People are still coming to terms with the disgraceful insistence that UEFA has no plans to move the European final, between Manchester Utd and Chelsea, from the Luzhniki stadium Moscow , rather than Wembley Stadium in London. UEFA’s response being that ‘ UEFA cares about the environment, about people and about football. We Firmly believe that the three go hand in hand.’ It seems that UEFA has not taken into account the logistics of this match.
Each club will have been allocated 21,000 tickets. With an expected estimate of a further 10,000 tickets due to be snapped up by foolhardy fans, we could expect 50,000 English fans to ake the 3,000 mile trip from the UK. Then there are the envitable fleet of Sky vans which will be setup 7 days before the final, 30 cameras and 75 crew, nor the endless streams of Moscow buses needed to get supporters to and from the stadium. UEFA says its cares about the environment, ell they have a funny way of showing it.If that wasn’t enough there is the cost to the supporters of these clubs. Airline seats for a return are priced at £1,500 with similar prices on the black market, and this is before you even reach the city.
Moscow has long been recognised as the world’s most expensive capital, especially seems as hotels will charge the first figure which enters their head. With the report that there are not even enough hotel rooms to deal with the English invasion, apparently all hotels are fully booked, there is a high chance of problems occuring. UEFA could try and persuade the Moscow police to curb their robust nature when confronted by raucous and quite possible drunk English fans? Not to menton Moscow’s own football hooligans who might see this as an invasion or possible challenge?
The policy was best expressed when Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the premier league, responded to whether he would push for a late change of venue for the European Final. ‘Absolutely not. Imagine if a Champions League Final, or a major event, was scheduled to take place at wembley and twp Italian teams or Spanish teams got through’. Common sense Scudamore, thats if you have any left, would insist on the final being moved to Milan or Madrid.
There will be winners of course, discounting the eventual winning team, Russian bar owners , hotel chains, taxi drivers and dont forget our beloved British Airlines. So does making a profit prevail over a saner consideration, as saying the trip to Moscow will become a challenge for supporters is a massive understatement. It would seem so.
Bill Shankly famously said: ‘football isn;t a matter of life or death, it’s far more important than that’. This is football you see, so to use the word disgraceful to underline UEFA’s decision to ignore the pleas of sane minds doesn’t even come close. Football is not alone in thinking about profits ahead of the supporters of their clubs.
So it seem that when it comes to making a choice between listening and caring about the interests of supporters and commercial gain, the latter it seems will always prevail.
