I despair!

On Saturday I and some friends will be going to the England V Macedonia football match in Manchester. Getting home from work I found that the envelope with the tickets in had arrived and like a child on Christmas day I eagerly ripped it open.

As well as the 3 tickets (North East quadrant, upper tier if your interested, the vertigo seats!) there was a leaflet with travel advice and I nearly banged my head in disbelief.

Picture this, at approx 7pm on Saturday evening, still relatively early I'm sure you'll agree, around 75,000 people will empty put of a stadium in our third largest city. This is a city that is normally around 2 and a half hours by train from our largest city and one hour from its second largest. The stadium, while not right next to the main station, is very wellc onnected by tram and bus to it.

And yet, despite all this, arrangements have been put in place, partly due to engineering work, only 3 trains will go directly to London (and even then will terminate at Harrow, right on the outskirts) and one to Birmingham.

Everyone else will have to drive. That will be in excess of 70,000 people.

What an an utter disgrace, think of the congestion and the pollution as well as just the shear bloody inconvenience. We live in a modern civilised country which is supposedly worried about climate change and yet the powers that be cannot get their heads together and arrange proper travel arrangements to a major sporting event.

Who ever is in charge of this fiasco should be sacked.