Norwich City confirm travel information ahead of Cardiff and it’s caused a stir online | OneFootball

Norwich City are charging fans £67 for a coach trip to Cardiff City in their upcoming EFL Cup clash

Despite the EFL Cup second round still being regionalised into northern and southern sections, there's still the possibility of lengthy trips across the country from the east to the west.

Norwich City's trip to divisional rivals Cardiff City is arguably the longest regionalised away day in the country, as those in Norfolk will have to make the 548-mile round trip to South Wales and back to watch their side in the cup tie.

Canaries fans will have to make the trip again towards the back end of winter, too, with the league matchup at the Cardiff City Stadium currently scheduled for February 6.

Ultimately, whoever makes that trip for either will be commended, but especially next Tuesday, given the prices it will cost for a weekday evening game.

Norwich City reveal official supporters coach prices for Cardiff City EFL Cup trip

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The early rounds of the EFL Cup are, usually, poorly attended. The EFL have tweaked things over the years to try and improve that, like this season, scheduling the first round the weekend before the league campaign begins.

The regionalisation of the draw before the European teams enter in round three has been around for several seasons now to help encourage away fans to make the shorter trips, but there's always the opportunity for a lengthy anomaly to crop up, given the locations of certain sides.

Norwich have acknowledged how long a trip to Cardiff can be, so have organised official supporters' coach travel for the game in South Wales. Unfortunately, the prices they have revealed are quite extortionate.

A regular coach ticket costs £67, while season ticket holders and members can travel for £66. Furthermore, the coach leaves Carrow Road at 10:45 am, meaning fans will definitely have to book a full day off work, potentially even two, given the lengthy trip back.

Norwich City fans react to the price of the supporters' coach to Cardiff City

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While the price of the coach is somewhat cancelled out by the cost of a ticket to the game, with the most expensive adult ticket costing £17, it's still quite expensive to make the trip, especially for an early-round EFL Cup tie against a team in their division.

The coach ticket prices have garnered a lot of negative reaction online. One fan commented in response to the Norwich tweet revealing the costs, "Would it kill the ownership/club to subsidise travel from time to time for games like this? £66 just for travel is ridiculous. Constantly told how much they appreciate the fanbase — perhaps do something to show it."

"£84 to do Cardiff away on a Tuesday night. Clubs starting to become very greedy recently," another said.

There was also some outrage at the season ticket holder discount of just £1. Some feel that to be quite offensive, saying, "Thanks for the extremely generous offer of £1 off coach travel for season ticket holders! Honestly, it’s just insulting at this point."

"You want £67 for coach travel .. and you’ve given STH £1 off that .. and you think that's acceptable .. what a club," another wrote.

"Stone me! I had to check this out for myself. £66 for a coach ticket, knowing full well trains are out of the question. Do you enjoy robbing your fans blind? That’s a joke!" one West Brom fan added. Evidently, this decision isn't one that only Norwich fans are taking umbrage against.

Norwich City fans who make long EFL Cup trip should be praised

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The last time a club outside the Premier League made the EFL Cup final was Bradford City's miraculous run in 2013. While it may be a pessimistic take, it's very unlikely that Norwich will be going on a deep run in this tournament.

When adding that the game will be televised on Sky Sports + anyway, the long trip to a club in the same division on a Tuesday night for that much money doesn't seem to be a sensible decision for Canaries fans to make.

Therefore, whoever does make the near 10-hour round trip next Tuesday to the Welsh capital should be praised massively, and likely reimbursed for any travel, not made to pay over the odds to get there.

Now more than ever, clubs are operating more sustainably, but in this case, perhaps it would be wiser to foot a bit of a loss to increase the opportunity of bringing a decent crowd to the Cardiff City Stadium.