City and Crystal Palace fans fume over 'crazy' FA Cup final kick-off delay

Manchester City and Crystal Palace fans remain in the dark over the kick-off time for this month’s FA Cup final, branding the delay ‘crazy’.

The clubs are set to meet on Saturday, May 17, but are still waiting on a start time — either 3pm or 5.30pm — with a suggestion the Met Police have been in talks with safety advisory groups and the BBC and ITV also still need to come to an agreement.

Kevin Parker, general secretary of City’s official supporters’ club, said: ‘It is ridiculously poor planning, that is what frustrates me. Crazy.

‘The FA Cup final has been in the calendar since last summer. Everybody knows when it is, but it seems everybody else comes before the impact it will have on supporters.

‘Every year we seem to have another battle with games at Wembley. It’s exhausting.’

A late start impacts travel, the last train back to Manchester Piccadilly being at 9.01pm.

The last two finals, which were both Manchester derbies, kicked off at 3pm.