Help Planning Trip to Manchester UK for PL Soccer Game

[Anonymous]

My DC is also a Man City fan so I'm following this post with interest. I have a question for the collective wisdom on this board--we will be staying in London. Would it be feasible to train to Manchester and back to attend a game or should we plan on staying over? (I see that it is a 2 hr train ride).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is also a Man City fan so I'm following this post with interest. I have a question for the collective wisdom on this board--we will be staying in London. Would it be feasible to train to Manchester and back to attend a game or should we plan on staying over? (I see that it is a 2 hr train ride).

In theory entirely feasible, as long as it's not a night game. Trains on that route are cheap and run frequently. Two things to keep in mind:

1. There have been A LOT of rail strikes in the UK the last few years. Yes they are normally announced in advance, and some schedule is usually run, but many services are cut entirely, or severely underserved- like running 1 out of every 4 trains, etc. It's a massive hassle and could really mess up your plans if you are planning on a pretty tight schedule. And more than a month out you really can't know if one will be going on.

2. That line in particular (the West Coast Main Line with services mostly by Avanti) has had major major reliability issues the last few years as well, yay! So you might have some schedule hiccups there as well, but probably not as disruptive.

Accept that uncertainty and try to give some cushion to plan for it, and you should be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is also a Man City fan so I'm following this post with interest. I have a question for the collective wisdom on this board--we will be staying in London. Would it be feasible to train to Manchester and back to attend a game or should we plan on staying over? (I see that it is a 2 hr train ride).

In theory entirely feasible, as long as it's not a night game. Trains on that route are cheap and run frequently. Two things to keep in mind:

1. There have been A LOT of rail strikes in the UK the last few years. Yes they are normally announced in advance, and some schedule is usually run, but many services are cut entirely, or severely underserved- like running 1 out of every 4 trains, etc. It's a massive hassle and could really mess up your plans if you are planning on a pretty tight schedule. And more than a month out you really can't know if one will be going on.

2. That line in particular (the West Coast Main Line with services mostly by Avanti) has had major major reliability issues the last few years as well, yay! So you might have some schedule hiccups there as well, but probably not as disruptive.

Accept that uncertainty and try to give some cushion to plan for it, and you should be fine.

PP here- I actually just checked current status, and if the game was say this Saturday, yup that's a strike day on Avanti West Coast. So per Google Maps the fastest route from London to Manchester this Saturday is almost 4 hours. Obviously doing that roundtrip along with the game would be....a lot.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/train-strikes-february-january-2024-b2486146.html

But if you look for the Saturday after, it's back to the normal 2 hour train.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is also a Man City fan so I'm following this post with interest. I have a question for the collective wisdom on this board--we will be staying in London. Would it be feasible to train to Manchester and back to attend a game or should we plan on staying over? (I see that it is a 2 hr train ride).

In theory entirely feasible, as long as it's not a night game. Trains on that route are cheap and run frequently. Two things to keep in mind:

1. There have been A LOT of rail strikes in the UK the last few years. Yes they are normally announced in advance, and some schedule is usually run, but many services are cut entirely, or severely underserved- like running 1 out of every 4 trains, etc. It's a massive hassle and could really mess up your plans if you are planning on a pretty tight schedule. And more than a month out you really can't know if one will be going on.

2. That line in particular (the West Coast Main Line with services mostly by Avanti) has had major major reliability issues the last few years as well, yay! So you might have some schedule hiccups there as well, but probably not as disruptive.

Accept that uncertainty and try to give some cushion to plan for it, and you should be fine.

One other consideration... when we travelled to Anfield in in Nov. 22, I was surprised to learn that there were no high speed trains from London to/from Manchester/Liverpool on weekends. Trip took longer than expected, we had to change trains, and we had to stand no for last 40 mins into Liverpool when hundreds of City fans got on the train in Manchester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is also a Man City fan so I'm following this post with interest. I have a question for the collective wisdom on this board--we will be staying in London. Would it be feasible to train to Manchester and back to attend a game or should we plan on staying over? (I see that it is a 2 hr train ride).

