Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, has accused the Football Association of showing a lack of respect to supporters craving tickets for the FA Cup final.
An allocation of just 25,000 each for Liverpool and Chelsea, allied to more travel chaos for Merseyside fans trying to get to and from London on May 5, has once more brought ticketing policies and kick-off times into focus.
Dalglish suggested that the fans were always last on the list of priorities for the governing body.
“I don’t know what the club’s opinion is but for me, and not just for this club but for every fan, I think they should be given a bit more respect than what they’re actually getting,” Dalglish said.
“The FA has rebuilt Wembley but I don’t think the 25,000 is any greater number of tickets than what it was when I was playing. I don’t know, but that’s for the FA to answer. The fans should be given more respect and taken into consideration more.
“There’s a lot of things to be taken into consideration for a kick-off time like the police and television, but the fans seem to be the ones who come third. As a fan I would be disappointed.”
Liverpool’s managing director, Ian Ayre, is understood to be discussing travel arrangements with Network Rail in an effort to postpone engineering works scheduled for Cup final day. Network Rail said the work was announced months ago and would not be changed. Thousands of Liverpool supporters will be struggling for means to get home after the 5.15pm kick-off.
“Travelling is out of our control. I’ve not got a timetable for trains or a timetable for work schedules on trains,” Dalglish said. “Look, I won’t support anyone other than the fans. It would be better if they were given greater consideration when they’re looking at a kick-off time.
“I don’t think anyone’s got a voice for them. We have enough on our plate concentrating on what recent work is being done here. Maybe someone else in the club would give you a better answer. At the end of the day if the fans are not there, it wouldn’t be such a good occasion. I can’t solve it other than for Liverpool not to get to the final and I would not want that would I?”
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