Big questions for Man United and Met Police
However, there remain some key questions that need asking and answering about last night’s debacle which led to a delayed 8.30 pm kick off.
In our view Manchester United, their coach operators and the Metropolitan Police need to be asked and answer the questions.
We want to know why:
O Why, knowing how narrow the streets are around the Boleyn and that thousands were set to be in the area, didn’t Unted ensure they arrived at the ground much earlier than the reported 6pm when they were stuck in gridlocked Green Street?
O Why didn’t the coach company make a decision to leave earlier given this was to be the biggest night in West Ham history to which thousands with or without tickets would travel?
O Why did United continue in the same manner as they did when getting a £5,000 fine for the late arrival offence at White Hart Lane last month. Given the size of the night in the east end they were always likely to discover an even worse travel situation?
O And why didn’t some Man U official liase with the police to ensure an escort to the ground from their reported hotel in docklands to ensure there was no repeat?
Let’s get something straight – none of this was WHUFC’s fault and was not in their remit so David Sullivan’s remarks about making the game kick off at 7.45 pm seem spot on to us.
This was a United issue created by them and we believe the match officials took the soft option in putting kick off time back.
The bottle throwing was disgraceful – utterly disgraceful – but had it never happened United would have been at the ground no sooner and that would have been entirely down to them again.