Play Offs

[Kauto Star]

Shocking that because the play off weekend clashes with the last round of Premiership games, Sky forced the EFL to move league 2 final from Saturday 4pm to Sunday 1.30pm with not a thought or care for travelling fans.

If we had have made it, my family and I were planning on driving down and back in the day. Hell of a distance for Carlisle fans to drive there and back in the day especially.

Talking of Sky, what a shambles they were covering our match at Carlisle. Starting coverage 3 minutes before kick off, match interrupted at one point by an advert and criminally losing the feed for a few minutes at the end of extra time.

BT cover football outside the Premiership far better

 

[Kendalcufc]

We went through all the options back and forth for what felt like eternity weighing up the various costs. It was smashing our heads, so settled on driving there and back on the day sharing the load.

Another issue that I've not seen mentioned anywhere are the couples that both want to go but they've got young children. It's not easy getting people to look after your children at short notice for a full weekend.

We're going to take our two. They've only been to one game but they seemed to take it in their stride. Wembley is a whole different experience but I'm confident they'll love it. However not everyone will be confident taking young children to such an event. I know of two people in that situation who have decided that they can't go with no childcare cover.

It'll be a special moment to be at Wembley with my kids and their Grandad if we do manage to win promotion.

 

[Carver]

Shocking that because the play off weekend clashes with the last round of Premiership games, Sky forced the EFL to move league 2 final from Saturday 4pm to Sunday 1.30pm with not a thought or care for travelling fans.

If we had have made it, my family and I were planning on driving down and back in the day. Hell of a distance for Carlisle fans to drive there and back in the day especially.

Talking of Sky, what a shambles they were covering our match at Carlisle. Starting coverage 3 minutes before kick off, match interrupted at one point by an advert and criminally losing the feed for a few minutes at the end of extra time.

BT cover football outside the Premiership far better

Sky are a bunch of c**ts always have been.
I remember when we were in the conference play offs and they didn't have any of our legs against Aldershot on live but had the Stevenage and Hereford ones on live twice.
I guess southern softy Sky could not be bothered travelling all the way up here for what turned out to be a cracker.

But their scheduling this season for the play offs has been a piss take and I suppose a winter world cup didn't help either.

 

[Son of Cod]

Why are people paying crazy prices to stay in Luton and Milton Keynes? Airbnbs in London start at like £35/40 a night.

 

[Salvador]

Yeah we’ve been selling block by block which has pissed off a lot of our fans.

But as I say at a guess we’ll likely only sell 10-12k at most due to the impossibility of getting down there by train on the day.

Block by block is the best way. When we were there v County I seem to remember County had all their fans in a nice neat arrangement. Ours was sold like a free for all and something like 20k people spread about rattling around half the place is a bit shit.

 

[Super_horns]

Sky are a bunch of c**ts always have been.
I remember when we were in the conference play offs and they didn't have any of our legs against Aldershot on live but had the Stevenage and Hereford ones on live twice.
I guess southern softy Sky could not be bothered travelling all the way up here for what turned out to be a cracker.

But their scheduling this season for the play offs has been a piss take and I suppose a winter world cup didn't help either.

Didn’t help they hadn’t planned for extra time and penalties in the Stockport/Salford game .

Surely that should have been factored in timing wise ?

Even the BBC and ITV have a schedule ready if games go on longer than expected at International tournaments.

The Championship and League One play off final switched around not so long ago - presume that was down to Sky ?

 

[Ellis]

Why are people paying crazy prices to stay in Luton and Milton Keynes? Airbnbs in London start at like £35/40 a night.

Because they don’t when it’s short notice, bank holiday weekend, and high demand. airbnbs in London haven’t been that cheap for ages.

We checked over a month ago and the only thing close to your price were dorms. I wouldn’t give a fuck but doubt my old man wants to stay in a hostel dorm.

 

[Indian Dan]

PO finals always used to be played in ascending order.

Remember taking my dad to Crewe v York on the Saturday and going again on Monday for Leicester v Swindon.

 

[Kendalcufc]

Block by block is the best way. When we were there v County I seem to remember County had all their fans in a nice neat arrangement. Ours was sold like a free for all and something like 20k people spread about rattling around half the place is a bit shit.

100%

15k grouped together Vs 20k rattling about.

I know which one will have an easier time getting an atmosphere going.

 

[Super_horns]

PO finals always used to be played in ascending order.

Remember taking my dad to Crewe v York on the Saturday and going again on Monday for Leicester v Swindon.

Yes another tradition lost - seems to be alternating years .

Probably since the new Wembley was built .

 

[Son of Cod]

Because they don’t when it’s short notice, bank holiday weekend, and high demand. airbnbs in London haven’t been that cheap for ages.