In theory entirely feasible, as long as it's not a night game. Trains on that route are cheap and run frequently. Two things to keep in mind:

1. There have been A LOT of rail strikes in the UK the last few years. Yes they are normally announced in advance, and some schedule is usually run, but many services are cut entirely, or severely underserved- like running 1 out of every 4 trains, etc. It's a massive hassle and could really mess up your plans if you are planning on a pretty tight schedule. And more than a month out you really can't know if one will be going on.

2. That line in particular (the West Coast Main Line with services mostly by Avanti) has had major major reliability issues the last few years as well, yay! So you might have some schedule hiccups there as well, but probably not as disruptive.

Accept that uncertainty and try to give some cushion to plan for it, and you should be fine.

One other consideration... when we travelled to Anfield in in Nov. 22, I was surprised to learn that there were no high speed trains from London to/from Manchester/Liverpool on weekends. Trip took longer than expected, we had to change trains, and we had to stand no for last 40 mins into Liverpool when hundreds of City fans got on the train in Manchester.

Yeah that was at the peak of Avanti's reliability issues, that was one of their "solutions", to cut weekend trains to do line and train repairs. Thankfully it has improved considerably since then, but still a consideration. Right now the strikes are a bigger issue.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/15/labour-demands-action-over-avanti-west-coast-reduced-train-service

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/19/avanti-west-coast-contract-train-delays-rmt-arriva-crosscountry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is also a Man City fan so I'm following this post with interest. I have a question for the collective wisdom on this board--we will be staying in London. Would it be feasible to train to Manchester and back to attend a game or should we plan on staying over? (I see that it is a 2 hr train ride).

In theory entirely feasible, as long as it's not a night game. Trains on that route are cheap and run frequently. Two things to keep in mind:

1. There have been A LOT of rail strikes in the UK the last few years. Yes they are normally announced in advance, and some schedule is usually run, but many services are cut entirely, or severely underserved- like running 1 out of every 4 trains, etc. It's a massive hassle and could really mess up your plans if you are planning on a pretty tight schedule. And more than a month out you really can't know if one will be going on.

2. That line in particular (the West Coast Main Line with services mostly by Avanti) has had major major reliability issues the last few years as well, yay! So you might have some schedule hiccups there as well, but probably not as disruptive.

Accept that uncertainty and try to give some cushion to plan for it, and you should be fine.

Thanks so much for this information!

One other consideration... when we travelled to Anfield in in Nov. 22, I was surprised to learn that there were no high speed trains from London to/from Manchester/Liverpool on weekends. Trip took longer than expected, we had to change trains, and we had to stand no for last 40 mins into Liverpool when hundreds of City fans got on the train in Manchester.

Yeah that was at the peak of Avanti's reliability issues, that was one of their "solutions", to cut weekend trains to do line and train repairs. Thankfully it has improved considerably since then, but still a consideration. Right now the strikes are a bigger issue.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/15/labour-demands-action-over-avanti-west-coast-reduced-train-service

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/19/avanti-west-coast-contract-train-delays-rmt-arriva-crosscountry

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the information on trains!

[Anonymous]

We went to Anfield from London last spring. Our trains were fine, we fortunately had no scheduling issues. One thing I would recommend is NOT having rollerboards as suitcases...these trains do not have much space for hard luggage. It seemed like a much better choice to use duffels which fit easily above the seats. On our train back to London on Sunday afternoon, people were shoving large suitcases under tables or in seats, it was madness. And note that even though the Avanti web site tells you you have a window seat, that doesn't necessarily mean you actually do...it happened to me on both trips.

That said, attending an EPL match for a team you love is AMAZING and I am so thankful we went when we did, especially now that Klopp is leaving!!!