Traveling from London to Liverpool for Jan. 1 match

The real issue is that the railway is closed for engineering work between Milton Keynes and Rugby with replacement buses running over the closed section, so no direct trains.
Flixbus and National Express run direct buses between the two cities.
You could take Chiltern trains from Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street, short walk down the street to Birmingham New Street for trains to Liverpool.
Or LNER to Leeds, then Transpennine to Liverpool, or East Midlands Trains all the way from St Pancras, changing at Sheffield.
But in time terms they will probably be on a match with just using the replacement bus.

I'd rent a car.

You're going to struggle to get back to London on 1 January after the match. It doesn't kick off until 17:30.

On national rail there's train at 20:08 gets into Euston at 00:24 (3 changes). What time's your flight?

Thank you for the replies. Our return flight from London is at 9:00 am on January 2. Would it be better to hire a driver or rent a car? I can also try to change my flights.

Even the overnight National Express from Liverpool only gets you into Heathrow at 0550, a bit tight.
Really if intent on doing this by train you need to stay in Liverpool overnight, and change the flight by a day.

If you use a car service and accept the cost book a hotel at Heathrow, but you probably wont get there until gone midnight. for a 6am check in, so not much sleep. No good solution to this.
I've seen your other post on Trip Advisor.

I know this match has moved day due to TV scheduling

Pushing your flight back a day sounds like a plan to me. Attempting to travel anywhere by public transport on the 1st is fraught with danger (of things messing up). There's no service at all on many routes and modes of transport. New Year's Day is a much bigger holiday here than I imagine it is in the US. I'd even be kinda worried about 31st December, especially as things wind down for the holiday later in the afternoon.

I would never have considered hiring a private car and driver until you mentioned it. Sounds like a very expensive taxi fare to me.

I agree- if it's possible to move the flight a day, I would definitely do that. Travelling on 1 January will be difficult enough and even harder if you're planning to do it so late in the day after a match. However, have you checked to see the route you are planning for 2 January is running? You can check here for all the xmas period disruptions: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/christmas/

Yes, there are normally direct trains from London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street.

Yes, on 2 January the line closure continues so it's the same train to Rugby/train Rugby to Northampton/bus Northampton to Milton Keynes, train Milton Keynes to Euston combo.

Sounds like a nightmare.

Flixbus or National Express would be my second choice after driving I think. The trains sound like a complete bust to me. The buses out of Victoria are going to be super busy on Hogmanay too I'd imagine, since there's very little train service.

At least Liverpool should put a few past Leeds and cruise to an easy victory, looking on the bright side.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. We are unable to change our flights. We are considering renting a car with driver to get back after the game (we plan to leave our luggage in London). Any recommendations? Depending on the price, we can use that to get to the game also or try the national rail. We may also need to give up on seeing the game.

I don't have any recommendations personally, other than to Google "driver and car services Liverpool" or something along those lines. Read reviews and look at star ratings.

The cost to have someone drive you up from London, wait for you to see the game and drive you back may not be vastly different to hiring a driver in Liverpool. A Liverpool driver still has to make the return trip empty. There's a much bigger market in London for car and driver services, so you're more like to be able to shop around for a deal from someone. My theory anyway. You'd have to dig and do your own research to see how it works out for you, and what you're willing to spend.

My guess is that a taxi from Liverpool to Heathrow on New Year’s Day is going to be VERY expensive. That said 5 train tickets will also add up, so it is worth doing the maths.

A hospital in Liverpool provides me with a taxi to travel from home on a regular basis and they use Alpha Taxis. I have found them reliable and I know they travel to take patients quite long distances, so they would be worth checking with.

https://alphataxis.co.uk/

What also might be an issue is the relatively late kick off time meaning you are going to be getting back very late. Where will you plan to leave your luggage that will add further complication.

I’m a Liverpool supporter so I hate to say it, but I would drop the idea of going to the match.

Just been looking at train fares. Due to the complex journey Advance fares have been withdrawn, so 5 singles are a total of £399, Euston to Liverpool.
Thus if you want to go ahead a London based car is probably best for the return journey, and pay his/her waiting time in Liverpool.
It is roughly 170 miles each way, so I guess the return journey is somewhere north of £800, or $US1050, maybe more.
I don't know what the match tickets cost you, or how die hard fans you are, to be able to justify that cost.

I can't make that value judgement for you.