We checked over a month ago and the only thing close to your price were dorms. I wouldn’t give a fuck but doubt my old man wants to stay in a hostel dorm.

Hoxton - £48
Upton Park - £32
Shoreditch - £50

That's 5 mins of searching and the first three results.

 

[Ellis]

Hoxton - £48
Upton Park - £32
Shoreditch - £50

That's 5 mins of searching and the first three results.

All 3 of them are shared inside someones home, one of them is a single bed and only one of them is cheaper than a hotel you can get in the commuter towns.

Two of them take longer and are harder to get to than staying in one of the commuter towns.

 

[Chief Rocka]

I'd rather walk barefoot to Wembley than use a Airbnb.

 

[Ellis]

The whole point as well of the commuter towns is that you don't have to suffer the indiginity of driving around central London or pay over £100 for a shitty Avanti train.

 

[Son of Cod]

All 3 of them are shared inside someones home, one of them is a single bed and only one of them is cheaper than a hotel you can get in the commuter towns.

Two of them take longer and are harder to get to than staying in one of the commuter towns.

So these "crazy prices" people are talking about for hotels in MK and Luton are under £50 then? I personally wouldn't care if I was in someone else's house, it's just somewhere to rest after you've had a few beers.

If I didn't live in London and Town were down for a playoff final absolutely no chance I'm staying miles out in Luton or MK but each to their own. I've just proved that there is affordable accommodation in London on the day.

It's definitely easier to get across from East London to Wembley than it is Luton or MK too.

 

[hellogregory]

I'm sorted for accommodation, match tickets and train.

The only niggling bit of anxiety in my head (other than us losing) is previous bad experiences with Avanti. I don't trust them. But hopefully on this occasion they won't cancel a train 30 minutes before departure.

 

[Son of Cod]

I'd rather walk barefoot to Wembley than use a Airbnb.

Doubt that will be a decision you'll be making for a while mate.

 

[Ellis]

So these "crazy prices" people are talking about for hotels in MK and Luton are under £50 then? I personally wouldn't care if I was in someone else's house, it's just somewhere to rest after you've had a few beers.

If I didn't live in London and Town were down for a playoff final absolutely no chance I'm staying miles out in Luton or MK but each to their own. I've just proved that there is affordable accommodation in London on the day.

It's definitely easier to get across from East London to Wembley than it is Luton or MK too.

I mean East London isn't a homogenous place. If you're not near your tube station or in a dead spot like Clapton then it's a mooch.

You can be door to door to Wembley from on the Thameslink in less than an hour.

 

[Stocky]

Block by block is the best way. When we were there v County I seem to remember County had all their fans in a nice neat arrangement. Ours was sold like a free for all and something like 20k people spread about rattling around half the place is a bit shit.

My memories of that is that the upper tiers were open and were pretty well populated. Both fans took circa 18k each which is solid but it looked three quarters empty on TV because a lot were in the upper tiers.

They've rectified this for lower league finals by the looks of things. I don't think upper tiers are available so the 18-20k now still rattle around but not quite as much.

Don't forget this was only a year after Wembley re-opened.

 

[Son of Cod]

I mean East London isn't a homogenous place.

You can be door to door to Wembley from on the Thameslink in less than an hour.

I said East London because the three examples I gave where all in East, and all under an hour too.

Have you checked routes from said commuter towns on the 28th too? It'll be chaos if there are problems on the lines. I keep using Luton/MK as examples as those are the ones people have talked about in here but you're looking at 2 hours and changes going off the Thameslink website? Way better to be in London as you can walk or get buses if things go tits up.

I get your point on the train prices down though, that's fair. Just sounds to me like these coaches to the commuter towns aren't saving people much money, are gonna be way more hassle on matchday and you're staying in a much shitter location for beers and general experience of the day.

 

[Ellis]

I said East London because the three examples I gave where all in East, and all under an hour too.

Have you checked routes from said commuter towns on the 28th too? It'll be chaos. I keep using Luton/MK as examples as those are the ones people have talked about in here but you're looking at 2 hours and changes going off the Thameslink website? Way better to be in London as you can walk or get buses if things go tits up.

I get your point on the train prices down though, that's fair. Just sounds to me like these coaches to the commuter towns are saving people not much money, are gonna be way more hassles on matchday and you're staying in a much shitter location for beers and general experience of the day.

That's because the Thameslink website is connecting you by rail. You would get it to West Hampstead and then jump on the Jubillee line.

I think we're going around the houses here now anyway lol but I agree I wouldn't get a coach to them as that way you're soaking up the cost of the coach/minibus hire etc in addition to the hotel fee. But the coaches are so extortionate you can probably do Stockport - Watford or whatever a lot cheaper in your own car, park up no issue and then just go straight into London and come back whenever you want on a 24 hour train line.

