United line up Celtic friendly

United will face Celtic in a pre-season friendly in Canada on either July 16 or 17, Reds Away sources have revealed.

Though the fixture has yet to be confirmed, it is claimed plans will be finalised in the next few days and that the match will take place at the 49,539-capacity Rogers Centre (pictured) in Toronto, Ontario.

It would be the reds' first friendly of the 2010 pre-season campaign and would be less than a week after the World Cup final.

The second game, already confirmed, will be played on July 29 in Mexico, against Club Deportivo Guadalajara.

Both stadiums have artificial surfaces.

United to scrap Loyalty Pot?

The club's 15-member fans forum is set to meet this week to discuss the possibility of the Loyalty Pot being scrapped.

As revealed on Red News on March 31, United are considering changing part two of the Club Charter.

It states that away tickets are divided between season ticket holders in the Loyalty Pot and season ticket holders in the Standard Pot.

The logic behind it is this:

- The LP discriminates against young people who, by definition can't get into because they haven't been going long enough. It's not their fault they weren't alive when LP members began 'earning their stripes'.

- Scrapping of the LP would actually benefit fans because, at the moment, clubs including Spurs, Sunderland, Bolton and Villa are, season by season, decreasing the size of United's away allocation due to persistent standing. Getting rid of standers would mean more tickets, in theory at least.

In 2006, the club suspended the LP for the match at Bolton in a bid to stop fans standing.

Though their publicity at the time stopped short of blaming LP members for standing, club representatives might hold the possibly shortsighted view that 'LP members are at away games a lot and because standing happens at away games, they must be to blame'.

Of course, that does not take into account that, LP member or otherwise, individual fans can't exactly persuade a 3,000-strong crowd to sit down on his own.

And even if he then sat down during the entire game, the club would have no proof he did so or joined in with the persistent standers.

In short, there's no proof that getting rid of the LP would reduce persistent standing.

So what other motive could United have for scrapping the LP? Money, perhaps?

There is talk that, a season after launching the European Travel Club, United would seek to do the same for domestic away games.

Each executive members, season ticket holder and One United member would have to join an Away Travel Club for the privilege of applying for away games.

Whether a joining fee would be involved is unclear.

But the aim of such a club might be to use it to introduce devices to stop persistent standing.

For example, putting names on all away-end tickets and threatening to ban supporters who do not sit in their designated seats.

That could be followed up by recording the names and addresses of the fans who sit on the back row of the away stand and working with stewards to ensure anyone who does not sit down when asked will be ejected and possibly banned from future games.

One possibly development could be United stewards and security officials usually seen at home games managing the away end, in a similar way to European away games when they sometimes operate at the turnstiles.

Whatever happens, the discussion of these issues at this week's fans forum meeting is set to unsettle members of the LP and all fans who attend away games, who will surely be fearful that the one pleasure reds have left - daring to enjoy away games - could be snatched from their grasp.

City 0-1 United

Police prepare for Manchester derby

Preparations are in place for the derby match between Manchester City and Manchester United on Saturday.

The match will take place at the City of Manchester stadium and Greater Manchester Police has plans in place to ensure the event is safe for the thousands of fans expected to attend.

Part of GMP's operation is to stop potential troublemakers spoiling the day and responding to anti-social behaviour quickly and robustly.

Anyone caught with alcohol on the streets within the alcohol exclusion zone, stretching from the city centre to the stadium, will have it confiscated. In addition, anyone arriving at the stadium under the influence of excess alcohol will be refused entry.

There will be additional police patrols in place in the city centre and around the ground to deal with the large number of fans who are attending and officers will be visiting pubs where the match is being shown live on TV.
Greater Manchester Police has been working hard to minimise traffic disruption on the day, but with such a large crowd expected, there will inevitably be delays in the area around the stadium and on Mancunian Way. Fans are advised to give themselves extra time to make their way to the ground.

Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Gold Commander in charge of the policing operation for the game, said: "Our main aim is to ensure it is an enjoyable experience for all fans.

"The overwhelming majority who attend football matches are there to support their teams but when a minority of people misbehave or come to games with the sole intention of causing trouble, it spoils it for everyone.

"This is a high-profile fixture and we have been working closely with Manchester City Football Club to ensure the day passes off peacefully.

"Greater Manchester Police is very experienced at policing football matches. We will have the appropriate number of officers and resources within the ground and the surrounding areas to both deal with any incidents and offer reassurance to the public."

United to play in Mexico

As part of the deal which brought Javier Hernández Balcázar to United, the reds will play a pre-season friendly on Thursday July 29 against the club they bought him from, Club Deportivo Guadalajara.

CDG currently play at the Jalisco Stadium, which was built in 1952.

This summer, they will move to a new 45,500-capacity stadium called Estadio Chivas.

The match between United and CDG will be held to officially open the stadium.

In the coming weeks, we will bring you flight and hotel recommendations for this trip.

Sunderland game date change

United's final away game of the season against Sunderland will now take place on Sunday May 2 with a 16:00 kick off.

It will be shown live on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 1HD.

Sunderland have still not said how many tickets United will get but we believe it will be between 1,300 and 1,700.

The application process has ended and ballot results will be available on Friday. We will publish a travel guide in the next few days.

Home-end tickets are now on sale to customers with a booking history with Sunderland. Details here.

