London bound

Portsmouth
Community Shield
Wembley
3pm, Sunday August 10, 2008

Tickets

United have sold their allocation. Portsmouth have not and are selling what’s left on Ticketmaster

But they’ve taken steps to ensure only Pompey fans can buy them, so I wouldn’t waste your time trying to get around the system.

There was some talk earlier in the week of Ticketmaster selling neutral tickets, but they all seem to have gone.

World Ticket Shop is doing its usual thing of selling tickets at extortionate prices (£111.75 for the United end).

It’s another example of how stupid the system is when a team who can’t sell out is given the same allocation as a team who can easily sell out.

Anyone going down without a ticket shouldn’t worry just yet though. While people haven’t had too much look hunting down spares on Red Issue, there’s a long history of people getting hold of tickets on the day of the game for face value.

Getting there

Coach - £32

Official club coaches leave OT at 7am, cost £32 and get back at about 9.30pm.

Coach/Tube - £28.50

Megabus costs £20.50 from Chorlton Street to Victoria Coach Station in London.

Outgoing times are: Leave 06:30 arrive 11:00 or Leave 08.45, arrive 13.30.

Return times are: Leave: 18.30, arrive 22.55 or Leave 19.30, arrive 23:55 (if you go on the later one, it’s £24.50 return).

Wembley Park is the nearest tube stop to the stadium. It's in Zone 4 on the Metropolitan Line and the Jubilee Line. It’s £8 return from any central London stop.

Here’s a sample way of getting from the Megabus stop to the stadium:

Walk from Victoria Coach Station to Victoria Tube Station
Tube from Victoria to Westminster on District Line green: Leave 12:37, arrive 12.45
Tube from Westminster to Wembley Park on the Jubilee Line grey: Leave 12.46, arrive 13:15.

But beware that there are Tube improvements on the day of the game, so give yourself plenty of time to get to the stadium on the Tube.

You could also go on the train from Victoria to Wembley Stadium, but it’s £2 dearer and takes slightly longer.

Sample times
Tube from Victoria to Embankment on the Circle Line or District Line: Leave: 13.05, arrive

Maylebourne: Leave 13:05, arrive 13.15
Tube from Embankment to Marylebourne on the Bakerloo Line: Leave 13.15, arrive: 13.25

Train from Marylebourne to Wembley Central: Leave 13:33, arrive 13:42

Search for your own train times here.

Train - £70.50

The cheapest route by train is:
Train from Piccadilly to London Euston
Walk from Euston to Euston Square (five minutes)
Tube from Euston Square to Baker Street
Tube from Baker Street to Wembley Park

All journey times on Sunday are about four hours and, even if you were to get the earliest train, which leaves at 08:44, you could still end up missing kick off with one fuck up.

Train costs £62.50 for a saver return and then you can buy an £8 Tube ticket.

The only train I’d risk is:
Train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston: Leave 08.44, arrive 11:36. The rest of the journey takes about 23 minutes.

Coming back, it’s the reverse route. Trains leave Euston at 18:29, 18:45, 19:01, 19:31, 19:46, 20:10, 20:51 and 21:56. Search for your own train times here, but buy tickets with Virgin Trains.

The return to Manchester is jibable, but it’s always recommended to buy a ticket. You can, however, buy a saver single for £31.20 with Virgin.

You can also get off Euston-bound trains at Watford Junction and go to Wembley Central from there. So that's

Train from Piccadilly to Watford Junction: Leave 08:44, arrive 11.06.

Then train from Watford Junction to Wembley Centre: Leave 11:21, arrive 11:45

That'll work better if you're not meeting people in London or if you're happy to put up with few pubs near the stadium or in Watford. Thanks to ZebeDee on Red Issue for that one.

Fly - £127.70

If you can’t be arsed with an eight-hour round trip and don’t mind paying more to get there quicker, try this:

Fly Manchester to Gatwick on British Airways: Leave 10.30, arrive 11.30. Price: £78.70

Fly Heathrow to Manchester on flybmi: Leave 20:50, arrive: 21.55. Price: £49.

It might sound steep, but mixing and matching, you could get the Megabus down for a tenner and then fly back. That work out cheaper than a return train and mean more drinking time.

Drive - £59.32

Add on £6 if you go by the M6 toll both ways.

Get door-to-door directions here.

Pub information coming early next week. If you can recommend a decent pre-match boozer for reds, email here.