Whatever you decide the date change has done you no favours.

Correction- travelling on 31 December for 5 of you from St Pancras to Liverpool, changing at Sheffield the combined train fare is currently £146, travelling from Kings Cross via Leeds it is currently £199.
Chiltern haven't yet released their Marylebone to Birmingham fares yet.
Traveling National Express bus it is £120

Sorry to be a bit negative but I would be very cautious about using the Sheffield to Liverpool line on a bank holiday evening when you have little flexibility around arrival times.
In my experience it is not a very reliable route, I don’t think I have ever travelled o it and not been delayed.
Maybe I have been unlucky….

Emma, who said it was a Bank Holiday evening? It is the middle of the day on 31 December which I'm looking at having manually checked every permutation of split ticketing.
The 1232 from St Pancras, 1511 from Sheffield using an EMR groupsave Advance Split ticket, with a 30 minute change in Sheffield.
The last from Sheffield is at 2211, arrive Liverpool 0007 NYD (1902 from St Pancras) and is cheaper still.
This is the day before the match.
The OP is staying in Liverpool on 31 December. And for the record yes you have been unlucky, in my empirical experience.
No better or no worse in my opinion than TPE from Leeds.

Personally I'm leery to suggest self drive car rental for a 4 hour drive back in what could be foul weather.

I was responding if it was after the match which is a bank holiday evening, sorry if I was wrong.
But I’m not sure it makes that much difference. Based on my experience of decades of travelling on trains between Christmas and New Year the 31st Dec might as well be a bank holiday and Sheffield/Liverpool isn’t the best for reliability.

is a flight from Liverpool nae possible? I don't know when the last flight is.... but leaving the arena after 9pm isn't your friend

I would ask yourself how important the match is... is that the main reason you are coming here, or just something you thought might be fun to do while visiting? Unless it's super important to you, I would drop it. Can you resell the tickets? If you just want to see a match and aren't too bothered about the team, you could look at London based matches, including the lower level teams (e.g. Championship). If it's really important to you- maybe a long distance taxi is the best way.

The trip was planned around attending a Liverpool FC match. We knew it could be moved and we hoped it would fall during our stay. It was moved the night before our flight so just figuring if there is any way to still make it work.

Can you sell ( not scalp; don't want webmaster thinking I am suggesting anything contrary to Rule 6 or 7) ) the tickets and just go to a London pub and watch it there and avoid planning an expedition that has only slightly fewer moving parts than a Mt Everest climb?

Someone on Trip Advisor has just done a York to Southampton one way transfer on a Sunday for £500 with a local York company in spite of dozens of bordering on the hysterical negative comments of don't do that, it'll never work.
Find a local Liverpool company (may be from the Airport website) who will do the same, fork out the money and you are there, albeit tired, on your flight back

It's the same kind of distance.

There are no longer flights from Liverpool to London, although there were in the distant past and nothing that late out of Manchester airport.

I too have decades of experience of travelling by train over Christmas, and of using the Sheffield to Manchester line. The route works.

The difference is I just get on with it. Not trying to be super negative as in the TA post above.

For goodness sake that train via Sheffield gives you 7 hours to play with, before the last train. If that isn't long enough a buffer I don't know what is.
In a truly worst case the railway would have to pay for a taxi for you from Sheffield

In no scenario in this country have I had a 7 hour delay on any surface transport.

Oh, if you planned the whole trip around this match then you should definitely see it! I think hiring a taxi is the best option. I'm sure you will find some as it won't be uncommon for people living in Liverpool needing to be at e.g. Heathrow early for a flight. It will be expensive but if the match is important to you it will be worth it. Good luck with everything!

Stuart expressing a different opinion is not "hysterical" or "negative". The concerns posted by other forum members are perfectly valid even if you don't agree with them.

Travelmom, you have got a range of suggested options here, i hope you find one that works for you and you get to the match and more importantly the airport afterwards! :-) I also hope Liverpool's recent form improves!

Hello. My family has tickets for the January 1 Liverpool FC match. It was moved from the original date and I am adjusting our plans

Tickets are hen's teeth so find a way to be there! I'm envious. Our Supporters Club just put out the call for expressions of interest for tickets to 2nd half of season matches. Unfortunately with still working and having other travel plans long in the making, our club's tickets often go to the well heeled retirees among us. Maybe one day!