Parliametary motion tabled by Withington MP - 3pm cup finals

Like all politics, a bit of showmanship playing to the electorate really

The government can't compel the FA to change the time

As said above, this is really about transport and train times - instead of writing to MPs and the FA we should be writing to virgin
 
Eccles Blue said:
The reply I received from the FA this morning to my complaint about the KO time:

Dear ,

Thank you for contacting the Football Association.

In relation to the information announced for the kick-off time of The FA Cup with Budweiser Final, The FA would like to highlight that 5.15pm is a regular kick-off time in the football calendar within England and across Europe.

The kick-off time is unchanged from last year and this allows more football fans around the country to watch The Cup Final in its entirety, this opinion is enhanced by the domestic viewing figures for last year’s FA Cup Final, shown on ITV and ESPN, recorded a combined peak in-home audience of 11.7m people in the UK.

Whilst I can appreciate your situation, the confirmed time was made in agreement with local and national policing services as well as the transport bodies.

We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process.

Best wishes,
Tracey Bates
Click to expand...








Basically we dont give a toss about bums on seats only armchair veiwers
 
I'm not a Withington resident but surely their MP should be concentrating on more pressing issues such as crime and education??

Just a thought.
 
John is a season ticket holder in the east stand, and has been since we moved. I personally think he does a lot of good work in the area, and see him out and about regularly knocking on doors, putting himself about. Seems a genuine guy
 
bgblue said:
John is a season ticket holder in the east stand, and has been since we moved. I personally think he does a lot of good work in the area, and see him out and about regularly knocking on doors, putting himself about. Seems a genuine guy
Click to expand...

"Genuine guy" and "politician" seen in same sentence controversy storm.
 
Branson says his hands are tied.



For the second year running the decision by the FA to schedule the FA Cup Final at Wembley to kick-off at 5.15pm has caused considerable problems for travelling football fans.

I have received calls from fans and politicians such as Wigan Council leader Lord Peter Smith asking Virgin Trains to schedule later services on May 11th. This would ensure football fans can enjoy the whole of the match and catch a train home.

Sadly our hands are tied by the tea time kick-off due to Network Rail's requirement to carry out essential maintenance on the West Coast Main Line on May 11th. The FA were told of the maintenance plans and the impacts of a late kick off.

The last Virgin Trains service leaves London at 8.31pm, which would leave plenty of time for football fans if the match kicked off at the traditional 3pm. The change to a 5.15 kick-off time has been made for commercial reasons.

Nevertheless, Virgin Trains are doing all we can to help , including putting on an extra train from Wigan to London on the morning of the match. Last year I appealed for the FA and Network Rail to work with the rail industry to better plan these major events - that advice seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

I hope that next year the needs of football fans come first and Virgin Trains will do all we can to make sure that happens.

By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/fans-needs-should-come-first" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/f ... come-first</a>
 
Funny I received the same reply as Eccles Blue to my email and I specifically asked for a non generic reply, how strange. However there are some glaring inaccuracies in their statement.

They say that 'In relation to the information announced for the kick-off time of The FA Cup with Budweiser Final, The FA would like to highlight that 5.15pm is a regular kick-off time in the football calendar within England and across Europe' However I am pretty confident that 5.15pm is not a regular kick off time in England and kick off times in Europe are irrelevant anyway. I wonder what percentage of games in England have kicked off at 5.15pm this season?

They say that 'The kick-off time is unchanged from last year and this allows more football fans around the country to watch The Cup Final in its entirety, this opinion is enhanced by the domestic viewing figures for last year’s FA Cup Final, shown on ITV and ESPN, recorded a combined peak in-home audience of 11.7m people in the UK.' However this is less than the BBC only audience for the 2005 final and only marginally more than the 1999 final. The combined peak figure is actually only for five minutes with the actual match average only 8.9 million. They have fudged the figures to suit their own agenda

'Whilst I can appreciate your situation, the confirmed time was made in agreement with local and national policing services as well as the transport bodies'. Yet Virgin told them about the transport difficulties and they chose to ignore them!

'We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process'. Given that at last 95% of fans are not in favour of this kick off time, Liverpool complained last year why are they still talking about 5.15pm kick offsin future?

The FA care Fuck All about the travelling supporter, all they are intersted in is their back pockets and paying off the debt of a Stadium that should have been built in the Midlands.
 
Eccles Blue said:
The reply I received from the FA this morning to my complaint about the KO time:

Dear ,

Thank you for contacting the Football Association.

In relation to the information announced for the kick-off time of The FA Cup with Budweiser Final, The FA would like to highlight that 5.15pm is a regular kick-off time in the football calendar within England and across Europe.

The kick-off time is unchanged from last year and this allows more football fans around the country to watch The Cup Final in its entirety, this opinion is enhanced by the domestic viewing figures for last year’s FA Cup Final, shown on ITV and ESPN, recorded a combined peak in-home audience of 11.7m people in the UK.

Whilst I can appreciate your situation, the confirmed time was made in agreement with local and national policing services as well as the transport bodies.

We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process.

Best wishes,
Tracey Bates
Click to expand...

Bollocks
 
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