Blackburn away ticket, travel and pub guide

Blackburn Rovers
Premier League
Ewood Park, Blackburn
Sunday April 11, kick off 13:30

Tickets
United have got 6,900 tickets in the entire length of both upper and lower tiers of the Darwen End (pictured right).

They cost £35 for adults, £25 for over 65s and £15 for under 16s.

All away-end tickets have been sold and posted out.

Home-end tickets are on sale now to people who have previously bought home-end tickets from Blackburn. Details here.

Weather
This section will be updated five days before the game

TV
Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 1HD will show the match live, with the show starting at 13:00 and ending at 15:30.

Travel

Car - £10.
If you're driving to the match and are using a satnav or an internet routeplanner, use the destination postcode BB2 4JF.
It takes about 45 minutes to get there from Manchester and will cost about £10 in petrol for a return journey.

There are two ways to get there, the first being the M61, then the M65, then the A666 and the second being the M66, then the M65 and then the A666. Either way it's very easy. Leave the M65 at junction 4 for Darwen.

Parking - free
If you arrive early, street parking isn't a problem. The best streets to park are a five-minute walk away from the ground towards Darwen (so away from Blackburn Town Centre).

Anywhere in the Jack Walker Way and Oakdale area will be fine before 12:45ish. Use the postcode BB2 4JJ to get there.

Otherwise, there are quite a few paid-for car parks just off the A666 charging about £3 per car. Our preferred one is on Branch Road, as it allows you easy access onto Sandy Lane and then the M61 after the match.

Train - £6.40
You can either get off at Blackburn and walk for 20 minutes down a hill or get off at Darwen and walk for 15 minutes up a hill.

We recommend the latter because it's a slightly shorter train journey and you pass better pubs on the way up to the ground.

But, as previously mentioned, anyone arriving at Darwen is usually searched by police and officers won't tolerate anti-social behaviour, so don't arrive drunk.

At Manchester Victoria (pictured above), ask for a day return. It will cost £6.20

To the match
It's quite straightforward. Trains leave Manchester Victoria at:

08:01, 09:00, 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00 and arrive at Darwen 41 minutes later.

When you arrive, come out of the station, turn right, and walk right up Bolton Road until you reach the ground on your right.

From the match
Trains leave Darwen at 10 minutes past the hour ever hour until 23:10 and arrive at Manchester Victoria 42 minutes later.

One problem with this is that many reds will have walked up to Blackburn station (pictured right) and the train that stops at Darwen comes from Blackburn, so the train might be full by the time it reaches Darwen.

Trains leave Blackburn at 03 minutes past the hour ever hour until 23:03 and arrive at Manchester Victoria 49 minutes later.

If you're really lazy, you can go from Manchester Victoria to Blackburn and then get another train to Mill Hill (Lancs) as that station is a 10-minute walk to the ground.

The whole journey takes an hour, but by the time you've changed trains, you could have walked to the station.

Coach - £13
United are running coaches to this game. Places cost £18 per person.

The coaches leave from the Old Trafford N2 car park at 11:00 and are due to return at 16:45. To book, call the ticket office on 0161 868 8000 or go online.

The Betty Bus is running to the game and, at the time of writing, has 10 places left. Places cost £13 each. The bus leaves from Chorlton Street at 10:15.

To book, email your name, contact phone number and required number of places to redsaway@hotmail.co.uk
Red Army Travel are running a coach to this game, with places priced at £14 per person. Go here for booking details.

Public bus £10.20
You can get to Blackburn by public bus.

It does take ages, but at least it drops you off right outside the ground, avoiding a long walk from the town centre and the usual police attention fans get when they arrive via Darwen.

First, you will need to get to Bolton.

The quickest way is to get the First Bus 8 service from Manchester Shudehill to Bolton Moor Lane bus station. It takes 45 minutes. The timetable is here.

A day saver costs £4.

Then get the Transdev Lancashire United 225 service to Blackburn and get off at Ewood Park. It takes about 55 minutes. The timetable is here.

A day saver costs £6.20.

Pubs
Most reds who go to this fixture annually will equate 'Ewood Park boozers' with the Fernhurst Arms (pictured left) – the pretty big Thwaites pub at 466 Bolton Road, which is a five-minute walk from the ground.

But it's never been our favourite pre-match drinking choice. It gets packed early, it attracts idiots and, unsurprisingly, it attracts more police than the G20 Summit protests.

When it's full, the pub serves cans of Carling from a marquee outside,

One of our favourites is The Fox and Hounds off Albion Road, which is a two-minute walk from the ground right by McDonald's.

It's a home fans only pub, but if you don't wear colours, you should get in okay and the locals are friendly enough anyway. The lager is good and you get served surprisingly quick in the run up to kick off.

None of the other pubs heading up towards Blackburn town centre are worth trying as they tend to get packed out and have bouncers on the doors demanding to see home-end tickets.

But there's three heading the other way, towards Darwen that we quite like.

The Hindle Arms (pictured right), at 18 Raikes Bridge is off the beaten track, but you can enjoy a decent, quiet pint there pree match.

Alternatively, you could try The Blackamoor Inn which is on the same road a bit further down or The Golden Cup at 610 Blackburn Road (just underneath the motorway bridge) which tends to get pretty busy on matchdays, but has a good atmosphere.