Emergency services in Manchester have been placed on full alert after the Premier League fixtures threw up a very rare 3pm Saturday kick off.
Manchester is set to be thrown into chaos on Saturday with the news that a 3pm kick off could hit the Old Trafford area as early as Saturday afternoon throwing local business's and Japanese football fans into meltdown.
Quite simply Manchester is not geared up to be able to withstand a 3pm Saturday kick off and its emergency services will be at full stretch, David Cameron has already visited the potential disaster zone and is considering declaring a state of emergency with contingency plans already being put into place for what could be potentially the biggest global catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina.
Put bluntly Manchester will be unable to cope !
The infastructure and economy of the area is based firmly on 4pm Sunday afternoon kick offs and any deviation from that will leave the City in a very fragile state.
Firstly there is the matter of policing the area, Greater Manchester Police base their entire shift patterns on games being played on a Sunday, their officers contracts state they don't have to work Saturday's due to the demand for Sunday policing in the Old Trafford area, the Chief Constable has already privately briefed the Home Secretary that he feels that he cannot guarantee law and order n Manchester for a Saturday as his resources will be stretched to breaking point.
This will mean that they will be unable to provide normal Saturday policing meaning that there is sure to be an increase in doing 33 in a 30 mile limit, crossing on the red man & riding a bicycle on a pavement, crimes that would usually occupy his officers on a Saturday, it is this zero tolerance that has made Manchester a safe place and put Ross Kemp out of a job.
But it is not just law and order that is the problem, Manchester Airport usually has charter flights to holiday destinations on a Saturday, these are usually despatched by around 6pm to allow for the multiple flights that come in from Japan, Ireland, Norway and Torquay prior to a Sunday kick off to land.
Now the airport is faced with trying to squeeze these flights into a Saturday morning or Old Trafford could be facing its lowest crowd since 1973.
But a Saturday kick off also could trigger food & drink issues, to put it bluntly, Manchester has not got enough hip shop workers or bar staff willing to work on a Saturday or with the experience to be able to do so.
The Mayor made a personal plea to David Cameron on his recent visit and it is highly likely that the PM will sanction the use of troops to man Chip shops and bars throughout Manchester to ensure that there are no widespread hunger issues.
Jeremy Corbyn is preparing a visit of his own to the area, when questioned on what he would do if PM, he confirmed that although the Labour Party has no immediate plans to get rid of salt & vinegar, he himself would be unwilling to squeeze a vinegar bottle or shake the salt , in an area so reliant on the chip shop economy this would make him unnelectable.
Likewise the Premier League & it's Tv partners could lose millions, 3pm in Manchester is Midnight in Tokyo, 5am in Los Angeles, 3pm in Torquay & 11pm in Shanghai all hotbeds of United support and it will be very inconvenient for them to be able to watch the game on TV at that time.
Also their is no words in Japanese for 3pm Saturday kick off, this makes it very difficult to evacuate the United megastore in good time for the match.
All in all the conclusion is that the Premier League have been very shortsighted in scheduling a 3pm Saturday fixture for Manchester United, they have just not considered the ramifications, the consequences of this will be far reaching.
Hopefully the powers that be will take measures to ensure that this never happens again, of course the Greater Manchester area can never predict when a 3pm Saturday kick off might hit them, all they can do is look out for the warning signs and perhaps make sure they have a contingency plan to minimise casualties