‘Logistical nightmare’ – Horsham FC manager Di Paola slams Barnsley FC, the FA and South Yorkshire Police following FA Cup date switch

The Hornets’ Cup clash at the Tykes will kick-off at 7.45pm on Friday, November 3 following consultation with local emergency services.

The decision to move the game - which will not be broadcast on television - has been widely criticised by Horsham and Barnsley supporters alike.

Di Paola told the West Sussex County Times the decision to switch the tie smacked of ‘farce’, and slammed Barnsley and the FA for their complete lack of support in getting the match played over the weekend.

He said: “It’s a farce isn’t it? It’s just mad. I don’t understand anything about it.

“I’ve seen a lot of the emails and we’ve received very little support from Barnsley if I’m honest. They kind of went with it and that’s it.

“We requested the Sunday, the police never really explained the reason why they don’t want the game on the Sunday. We were just told to play on Friday.

“It doesn’t surprise me. The FA never supports anything in the right way. Barnsley aren’t going to care either way because it doesn’t affect them.

“I’ve noticed their supporters are in agreement with us from all the supporters’ comments I’ve seen.

“It is what it is. We’ve just got to suck it up and get on with it. Sadly, the weekend experience has been taken away from us but what can you do? Nothing.

“As usual, the smaller club gets walked all over and the FA never does anything to help.”

In response to the move, Hornets committee vice-chairman Mark Barrett has written to South Yorkshire Police Commissioner Dr Alan Billings to express his ‘complete dismay’ at the forces’ decision to move the game, but has yet to receive a response.

In his letter, Mr Barrett said the decision to move the tie to a weekday evening will deny Horsham fans a chance to attend arguably the club’s biggest match in their history, and could potentially cost the Hornets thousands of pounds in revenue.

There is also a major worry that a number of Horsham players will be unable to travel to Barnsley due to work commitments, Mr Barrett added.

Di Paola echoed Mr Barrett’s sentiments, branding the rearranged trip to Yorkshire a ‘logistical nightmare’ for the club and supporters.

He continued: “It’s a logistical nightmare. We’ve got to travel halfway up the country, regardless of whether we go up on Thursday or Friday morning. We’ve then got to coordinate plans up there, and it’s the same for our supporters.

“It’s such a shame for them. They’ve now got to make plans on a Friday night to go to a football match. It will affect the attendance, which will affect us financially, but not one of Barnsley, the FA, or the police have even bothered to help in any way.

“We’ll do the best we can and prepare the best we can and then come back down again.”

Di Paola was also incredibly disappointed with the responses the club had received from the FA and South Yorkshire Police via email.

The Horsham boss said the club have received one-line responses from the FA, while South Yorkshire Police have not responded to any correspondence with the Hornets.

Here is what South Yorkshire Police said in response to the criticism.

Di Paola said: “There should have been a collective stand. The FA are the governing body for all levels of football in this country. We wrote four or five emails saying roughly the same thing each time; that we believe it should have been on a different day.

“We’ve received literally one-liners from the FA. They don’t care, they’re not interested.

“South Yorkshire Police have not even bothered to respond to any of our later emails we’ve made. They told us they want it on Friday.

“If it was a joint-effort from Barnsley and us, I feel it would have held a bit more weight but we’ve not had anything like that. We’ve got the furthest to travel that weekend, so I don’t understand why this game was pushed to be played on a Friday.

“The whole thing is madness, but nothing surprises me with the FA, nothing surprises me with any police force in this country, and to be honest nothing surprises me that this has come from a bigger club.

“Whenever we’ve dealt with a bigger club in the last few years, we end up having to pander to their requirements. It shouldn’t be like that in my opinion.”

Di Paola admitted moving the tie was also a huge blow to families who wanted to make a weekend of Horsham’s visit to Yorkshire.

The Hornets boss said Barnsley and the authorities simply didn’t care about the club’s players or supporters, and the situation reinforced his views on Football League clubs, the FA, and the police.

He said: “Families now can’t come. I wanted to bring my family up.

“If you think about it, you would have had 1,500 to 2,000 Horsham day-trippers, supporters, and families coming up to Barnsley, not that Barnsley Football Club cares. I would argue we would probably have brought more than your average EFL team because it’s such a one-off game.

“We took about 500 or 600 to Carlisle and that was on a weekend where there were problems with the trains, so a lot of people couldn’t get up there. I would guarantee we would have taken well over 1,000 to Barnsley.

“The football club is meant to be the epicentre of the community, and because there hasn’t been an effort to get the game moved there has been no support for the local community.

“The biggest factor from my point of view is that it sums up the FA, and it sums up the police. I’ve been at this club nine years, I’ve been a manager and known of Horsham for 14, 15 years, and I’ve never known there to be a single problem with any of our supporters.

“If the South Yorkshire Police had anything about them would they not have just contacted Sussex Police?

“Barnsley aren’t bothered about it. Their view is that it makes it an easier game - and bear in mind we’re five divisions below them anyway - but for our boys it’s time off work, it’s a night game so it takes away a lot from what they hoped to experience.

“But that’s why I don’t like the way people and teams can throw their weight around. I don’t like the way the FA operates. Supposedly they’re for everyone but they clearly aren’t and this is the perfect example of it.

“There won’t be a response to the letter that Mark Barrett sent because the police can’t even respond to a callout for a stolen car. The chances of them responding to a letter sent in to them is completely unlikely.

“They’ve not had any pressure put on them by Barnsley or the FA to ensure the game was played over the weekend, so why would they care? We’re just a small club in Sussex.”