Man City and Utd fans to be forced along DIFFERENT routes to Wembley for FA Cup final clash amid fears of violence
MANCHESTER City and United fans will be asked to take different roads to Wembley for the FA Cup Final this weekend amid fears of violence.
Police hope that keeping United supporters on the M6, M42 and M40 will prevent clashes with their rivals at service stations.
City fans have been asked to stick to the M1 but supporters don’t have to follow the advice, MailOnline reports.
Both sides are taking 36,000 fans each and Greater Manchester Police hope the plans will avoid a repeat of last year’s FA Cup violence.
Newport Pagnell Services on the M1 at Milton Keynes and Oxford Services on the M40 saw mass brawls when fans came head-to-head after City beat United 2-1.
The latter saw fights erupt in the coach park area and prompted a police investigation.
Last year’s problems were aggravated by train strikes and saw 160 official coaches laid on for both sets of fans.
United have just 12 coaches travelling down from Manchester this weekend.
Saturday’s FA Cup Final could see more than 1,000 officers from The Met, GMP and British Transport Police on duty around Wembley.
Kick-off has been brought forward from 5.30pm to 3pm – a repeat of last year.
The FA said the time change followed an agreement with “the clubs, local authority, members of the safety advisory group and broadcasters”.
Man City are favourites to win.
When is the FA Cup final?
- The FA Cup final will take place on Saturday, May 25.
- A kick off time has not been confirmed.
- Wembley Stadium will host.
What TV channel is the FA Cup final on and can it be live streamed FREE?
- BBC and ITV will both broadcast the FA Cup final live on TV.
- You can live stream the big match for FREE on BBC iPlayer and ITVX.
- Alternatively, you can follow SunSport’s live blog to keep up to date with all the action from Wembley.
Which club has won the most FA Cups?
- Arsenal – 14
- Manchester United – 12
- Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham – 8
- Aston Villa and Manchester City – 7
- Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers – 6
- Everton, West Brom, Wanderers* – 5
- Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield United – 4
- Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham United – 3
- Preston North End, Old Etonians, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Nottingham Forest – 2
- Huddersfield Town, Leicester City, Oxford University, Royal Engineers, Derby County, Leeds United, Southampton, Burnley, Cardiff City, Blackpool, Clapham Rovers, Notts County, Barnsley, Charlton Athletic, Old Carthusians, Blackburn Olympic, Bradford City, Ipswich Town, Coventry City, Wimbledon, Wigan Athletic – 1