We eventually got back at midnight mate.

The next train was on platform 13, we made our way over but at the foot of the stair well there was an enormous queue of around 500 or so people so made our way back to platform 3 for the next one from there. With around 20 minutes before departure this platform filled so we heeded the advice from the station announcements and moved up the platform and got a good spot to board. With less than 5 minutes to departure the station announced that the platform had changed to number 2, the one directly behind us, which created a near stampede, for the train arriving behind, somebody could easily have been bumped off the platform and under the wheels of the arriving train. When it arrived there were folk charging the doors, it was incredibly dangerous. Eventually BTP arrived and stopped anyone else getting on. The staffing levels at Piccadilly were woefully inadequate, nor did any manager have any sense to restrict access to the platform to those with seat reservations before allowing anyone else to board. It was a miracle no one was hurt or killed.

Anyway after liasing with a member of station staff we got wind that they were arranging busses on the station concourse. We headed out to find a 15 seat minibus (I kid you not) which we were incredibly lucky to get on to take us to Leeds where we somehow managed to catch the last train home to Keighley with a matter of minutes to spare. Otherwise we would have been looking at a £40 taxi ride home.

The Leeds-Huddersfield-Manchester route gets busy all the time, especially on a weekend. But this was beyond that. I took one look at Platform 16 in Leeds and opted for the longer journey to Victoria instead....however, this even took 45 minutes longer than it does normally and was very over-crowded by Hebden Bridge.

We made it to Victoria for about 1....took one look at the tram queues and opted for a taxi. These came at a rate of about 1 every 12 minutes by my reckoning. I've never seen fewer taxis at a major station. Managed to get in eventually just as the Haka was starting.

Anyway, coming back we got a flying start 10 minutes before the end, and must have missed most of the rush. Waited 5 minutes for a tram, and queued for 10 minutes to get on to Platform 13 at Piccadilly. So not too bad, but you could see it was starting to build up, and the staff were very abrupt even at that point.

I cant say any of this came as a surprise though, sadly.

Once on the Manchester Victoria line and had to stand all the way due to the usual shortage of carriages. However, as we approached MV station the driver came on the tannoy and apologised for the poor service and then proceeded to slag off his bosses and told everyone they don't invest on this side of country and all the money went to the East Coast line etc. Brutally honest!

I got dropped off before the game as my missus was travelling on somewhere, but getting back was OK.
Directed to the tram station by the police, big queue, but it moved reasonably quickly.
Jumped off at Deansgate and got the 17.45 train to Lime St. off at Mossley Hill and I was back home by 7.
No worries for me. Looks like you guys coming from the east had the short end of the stick.

Huddersfield was a nightmare, we watched 5 trains go by and couldn't get on any. When we asked the customer services lady if they had planned on extra carriages or trains she declared there was no plans for that, however they would put buses on. Upon going outside to look for a bus, it was a 15 seater mini bus. Her explanation was FTPE didn't expect the passenger load. Who would have thought the annual Manchester Xmas market, shoppers and a major sporting event with the bulk of supporters living on the M62 belt would increase train loads

I travel on the trans pennine trains a fair bit during the week and the number of carriages is almost always higher than the three or four we were faced with yesterday.

I travelled from Halifax, went across to Huddersfield and it was bedlam, took us over an hour and a quarter to get on a train, luckily we got to Hudds at 10.40.

Dally, this game cannot be compared to a Man Utd game where the crowd are dispersing all over the country, when nearly half are heading back to Yorkshire and many of those are on public transport with xmas shoppers added to the mix, and a large Leeds following to Blackburn then the train companies preparation was woeful.

This cannot be compared to the Grand Finals with their 6pm kick offs avoiding such a concentration of travellers all at once. Going home we got lucky realising the lift was still taking people to Platform 13, but the train was still packed. The journey home was made bearable thanks to some charming ladies from Normanton.