of the ground, if we really wanted to address ten thousand people leaving on 85 minutes.
When you add in the latest plans for further zero car parking, it is clear the club and council are in total alignment.
I can tell you the players are shit, showered and changed and sat in the same traffic as the rest of us before many others are back on a tram.
Cars are parked fifty yards away so they make a sharp exit.
There will be plenty of occasions when there will be 60k football supporters and another 15-20k rocking up for an event at the Arena on the same day, which will have the tills ringing, but absolute mayhem in the surroundings.
I'm not sure Soriano will give it too much thought when he's still holding court in the Chairman's Lounge two hours after the game and filling his face with Gambas.
Not really much more I can say other than City have apparently spoken to the council a billion times about extra trams but basically just got nowt back. Unsurprisingly!
Remember buses before privatisation - not much good either. You are right though - more needs to be done, but there is an institutionalised moaning that some luxuriate in - will do until they have a personal hover plate that gets them home, feeds and refreshes them and blows hot air on them.I think Manchester desperately needs a better transport infastructure for a fast growing city its size, and east Manchester in particular is currently poorly served. The buses and trams being brought into a single network will probably help with this a little bit, you'd hope, but the city is fighting against historic underinvestment, privitzation and neglect. But I also think there is a certain type of supporter here who wants to leave the ground on the full time whistle, be in their personal car parked next to the ground, and away and tucked up in bed minutes later and I just don't think that is possible.
It's not next to the ground though. It's a 20-minute walk down the road. It only takes around 25 minutes to walk back to Picc, so there's not much point in pushing Ashbury's - we need better infrastructure to and from Picc station and maybe an improved park and ride system going the other way.I know that there are different boroughs involved but for example (and for f**k's sake!) when our new gaff was opened for the Commonwealth Games what was one of the first decisions taken regarding transport? Why yes, the Sheffield/New Mills train line timetable was reduced so that trains stopping at Ashburys, the station almost next to the ground, were reduced to one every two hours. And still it remains.
So not enough buses and you want to cancel a 300 million plus development ? You couldn't make it up...is everyone putting their comments into the club about the plans?There is a questionnaire on the article that announced the plans.
I have just finished my comments which centred almost entirely on the transport strategy. They ask you at the end of the questionnaire if you support the plans. I told them I couldn’t until they rethink transport. The club has the clout and the wealth to make things far better for matchgoing fans And should use this development as an opportunity.