The Great Swindle

The Great Swindle, 21 November 2010

Thirty-nine pounds for a ticket at the Anfield Road end, sixty-six pounds for an open train ticket on Virgin Trains and probably twenty or so pounds for sustenance on the day, not bad by anybody’s standards.

But with a club like ours, its history and pageant, it’s not just fans who turn out to watch the matches, but football supporters and tourist just happy to visit the hallowed ground that is Anfield.  With that in mind why is the club not thinking more about the fans than lining its own pockets?

Before the West Ham match myself and a friend, tried to make preparations in case we missed the final train (the 19:48) from Lime Street Station back to London Euston.   During our previous visit to Anfield (the Blackburn game), we made some enquiries at the Holiday Inn (across the way from Lime Street Station) and were told that bookings on the weekend of a game could only be made for two nights!  Before yesterday’s match we saw prices of up to £400 for a hotel within a fifteen mile radius of the ground from our research on the internet!

This brings into question whether LFC, the council and the hotel owners are in cahoots.  During the West Ham match, part way through the second-half an announcement was made to West Ham fans reminding them that the final train was at 19:48.  Many Liverpool fans also come from London or have to go through London on the way home – as with the fan from Washington DC who we made acquaintance with and was attending his first match. He was going back home on Monday and had to get back to London that night. Thus the fact that the match started at 17:30 meant that it would end at 19:15 at the earliest, yesterday 19:20 approx.

We left after 85 minutes or so, knowing that we had to get a black cab to the station to stand any chance of getting the train, because neither the local bus service nor the bus service laid on by the club would get us to the station on time, especially taking into account the usual queues for buses after the game.  Thus, we, with countless others had to run as far away from the stadium as possible to stand a chance of hailing a cab.  Our new found friend from Washington DC remarked that there is no way fans in American sport would put up with this.  I wonder if our new American owners know that fans are being treated this way!

Why can’t the club work with the transport authorities and Virgin Trains to put on a later service around 20:48 which could get fans to London on time to get trains to elsewhere and before the London Underground closes without having to leave the match before the close? Conspiracy…? One hopes not!

It would be interesting to know if anyone else has experienced similar travel problems?

KP  21 November 2010