Having woken at stupid o'clock and given ourselves 5 (yes 5!) hours to do the three hour journey to Birmingham, we were not best pleased when we hit traffic on the M6. When I say traffic - I mean TRAFFIC. Now this is to be expected in light of the fact that 40,000 people were heading for the same place but when the stadium is empty enough on kick off for the radio commentators to comment and there is an accident on the motorway preventing significant numbers of people from reaching their destination, you would think that the FA would delay kick off for say- twenty minutes? But NO. They go ahead at midday. The number of people heading towards the gound having finally managed to park in the non existant, appallingly organised parking system was astounding. When you consider the price of the tickets and the fact that supporters of both clubs were heading a long way, the FA should have made allowances for the traffic jam on the M6 and delayed kick off. As it was we finally made our seats some 20 - 25 minutes after the whistle. This in itself made the mood of the crowd more volatile as they were angry and frustrated by the time they arrived. In addition to this, the commentators on 5 live significantly helped the situation by informing those stuck in non moving traffic to' get there as fast as they cas as they are missing a real cracker of a game.' Yes because we WANT to be sitting here stationary after traveling from the South of England - we really COULD have got there quicker if we knew that. >:(

I can only reason that they did not delay kick off at the BBC's request. They were also showing the Grand National I am told. Well there will be a number of very angrily worded letters from myself and the huge numbers of other supporters who experienced this shambles of a day, heading their way to the FA.

In all the journey that should have taken between 2 and a half and 3 hours took over 5. We paid our ticket price and travelled all that way for an hour of football as the FA would not delay kick off to allow those stuck in the jams to get there on time. If this is the case with a ground such as Villa Park (which I have to say is probably the most unpleasant ground I have ever been to) then the FA need to stage these matches elsewhere. I am unimpressed. MOST unimpressed.

...and to top all this? We lost.