FOOTBALL fans are facing travel chaos as the station outside Wanderers’ Macron stadium will be closed for the first two months of the new season.

Six home league fixtures will be affected by the closure, as well as this Saturday’s friendly with local rivals Preston.

Horwich Parkway station, which serves the Macron, will be closed each Saturday and Sunday until October 2, as Network Rail carries out work to electrify the rail network in the region.

Whites play Preston North End at 3pm on Saturday and fans travelling to the match will be advised to make alternative arrangements for travel.

This will then be the case for the Wanderers’ first six home fixtures of the new League One season which all kick off at 3pm on Saturdays.

Fans travelling to matches against Sheffield United on August 6, Fleetwood Town on August 20, Southend United on September 3, Milton Keynes Dons on September 10, Bradford City on September 24 and Oxford United on October 1 will all need to find other means of getting to the Macron.

A spokesman for Network Rail said replacement buses will be available for travel to Horwich Parkway.

He said: “As part of Network Rail’s £1bn-plus Railway Upgrade Plan, we are undertaking a large-scale project to electrify the route between Manchester and Preston via Bolton.

“To enable faster, more frequent trains to run along this route buses will replace trains between Preston and Bolton at weekends serving intervening stations including Horwich Parkway.

He added: “On Saturdays until October 2 there is a service of three buses per hour in each direction serving Horwich Parkway station — passengers should therefore check before they travel.”

Despite this, a spokesman for Northern Rail, which manages the station, asked football fans to consider choosing to travel by car or by using supporter transport, so as not to put too heavy a strain on the replacement bus services.

Bolton Council’s cabinet member for transport and Wanderers fan Cllr David Chadwick, said he will be contacting Northern Rail to see if anything can be done to ease the problems for football fans travelling to the affected matches.

He said: “There are lots of football fans who rely on this form of transport to get to matches and clearly they could be affected by these closures.

“I will be speaking with Northern Rail to ensure that they are providing the right level of replacement services.”