Sunday, March 8

Bargain of the day - fly to Fulham for £89.80


In just under two weeks, United return to Craven Cottage to face Fulham again, this time in the league.

For the cup game, petrol was £65 per car and the train was £70 per person and it'll be the same for the league match.

So if you feel like cutting out all the travel time, you could fly from Manchester to Gatwick Airport for £89.80.

The journey takes an hour and it's on British Airways both way, leaving Manchester at 10:00 and returning at 20:25, giving you plenty of time to get to and from the ground.

Book your flights here. But be quick. They'll probably to shoot up to £200 tomorrow.

From Gatwick Airport, it takes 45 minutes to get to Putney Train Station, which is a 15-minute walk to the ground. The train fare is £10.10. Trains go from Gatwick to Clapham Junction every 20 minutes and then you can get regular services to Putney.

Everton await the reds on third trip to Wembley


United will make their third trip of the season to Wembley on either April 18 or 19 when they face Everton in the FA Cup semi final.

The draw was made at 18:45 today. In the other match, Arsenal or Hull will play Chelsea, also at Wembley.

United's ticket office said: "Ticket information will made available once allocations and ticket prices have been agreed."
The fixture follows United's Carling Cup final win on penalties against Tottenham in March and the August Community Shielf triumph, also on penalties, against Portsmouth.
The game means United's league match away to Wigan, originally scheduled for April 19, will be moved, though a new date hasn't been named.

Saturday, March 7

United await semi final draw


After their impressive 4-0 defeat of Fulham tonight, United are in the hat for the FA Cup semi final draw, which will be made tomorrow at 18:45 live on ITV1.

The reds can face either Chelsea or Everton or Middlesboro or Hull, Arsenal or Burnley.

The two matches will both be played at Wembley, one on April 18 and one on April 19.

Friday, March 6

Fulham travel guide


Fulham
Craven Cottage, South West London
Saturday March 7, kick off 17:15
FA Cup 6th round


Tickets
Out of a capacity of 25,500, United got 3,800 tickets costing £30 for adults, £20 for over 65s and £10 for under 16s. They have all been sold and posted out.

There are one or two spare tickets being offered on internet forums and it is worth checking with United's ticket office for returns from 9am today.

Internet touting agency World Ticket Shop has tickets available at £116.10. All home end tickets have been sold.

TV
The match will be shown live on ITV1 and ITV1HD in England, with the show starting at 16:45 and ending at 19:15.

In Scotland, it will be shown on Setanta Sports 2, with the show starting at 16:45 and ending at 19:25.

Travel

Car - £64
If you are using a satnav of a routeplanner, use the destination postcode KT3 6PT.

Take the M6 to Birmingham, then the M42 and the M40 and go onto the M25. Follow that south towards Gatwick Airport and get off at junction 10.

Take the first exit and go on the A3 towards London for 11 miles and then the ground is on the left off Malden Way. It takes about three hours, 45 minutes each way.

Petrol costs about £32 each way. Add £4 on each way if you want to take the M6 Toll Road.

Parking - free
You can pay £1.60 an hour to park on side streets off Fulham Palace Road (the A219) like Kingswood Road and Gowan Avenue. Some of them have one-hour restrictions.
But they only apply between 9am and 5pm, so you should be okay if you park after 4pm. But check the signs clearly.
The further you get from the ground, the more likely you are to find free parking spots.

If you want to play it safe, there are a few marshalled car parks off Stevenage Road and Woodlawn Road at a fiver each.
Train - £69.40
The nearest train station to the ground is Putney – you can get there from Manchester in three hours with two changes (one Tube).

It will cost you £69.40 at the cheapest (an off-peak return bought on the day).

The ground is also served by three Tube stations - Fulham Broadway, Putney Bridge and Parsons Green.

If you take that route, you can reach the ground in two hours and 45 minutes.

It will cost you £71.70 (an off-peak return from Piccadilly to Euston for £66.10 and then a one-day Travelcard covering zones 1 and 2 on the Tube for £5.60.

Manchester to the game
No matter which of these two routes you decide to take, the first journey is always from Manchester Piccadilly to London.

From 06:35, direct trains from Piccadilly to Euston leave at 15, 35 and 55 minutes past the hour and take just over two hours. We advise you don't leave later than 13:15.

Onward journey by Tube and train
From Euston, take the Victoria Line to Vauxhall, which takes half an hour and services run every five minutes.

If you have bought train ticket from Manchester to Putney, your train ticket will be valid for the Tube.


At Vauxhall, take the train to Putney, which takes 10 minutes. Services run every six minutes.

Putney Train Station (pictured left) is a 25-minute walk to the ground.

Walk north up Fulham High Street and cross the Thames on to Putney Bridge Approach. Then walk up Fulham High Street and continue onto Fulham Palace Road. The ground is on your left.
Onward journey by Tube
From Euston to Putney Bridge, it takes 35 minutes. There are planned engineering works on Saturday but Tube services will run every five minutes anyway.

