Stockholm tournament - had you already booked your flights etc?

[davieG]

From the Merc

If you're going to lose money - There's nothing definite but it could be worth your while contacting them.

A disappointed Leicester City fan who had arranged to fly to Sweden for the club's pre-season tour has written to manager Sven-Goran Eriksson after a fixture change.

David Young, a City supporter since he was six, was planning to see the match against Italian side Brescia during the team's trip to Sven's home country.

But on Monday, the Foxes announced Brescia had pulled out and a different game had been scheduled for a day earlier.

It means Mr Young and friend, Brett Aherne, who had booked flights around the game on July 15, will now miss out.

The 29-year-old, who grew up in Wigston and is now based in Middlesex with the RAF, said: "I'm devastated, to be honest.

"I understand it's not their fault that Brescia have withdrawn but why can't they reschedule a game for the same day? It just doesn't make any sense."

Mr Young and Mr Aherne booked the flights six weeks ago, shortly after the tour was announced.

Their flights arrive on the morning of Friday, July 15, which would have them there in time for the match that day.

Their flight home is on Sunday, July 17. The trip cost them a total of £490 and they have been told they will only be refunded £116 if they cancel. Changing the flights and hotel dates by a day will cost an extra £660.

Mr Young said: "The money we would get back just isn't enough and we can't afford to pay hundreds more pounds to change so we're going to go for the weekend and not see anything. It's not about the money, I'm just devastated I won't get to see them play."

Mr Young, who held a season ticket with City for five years, has travelled hundreds of miles to see all of their home games since he has been based in London.

He had planned the Sweden trip for his 30th birthday.

In his letter to Sven, Mr Young wrote: "I understand that Brescia withdrawing from the competition is out of your control but I feel it is unacceptable just putting a statement on your website." The fixture changes mean Spanish side Real Mallorca will replace Brescia, playing City 24 hours earlier than originally scheduled, on Thursday, July 14.

Dan Pole, 27, of Wigston, has also been affected.

He said: "Three of us had booked to go early on the Friday morning and come back on the Saturday.

"Because the game is now the day before, we couldn't get more time off work so we've got to cancel. We paid about £70 for the flights and I'm just waiting to find out what the policy is."

A spokesman for Leicester City said the club was still looking in to how many supporters were affected. He said: "The club would like to extend its apologies to supporters that have already made travel arrangements and could subsequently be affected by the change in schedule. Changes to the competition have been made by the tournament organisers and were outside our control.

"Supporters that have already made their travel arrangements but will now, as a result of the schedule changes, not see any of the games, should contact the club directly by emailing [email protected].

[MPH]

I hope they do get some compensation, but that's not the only thing.

Must of been infuriating and a big disappointment. for them

To see City on tour, in another country is an experience in itself... and im sure they are annoyed at missing out..

[MC Prussian]

It's not so much the fact that Brescia have pulled out, it's the one fixture change (playing Mallorca a day earlier) which I don't understand.

Surely they could've let things the way they were...?

From my own experience, communication has been quite poor.

The Swedish authorities (in this case the sports management company presenting itself as the co-organiser and to an extent IF Hammarby) were either late announcing the changes or not responding to direct fan enquiries rather late (like in my case).

LCFC are only the messenger, but maybe they could've been a bit more proactive themselves.

I first wrote sportsbusiness.se six weeks ago and again 14 days ago - they got back to me this Tuesday (!).

I guess they must be short on personnel, I can't find another reasonable explanation for this little PR disaster.

Luckily, I've been able to amend my travel plans accordingly - shame some will now miss out.

Overall, poor planning.

[Alexikokopops]

£490 for three days??? I'm going for four days and it's cost me a grand total of £150!

Anyone fancy my email for me? I'm a very lazy man.