Vital Pompey Members Corner

How are you going to get to Sunderland away?

|
Image for How are you going to get to Sunderland away?

It appears that our away game at Sunderland, which was originally scheduled for Saturday 12th January 2008 at 3pm, will now take place at 1.30pm the following day.

The reason for this change is of course the match is being shown by Sky Sports on their early Sunday afternoon slot. Great for the clubs who will now get some TV money but what about the fans and in particular the Pompey fans who might have fancied going?

Well you won’t get a train there in time for kick off that’s for sure. The first train out of London would get you into Sunderland fourteen minutes after KO. That’s with a new train company called Grand Central who as yet can’t confirm that they will be running that particular train, or indeed any train yet. GNER who do run a service won’t get you there until nearly half time.

If you wish to fly then you have to go to, dare I say it, to Southampton airport. A flight I found on Travelocity with a ‘no frills’ airline, which gets you to Newcastle by 12.30pm, with a return at 18.40pm, and costs £123. Not bad, until you consider you have to get to and from both airports, which will add a fair amount onto that, in terms of both money and time. Flights from London Heathrow cost £127 for those of you who might live in London.

You could always get a National Express coach. You’ll have to leave on Saturday night though to do this although it only costs £48. Another catch is you won’t get home until Monday morning! Megabus costs only £14 although by the looks of their buses it would be like a rerun of Summer Holiday with Cliff Richard. Again though it`s a Saturday departure for a Monday return.

I don’t know what the club intend to offer in the way of coaches but for those of us who don’t live in Pompey (or anywhere near it) they won’t be of much use.

I could drive but I do that all week at work and my carbon footprint would be huge along with my petrol bill.

I thought about cycling and even walking it but don’t reckon I’d be back home for a week. That wouldn’t go down too well.

I do like a challenge when planning an away game but this is too much.

So why don’t the Premier League think about fans and the consequences of changing matches for TV coverage? Especially when the teams involved are at opposite ends of the country. Do they not want away fans to attend games any more? I will ask them and let you know the answer (don’t hold your breath).

So am I right or am I wrong? I just want a normal 3pm KO. I wonder whether Sunderland fans will have the same problem when we play them in February?

Written by The Rabbi.

The views within this article are the views of the individual who wrote and submitted this piece, sometimes solely theirs. They are not necessarily shared by the Vital Pompey Site Journalists.

To join the Vital Pompey debate – in the forum or with comments on articles – simply take a few seconds to register an account.

Share this article

'The landlord'