1. Take the Victoria Line from Euston to Green Park.
2. Then take the Piccadilly Line from Green Park to Earls Court
3. Then take the District Line from Earls Court to Putney Bridge.

It's then a 15-minute walk to the ground. To get there, walk up Fulham High Street and continue onto Fulham Palace Road. The ground is on your left.

The game to Manchester

By train
Trains leave Putney for Vauxhall at: 19:22, 19.29, 19:34, 19:37, 19:44, 19:52, 19:59, 20:04, 20:07 and 20:14. If you miss the 20:14, you're unlikely to get back to Manchester on Saturday night.

That journey takes 11 minutes. Then get the Victoria Line Tube to Euston, which takes half an hour.

On the way back, there are just three realistic trains leaving Euston for Piccadilly.

They leave Euston at 19:40, 20:20 and 21:00 and take two-and-a-half hours. After that you're looking at a 12-hour journey home.

By tube
1. Take the District Line from Putney Bridge to Earls Court
2. Take the Piccadilly Line from Earls Court to Green Park
3. Then take the Victoria Line from Green Park to Euston.

Coach - £30
United are running coaches to the game, with places priced at £30 per person and all places have been sold.


Coach and Tube - £25.60
Megabus is running four coaches from Manchester to London and one coach back from London to Manchester on the day of the game, with places costing £10 each way.

Leave Chorlton Street Bus Station: 04:00, 06:30: 08:45, 10:30
Arrive Victoria Bus Station: 08:10, 11:00, 13:30, 15:00

Leave Victoria Bus Station: 23:00
Arrive Chorlton Street Bus Station: 03:00

National Express is also running four coaches from Manchester to London costing £13 one way, but no reasonable coaches back.

However, you could get the Megabus service above back.

Leave Chorlton Street Bus Station: 06:25, 08:00, 09:15, 10:45,
Arrive Victoria Bus Station: 11:35, 13:20, 14:45, 16:20.

From Victoria Bus Station, walk five minutes down the road to Victoria Tube Station.

Then buy a one-day Travelcard covering zones 1 and 2 on the Tube for £5.60.

1.Take the Victoria Line from Victoria to Green Park.
2. Then take the Piccadilly Line from Green Park to Earls Court
3. Then take the District Line from Earls Court to Putney Bridge.

It's then a 15-minute walk to the ground. To get there, walk up Fulham High Street and continue onto Fulham Palace Road. The ground is on your left.

Plane - £173.20
You can fly from Manchester to Gatwick at 10:00, arriving 11:00 with British Airways for £88.20 and return at 20:20 for £85.60.

But the problem with this option is that, unless you check in online, get a taxi from the ground to the airport and have good luck with traffic, you'll never make the plane home. This route is best avoided.

Tuesday, March 3

Summer trip to Munich


United will warm up for the 2009/10 season with a four-team tournament in Munich on July 29 and 30.

They will square up against hosts Bayern Munich, Argentine champions Boca Juniors and David Beckham's AC Milan in the first ever Audi Cup at the Allianz Arena.

The semi final draw was made in Geneva today. United will play Boca Juniors on July 29. Where the reds win or lose, they will in either the final or the third-place play off the following day.

According to the Bayern Munich website, tickets go on sale tomorrow "exclusively via participating Audi dealers."

They will cost e60, e50, e40, e25 or e12 per day.

More ticket and travel information to follow.

Newcastle train update


Following on from our Newcastle train update, you won't be surprised to hear that First, which operates the Transpennine Express 21:47 service from Newcastle the Manchester Piccadilly, hasn't come up trumps for reds tomorrow.

We politely asked First if they would delay the train by 20 minutes to allow fans to get from St James's Park to the ground before the departure, instead of facing an arrival in Piccadilly at 4.10am.

Despite promising to consider delaying the train and notify us of its decision, First hasn't got back to us and so the train will still depart at 21:47.

If you're making the journey up to Geordieland tomorrow, don't forget our travel, pub and hotel guide.

Monday, March 2

You've got to be in it to win it


Following on from our rather ambitious look ahead to the Champions League final in Rome this May about cheap ways of getting there, there is further useful news today.

From today until March 16, you can apply for tickets for the final as part of the UEFA public ballot.

There are 10,000 tickets on offer in total and they cost either e200, e140 or e90 and you can apply for two.

Disabled supporters can get tickets for e70, though it's a one-per-person limit.

Results will be announced between March 17 and March 31. You will know if you've got a ticket if your credit card is charged.
One thing that only the ballot minisite doesn't make clear is that a e33 admin fee will be added on to that fee, so you could be paying e233 for a ticket.

Charge breakdown in £
Central areas: £179.08, with admin: £208.63
In the corners: £125.36, with admin: £154.91
Behind the goal: £80.56, wth admin: £110.11

Ticket breakdown:
Stadium capacity: 67,000
Public ballot: 10,000
Club A allocation: 20,000
Club B allocation: 20,000
UEFA football family: 17,000