Sir Alex Ferguson's call to stage FA Cup semi-finals in the North wins support from Government minister
Sir Alex Ferguson’s call for this year’s FA Cup semi-finals to be played in the north of England has won the backing of a Government minister.
Friends in high places: Sir Alex Ferguson Photo: PA
By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor 10:41PM BST 30 Mar 2011
Next month’s two FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley are being contested by three teams from the North West — Manchester United, Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers — and one from the midlands, Stoke City.
The United manager suggested this week that the matches should be relocated to the North to prevent a day of travel mayhem and considerable environmental damage.
On Wednesday his call was backed by Norman Baker, a minister who is in charge of helping to curb carbon emissions from the transport network.
Baker told The Daily Telegraph: “Sir Alex Ferguson is right. There will be a huge number of people wanting to travel down from the North West.” More than 100,000 fans will travel from Manchester, Bolton and Stoke on the weekend of April 16 and 17 for the two semi-finals at Wembley.
Baker said it was “crazy” that all of the fans were being forced to drive hundreds of miles for a match, which could be played down the road at a neutral ground.
He added: “Why does it always have to be in London? We have got to be smarter about travel. It’s crazy.” The Liberal Democrat minister said the Manchester derby should be played at either Villa Park in Birmingham or at Liverpool’s Anfield ground.
In the past FA Cup semi-finals have been played at Villa Park, when the FA has had to find a neutral ground based between two clubs in the north and south.
Baker continued: “One of the games is a Manchester derby and it should be at Villa Park or Anfield.
“That would help fans, saving them money and reducing their carbon footprint.”
Baker declined to go as far as asking the FA to consider finding neutral grounds that are nearer the competing clubs, saying that would be a matter for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Sir Alex said this week that it will be “absolute chaos” for the fans from the four clubs to get to Wembley over what will be a busy sporting weekend.
The fans will be sharing a motorway and a single train route with thousands more Liverpool supporters on the way to their fixture against Arsenal at the Emirates.
Other sports fans will also be heading to the capital to support the London Marathon on the Sunday morning. Sir Alex said: “Just think about this one issue, which is important: there’ll be 60,000 people coming down from Manchester — you think about how much petrol is used for that.
“This is one issue alone. Think of the amount of people from the North West driving away down there.
“It’s going to be absolute chaos. I don’t think the cost of people travelling down to Wembley is considered. You’ve got Villa Park and Anfield just there on your doorstep.
“It’s quite incredible but there’s nothing that can be done about it.
“It’s always nice to go to Wembley, but I think it’s much better if you just go for a final.”
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