Bring the FA cup semi-final to the North West - Leech

5.24.00pm GMT Fri 20th Mar 2009

Next months FA Cup semi-final between Everton and Manchester United should be relocated from London to the North West according to Lib Dem MP, John Leech.

John wants the FA Cup semi final held in the north.

The game is currently scheduled to be a 4pm kick-off on Sunday, 19th April at Wembley - the day after Arsenal and Chelsea face each other at same venue, just a short journey from both the Emirates and Stamford Bridge, their home stadia. Meanwhile, the 64,000 Everton and Man United fans who are expected to make the trip to capital for the match face the prospect of a 400 mile round trip and crammed trains, with the cheapest ticket on offer costing £66 for the day.

Mr Leech, MP for Manchester Withington and a life-long Manchester City fan is now calling for the FA to relocate the match to a suitable neutral venue in the North West.

John Leech said:

"It makes no sense for fans of Everton and United to have to make the long journey down to Wembley for a cup semi-final when there are perfectly adequate alternatives up here in the North West. The FA could quite easily switch the fixture to a neutral stadium like Anfield or Eastlands - all it needs is a bit of common sense and organisation."

"We now face the prospect of supporters having to travel half the length of the country - on a Sunday - at considerable expense to see a match that could just as easily have been scheduled closer to home. What makes it even worse is that the two London teams will be playing at the same venue the day before! That smacks of a complete lack of foresight on the part of the FA and at the very least they should think about switching the dates of the two games."

Mr Leech will now be taking his calls to Parliament, where he plans to table a parliamentary motion calling for the match to be relocated to the North West.

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Notes to editors:

On Monday, 20th March, John Leech will be tabling an Early Day Motion calling for the match to be relocated to a neutral venue in the North West: