FA 'ignored travel warnings' as Liverpool and Man City semi-final controversy continues

The Football Association stand accused of ignoring warnings about the travel disruption that will affect tens of thousands of Liverpool and Manchester City fans heading to Wembley next month.

Both sets of supporters face a logistical nightmare getting to London for their FA Cup semi-final clash due to no running trains from the North West to the capital over the Easter weekend.

Avanti West Coast confirmed it will not be running any trains into London Euston from April 15 to 18 because of engineering work that is scheduled to take place across a number of locations.

The travel company said further work is also slated on the West Coast Main Line, which will cause further alterations and disruption for travellers.

Services from Liverpool Lime Street will start and terminate at Rugby across the long weekend, while trains from Manchester Piccadilly will begin and end at Milton Keynes Central and run via Stoke-on-Trent.

However, the ECHO has learned the FA were made aware of the potential travel chaos for football fans as far back as 2019.

Rail industry sources say the FA were first alerted to the planned work back in November 2019 before the governing body received a written request in September last year to consider changing the venue of the game.

The FA have so far refused to open talks about rearranging the game for another neutral venue in the north west, despite calls from both sets of fans to consider an alteration that would be a huge boost to a large portion of what is expected to be around 70,000 fans.

Dave Penney, Network Rail passenger director for the North West and Central region, said: “Because we plan our railway upgrades up to two years in advance, regrettably it’s impossible to know which teams will