Man City to subsidise Wembley travel for Liverpool FA Cup semi-final

Manchester City have announced plans to provide discounted coach travel to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool next month.

The move comes after the furore caused by the lack of train travel to London on the weekend of the match, meaning that 90,000 fans face taking on the journey from the North West by road.

City say they have secured an initial 50 coaches that will operate a day trip to Wembley for the match, which will take place on either Saturday 16 or Sunday 17 April. Coach tickets will be priced at £40 per person - the club are paying about £35,000 to subsidise the travel, saving each supporter £15 on the price.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and his counterpart in Liverpool Steve Rotheram have both called for the game to be moved, and the Echo report that Liverpool have asked for the game to be moved.

The Blues have been involved in those discussions, as well as continuing talks over when is the best kick-off time in order to minimise additional disruptions that would add to the problems that thousands of fans are already facing. However, as things stand there is no expectation that the FA will budge on their stance of playing both semi-finals at Wembley; Chelsea take on Crystal Palace in the other game, so there is no issue around trains.