To be honest the whole thing is just exposing just how expensive living in this country can be. Managed to stay in a hotel for a week right in the centre of Lisbon for a full week than the cost would be to do two days in central London + train travel.

 

[Conker]

Mansfield and Port Vale both took around 17,000 last year and it was sold in a way so both sets of fans were together in the lower tiers, made a good atmosphere too.

 

[Stocky]

To be fair Son of Cod I know what you're saying with your logistics but I always think it's unfair to expect everyone up here (and Grimsby, Carlisle etc) to know everything about London. You obviously live down there, I know it OK (not the back of my hand by any means) because of work travels and some social visits but some people up here have no reason at all to go to London. They don't know the best places to stay, park, which transport is best etc. These things are a trial and error the more you're down there with experience of the city.

I hope both sets of supporters get down and back OK and have a great time (bar Carlisle fans at the game)

 

[Son of Cod]

That's because the Thameslink website is connecting you by rail. You would get it to West Hampstead and then jump on the Jubillee line.

I think we're going around the houses here now anyway lol but I agree I wouldn't get a coach to them as that way you're soaking up the cost of the coach/minibus hire etc in addition to the hotel fee. But the coaches are so extortionate you can probably do Stockport - Watford or whatever a lot cheaper in your own car, park up no issue and then just go straight into London and come back whenever you want on a 24 hour train line.

To be honest the whole thing is just exposing just how expensive living in this country can be. Managed to stay in a hotel for a week right in the centre of Lisbon for a full week than the cost would be to do two days in central London + train travel.

Yeah, I'm certainly not going to argue with any of that. The UK is a joke, especially the cost of public transport.

Lisbon is class too, loved it there when I went. I recently spent five nights in an apartment in Albania with a seaview 20 seconds from the beach and it was £120 for 5 nights! Admittedly, you'd expect Albania to be cheaper but when you stay in other countries you realise how expensive accommodation is here.

 

[Carver]

Didn’t help they hadn’t planned for extra time and penalties in the Stockport/Salford game .

Surely that should have been factored in timing wise ?

They would have known, but they probably said 'Oh it's just L2, who cares?'.

As long as Liverpool and Man utd fans aren't messed around with, then they don't give a shit about other clubs especially us lot down in L2.

 

[kieran_vale]

Mansfield and Port Vale both took around 17,000 last year and it was sold in a way so both sets of fans were together in the lower tiers, made a good atmosphere too.

Aye, it worked pretty well. There was a bit of a kerfuffle with Vale as the club had kept a couple of blocks back for staff and players families down the side facing the camera that some wanted to buy tickets for but no harm done. I do recall also both of ourselves had issues resourcing coaches (think that was the time fuel costs were really starting to rise) for that game too so I’ve got great sympathy for fans of both clubs who have even further to travel.

 

[shoddycollins]

It’s an absolute shambles.

Let’s not forget of course this game was originally pencilled in for the Saturday.

I’d kept that Saturday free just in case but agreed to work this Sunday ages ago. I’ve managed to get the Sunday off now but only found out late this afternoon and now all the trains are fully booked because there are barely any that can get you in for an early kick off.

So I’m going to have to go down the day before and spend a ridiculous amount on a hotel.

And you guys have got it even worse than us.

It's not even possible to get a train from Carlisle that gets you into Wembley in time from kickoff on the day, local coach companies are saying they can't put any more coaches on and with it being a bank holiday weekend and four of the six teams in playoffs being northern, hotels are getting booked fast.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Yes another tradition lost - seems to be alternating years .

Probably since the new Wembley was built .

Yes I believe the first play off game at the new Wembley was in L2 between us and Shrewsbury in 2007 and that was the first of the 3 games

 

[BarraMatt]

They would have known, but they probably said 'Oh it's just L2, who cares?'.

As long as Liverpool and Man utd fans aren't messed around with, then they don't give a shit about other clubs especially us lot down in L2.

Aye, I think all this is confirmation (if it were ever needed) that Sky are more bothered about Liverpool 'fan' Kev from Hucknall getting his warm-up football fix before the big PL games than they are about the people who end up shelling out to make an awkward kick-off time.

 

[shoddycollins]

We went through all the options back and forth for what felt like eternity weighing up the various costs. It was smashing our heads, so settled on driving there and back on the day sharing the load.

Another issue that I've not seen mentioned anywhere are the couples that both want to go but they've got young children. It's not easy getting people to look after your children at short notice for a full weekend.

We're going to take our two. They've only been to one game but they seemed to take it in their stride. Wembley is a whole different experience but I'm confident they'll love it. However not everyone will be confident taking young children to such an event. I know of two people in that situation who have decided that they can't go with no childcare cover.

It'll be a special moment to be at Wembley with my kids and their Grandad if we do manage to win promotion.

Children under I think 2 years old aren't allowed in the ground in any case