The Prof and the Pep ready for the big match .. and I was not scammed after all !

It is semi-final eve on the Road to Wembley from Scotland. I am agog with anticipation and looking forward to flying down to London for the FA Cup semi final tomorrow between the mighty Arsenal and the City Slickers. Both teams are in relaxed mood ahead of the big game and have been preparing well over the last few days. Up here in Scotland a surprise delivery from the Royal Mail on Thursday means that I have (probably) not been scammed after all and that my old mucker, Anne Donkin, will also be flying to London tomorrow.

In with a shout of making the FA Cup Final: The Prof and The Pep go head to head

Arsenal have a few players missing through injury, most notably the centre back Mustafi and the centre forward Danny Welbeck. Their absence will not, in my opinion, weaken their team. There is a strong argument that the starting 11 the Professor fielded at Middlesbrough on Monday is currently his strongest team. I hope that he is going to repeat his three at the back tactic as this dictates that the play will have width and when Arsenal use the whole of the pitch with their quick passing game they play some pretty neat stuff. The Prof is in buoyant mood ahead of the big game and has declared that going to Wembley ‘is always a special experience and that his squad are focussed and highly motivated’.

Up in the North West the ‘Maestro Manager’ Pep Guardiola has overseen a good week in preparation for the shoot out with The Gunners. Pep might also consider naming an unchanged team as centre back John Stones is still not fit and Gabriel Jesus has recovered from his metatarsal injury but is probably not quite ready for this match. Maybe he will bring Jesus on as a sub if needs a miracle.

Both teams can claim that history is in their favour. Man City have won all of their last 8 FA Cup semi final ties. The last time City lost at this stage was in 1932. Arsenal have been victorious on each of their last six visits to Wembley. The bookmakers have Man City as odds-on favourites but I am not so sure. I think this is going to be a very close game and could go to extra time and penalties.

While the two protagonists were preparing for the clash of the titans I was away from my home in the heart of Midlothian working in the East Midlands of England. While I was away a card came through the letterbox from the Royal Mail. It advised that I needed to go to the sorting office to sign for a special delivery. On Friday morning I signed and received a letter containing a ticket for the match on Sunday. Those who have been following this blog for a few weeks will know that I posted twice on Tuesday 4^th April. Firstly to state that I had purchased a ticket from an on-line tout trading as ‘Pro Time Tours’ and that I did not feel good about it. My second post later the same day announced that I had been scammed. This announcement was based on the fact that scamadviser.com had a number of references from people who had handed over their money to Pro Time Tours, not got tickets and in one case been subsequently defrauded out of £1000. Samadviser also flagged Pro Time Tours as ‘suspicious’. I cancelled my debit card and the bank advised me to proceed with fraud allegations when it was 100% cast iron that they had not met their commitment. Hence I was waiting until after the event before making the allegation formally … and then a ticket arrived!

I hereby retract the statement that I have been scammed. Does this however mean that Pro Time Tours are good guys? Absolutely not. The organisation lied to and misled me from my very first interaction with them. Here are a few examples: (i) They said on the phone they had been in business 9 years and their website (based in Canada) has only been live for 9 months; (ii) they added £20 for carriage onto the declared fee and this was not transparently flagged on their web page; (iii) they said in email that due to the ‘printing from the event promoters that they could not send the tickets until 7 days before the event’ – this is not true; (iv) they said in email that they would send the ticket 7 days before the event – it arrived three days before the event; (v) they said in email that all tracking details relating to delivery would be emailed to me – they were not.

Additionally, the letter was addressed to Mr C Sinkings (I have no idea how they came up with that) making it difficult to use my ID as Mr C Donkin to pick up the ticket and the actual cost of the carriage was £5.20 for an unmarked envelope with no compliments slip or anything like that. There is still no guarantee that the ticket is genuine or will get my old mucker in to the match.

My dealings with this on-line tout company have been very unpleasant. I remain very very grateful to the good people from the Halifax and District Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club for sorting me out with a bona fide ticket. I am looking forward to meeting up with some of these guys tomorrow at Wembley. In fact, despite the sour taste left by my dealings with and on line tout, I am looking forward to the whole Wembley experience.

Tomorrow the The Road to Wembley from Scotland will finally reach Wembley. Will Guardiola’s Pep talk get City psyched? Will the Arsenal students carry out the Professor’s instructions. Come back here on Monday to find out!