Blown away! Man City vs Sunderland and Everton vs Palace games POSTPONED
By Ian Ladyman and Dominic King
PUBLISHED: 18:36 GMT, 12 February 2014 | UPDATED: 00:42 GMT, 13 February 2014
Manchester City face the possibility of a late-season fixture pile-up after the postponement of last night’s Barclays Premier League clash with Sunderland.
With City still pushing for trophies in all four competitions, Manuel Pellegrini and his players will struggle to squeeze in the rearranged fixture any time soon.
City have the first leg of their Champions League tie against Barcelona next week, and the second leg a fortnight after.
Game off: Manchester City's Joe Hart (left) chats with Sunderland's Adam Johnson (centre) and Vito Mannone
Blustery: A programme booth was blown over earlier in the evening at Manchester City
Windy: A corner flag at the Etihad Stadium blows over before the match was called off
Euston, we have a problem!
Manchester United and Liverpool fans were left stranded at London Euston for hours after the weather stopped outbound services.
United supporters - fresh from watching the 0-0 draw with Arsenal - and delighted Kopites after the last-gasp win over Fulham were initially told no services would be running, but instead faced a two to three hour wait to return north.
There is a ‘free’ week from February 23 to Sunday March 2, but that is also a Champions League week for the other half of the last-16 draw, and UEFA may oppose a game being played in another competition during the same week.
The week after contains international friendlies. So City may have to wait until April to fit this game in, and even then there could be a clash with Champions League fixtures if Pellegrini’s team remain in the competition.
In the short term, the postponement - on a night which also saw Everton’s game against Crystal Palace called off - denied City the chance to go above rivals Arsenal, who were held to a goalless draw by Manchester United last night, and Chelsea, who could only draw at West Brom on Tuesday.
City captain Vincent Kompany had no complaints about the decision, given the 100mph winds buffeting Manchester before kick-off. He tweeted: ‘Game’s called off! Make sure you get yourself home and be safe. Weather is terrible!’
The club revealed that a wall on a nearby road had been knocked down by the wind, and a programme booth had been toppled.
Homeward bound: Sunderland players had a wasted journey after their match at the Etihad was cancelled
In vain: Match officials test the Hawkeye system in the wind and rain before the match was called off
Heading home: Fans will be forced to return home after City's match with Sunderland was called off
Crystal Palace chairman, Steve Parish, took to Twitter to air his views...
He wrote: 'Asked to delay kick off, to get fans coaches there, told there were no problems and no need to be delayed, 20 mins later games called off!'
'What an absolute shambles, just got home 7 hours in the car longer for the fans on the coaches!!'
There were also reports that trees had blown down, causing tailbacks on roads leading to the stadium.
Some City and Sunderland fans asked why the game was postponed at 6.45pm, an hour before kick-off.
There had been a red weather warning in place in Manchester for some time yesterday, but City officials explained that it was only when the wind grew stronger in the two hours before kick-off that problems began to arise.
Everton and Crystal Palace fans were even more furious, as their game was called off just 35 minutes before it was scheduled to start.
Everton’s chief executive Robert Elstone defended the club’s decision. Everton immediately decided to postpone when a chimney was blown off the roof of the Winslow Pub, which is adjacent to the stadium on Goodison Road.
Late call: Everton's match against Crystal Palace was also called off due to the weather
Elstone said: ‘At 6.30pm I had a meeting with our head of safety, the police and the referee and it was decided we should go ahead. But 10 to 15 minutes later things started dropping off roofs.
'There was no other decision we could take. Fans’ safety always has to come first.’ Everton manager Roberto Martinez had no complaints.
‘The last thing we want is for any of the fans to be put in a dangerous position,’ he told Everton TV.
‘It is disappointing because we were ready to warm up and it’s an anti-climax. But the police have called the game off and rightly so.’
The weather was also causing problems for Manchester United and Liverpool fans attempting to make their way back north from London last night.
With sections of the M6 motorway closed in both directions and severe delays to northbound train services leaving Euston station, a large number of supporters were facing the prospect of being stranded in the capital overnight.
Disappointment: The match had to be postponed after a chimney had blown down off the roof of a nearby pub
Had to be done: Everton stewards speak with supporters after the game was called off late on
