Politicians condemn festive farce

UK GOVERNMENT officials have condemned the Premier League’s decision to leave supporters in the lurch with travel chaos over the festive period, following Sportsmail’s revelation of the kick-off times mess.

We revealed Arsenal’s game on St Stephen’s Day against West Ham was set to be moved from 3pm to 8pm which left furious fans to wonder how they will get home at 10pm on a bank holiday.

The Gunners’ trip to Brighton has been moved to 5.30pm on New Year’s Eve while Newcastle’s 500-mile round trip to the Emirates Stadium and Bournemouth’s long journey to Manchester United on January 3 have both also been moved to 8pm.

One Government source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘While kick-off times are a matter for the Premier League to set with clubs and local authorities, the Sports Minister is clear that transport arrangements for supporters must be taken into consideration, particularly around fixtures during the festive period.’

The announcement caused further frustration as it came two weeks later than thought with the Premier League expected to announce the fixture times by October 11.

The Premier League apologised for the delay but said that they had still given supporters at least nine weeks’ notice and blamed the hold-up on local authority approval for certain matches not coming through on time.

Top-flight sources also insisted the St Stephen’s Day fixtures had been selected to include as many matches with as little travel distance for fans as possible, with three matches all involving London clubs, including the Arsenal and West Ham game at 8pm.