B4 spotlight
fiRSt ClaSS tRavel to the Capital one CUp final A random text response to a talkSPORT competition to win two tickets to the first major cup final of the domestic season and before we knew it, Ed and I were being dropped at Haddenham & Thame Parkway Station for our forty minute trip to the Capital. What better way to kick off and end our unforgettable trip to the Capital One Cup Final at Wembley Stadium than to travel in style with Chiltern Railways. WRITTEN BY: RICHARD ROSSER
Chiltern Railways have long been supporters of B4 and as soon as our big competition win had sunk in, I knew that to fully enjoy our day supporting Chelsea against Tottenham in the Capital One Cup Final, we would have no other choice but to take the super efficient Chiltern Railways service to within two minutes walk of the Bobby Moore statue outside the main Club Wembley entrance. It really was a fairytale win with Ed having celebrated his 18th Birthday just two days before the final and Chiltern got us to the final bang on time. It was our first visit to the recently refurbished Haddenham & Thame Parkway station and it couldn’t have been simpler. Once we’d purchased our tickets, we sat in the ‘winter proof’ waiting rooms and awaited our train. Having re-energised our phones and double checked the tickets, we drew in to Wembley Stadium station at 11.28. We had been urged to arrive at the Media Centre as two of only eighty competition winners at 11.30, so it was a brisk trot around the perimeter of the stadium to what was, in essence, entry to the Chocolate Factory. What a day! We started with a briefing having passed through the media centre, up the winner’s steps to the Royal Box, down through to the Mixed Zone and the tunnel, within touching distance of the dressing rooms. We walked out of the tunnel, out on to the perimeter of the pitch as the choir practised the National Anthem – hairs stood firmly up on the back of our necks! Next up… a pic with the Capital One Cup trophy! Wow! We then walked around the pitch taking in our tour guide’s fact filled account of Wembley’s history, a picture of Ed with Sky’s Nick
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Collins (pitchside of course) and then back into the Great Hall for lunch – great because it takes 700 diners! After lunch and a Q and A with talkSPORT’s Darren Gough with ex Chelsea and Tottenham stars, Frank Sinclair and Darren Anderton, it was up to our seats and soak up the incredible atmosphere. 2-0 to Chelsea – it really couldn’t get any better! What a day.
home in half an hour, “courtesy of another straightforward journey with Chiltern. Why on earth would you not take the train?
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Richard Rosser - Editor B4 Magazine
It was 6.30pm by the time we left the stadium and as both finalists were more central London, our queue was non-existent and we breezed through with our Capital One goody bags to the train and home in half an hour, courtesy of another straightforward journey with Chiltern. Why on earth would you not take the train? With thanks to: Chiltern Railways: Chiltern Railways are building a groundbreaking new rail line between Oxford and London Marylebone. This will be the first new rail link between London and a major British city in over 100 years and will bring significant economic benefits for those living and working along the route. The £130m investment
will result in Chiltern running services between London Marylebone and a new station to the north of the city, Oxford Parkway, from summer 2015 and we will run from the centre of Oxford from Spring 2016. This work brings our total investment in the line to £600 million since the start of the franchise. talkSPORT is the world’s biggest sports radio station and is Global Audio Partner of the Premier League. The station is an official broadcaster of the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup, Capital One Cup and England football internationals. talkSPORT is available on 1089/1053AM, on digital radio, on mobile and online at www.talkSPORT.com As the only national radio station broadcasting sport 24 hours a day, talkSPORT brings passionate and informed coverage of the most exciting sports events of the year, as well as interviews with the biggest names in the sporting world. Capital One launched in the UK in 1996, offering credit cards to UK customers. The UK headquarters and operations centre for Capital One (Europe) plc is located in Nottingham. In 2014, Capital One won first place in the Great Place to Work® 'Best Workplaces' Awards for companies with 500 or more employees in the UK for the second year running. In June 2012 Capital One signed a fouryear multi-million-pound deal to sponsor the Football League Cup, now known as the Capital One Cup.
CONTACT DETAILS www.chilternrailways.co.uk www.talksport.com www.capitalone.co.uk
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