Climate campaigners have slammed Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola after he complained about a paucity of flights from Newcastle for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup match.
After failing to find a plane for the return trip, City will take an Ellisons coach back to Manchester, a 142-mile trek.
Guardiola expressed concern that the mode of transportation will have an impact on his team’s recovery time, implying that players might not get enough rest as a result.
“The travel manager told me, we cannot come back by plane because we don’t have a plane to travel back, so we have to take a bus,” Guardiola stated on Tuesday.
“It’s not a problem but we arrive so late – two or three hours later.”
According to reports, there are no trains accessible at that time of night, throwing out another possibility for the defending Premier League winners.
In reaction to Guardiola’s remarks, Rob Bryher of the climate action group Possible told me, “Sports teams and athletes are role models to millions, and they shouldn’t be modeling such irresponsible, high-carbon behavior as flying from one city to another in a small country.”
“We are in a climate crisis, and sport is in jeopardy.” We already have to make a decision.
Certain host countries and times of year are preferred to minimize severe temperatures during competitions. Winter sports have also been jeopardized due to a lack of snow and unusual weather.
“Professional sports should be at the forefront of climate action, not fueling the fire.” There is nothing wrong with taking the bus or rail. In reality, it’s what thousands of their young fans would want to see from their club: genuine climate leadership.”
City’s trip to Newcastle begins a four-game road journey for Guardiola’s team as they battle for trophies on all fronts.
The Citizens travel to Wolves on Saturday, RB Leipzig on October 4, and Arsenal on October 8.
Premier League clubs were chastised last season for their use of domestic flights, with BBC Sport investigating 81 instances of teams flying small distances to matches rather than taking the road or rail.
According to reports, the average duration of these flights was 42 minutes, with some lasting less than half an hour.
According to the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from aviation fuel contribute to climate change and are substantially worse in short-haul flights than in any other mode of transportation.
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