FA Cup semi finals

[Mr Angry]

I am surprised no-one has mentioned this.

Manchester City play Liverpool in one of the FA Cup semi's at Wembley on the weekend of 16th/17th April, which is Easter weekend.

There are NO direct trains running from Manchester or Liverpool that weekend.

Network Rail published their plans for these major engineering works in 2019; they formally contacted the FA a Year ago to tell them that these engineering works would be happening and so not to schedule any major games in London where teams from the North West might be in.......and the FA ignored them!

Result total carnage with fans unable to travel directly by public transport.

The Mayors of Liverpool & Manchester have called for the game to be relocated to a different venue (presumably Old Trafford).

Why is the FA so incompetent?

[Winston Biscuit]

The FA have a large debt on Wembley that needs paying
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/1506527304947847168

[Weymouth Royal]

Always been against FAC semi's being held at Wembley. I know it's all about money for the FA, but it makes reaching Wembley a lot less special. Semis at Old Trafford and Villa Park were great, and cracking atmospheres. In London we could now add Spurs and Arsenal if need be.

[Sanguine]

Always been against FAC semi's being held at Wembley. I know it's all about money for the FA, but it makes reaching Wembley a lot less special. Semis at Old Trafford and Villa Park were great, and cracking atmospheres. In London we could now add Spurs and Arsenal if need be.

For another perspective, our FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal being at Wembley did make the day pretty special as a supporter of a smaller club. Wouldn't have been the same going to Villa Park.

As equally as Liverpool and City shouldn't have to travel to Wembley, it would have been silly (for example) having Arsenal and Reading fans travelling up to Birmingham. Appreciate the financial considerations outlined on that Twitter thread. Ideally for me the FA would pick a two Northern/Midlands and two Southern venues at the start of each season and then allocate whatever semi-finals transpire accordingly, but I guess football and money doesn't allow for such flexibility.

[Dirk Gently]

The FA have a large debt on Wembley that needs paying
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/1506527304947847168

I though that had been paid off a few years ago.

[Dirk Gently]

Always been against FAC semi's being held at Wembley. I know it's all about money for the FA, but it makes reaching Wembley a lot less special. Semis at Old Trafford and Villa Park were great, and cracking atmospheres. In London we could now add Spurs and Arsenal if need be.

For another perspective, our FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal being at Wembley did make the day pretty special as a supporter of a smaller club. Wouldn't have been the same going to Villa Park.

As equally as Liverpool and City shouldn't have to travel to Wembley, it would have been silly (for example) having Arsenal and Reading fans travelling up to Birmingham. Appreciate the financial considerations outlined on that Twitter thread. Ideally for me the FA would pick a two Northern/Midlands and two Southern venues at the start of each season and then allocate whatever semi-finals transpire accordingly, but I guess football and money doesn't allow for such flexibility.

Add in that Villa Park has a capacity of 42,785 which is less than half Wembley's, so only about 40% of those Reading fans who look back on that pretty special day would be able to do that if it'd been held there.

There are also fewer final tickets available to competing clubs because of the sponsors and FA tickets etc (*), so semis at Wembley is a way for many fans to actaully see their team there.

(*) - I'm aware ths is a whole other argument.

[Sutekh]

Usual couldn’t care less about “joe public” attitude. Not surprised really as that attitude is the same whatever the authority is.

The FA will still fill the ground with the corporate day trippers and the mug punters will still arrive by car etc. to fill the meagre parking even more quickly and of course everyone will try to make that as difficult as possible. Said at the time of replacing the old Wembley the national football stadium should never have been rebuilt in such a stupid place.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I do agree with the sentiment that it doesn't give some fans an opportunity to see their team play at Wembley as well as allowing more fans to see their club at Wembley, but that obviously will only apply to the special circumstances, like ourselves, who will only reach Wembley a handful of times.

But again, it does take some of the gloss off the final being at Wembley when the Semi's are. I've never personally been bothered about it really, I like watching games at Wembley, but I can understand that argument as well.

I wouldn't mind it going back to where games were being played at Old Trafford or Villa Park. You could even add the London (Olympic) Stadium, Emirates, Spurs' ground to that list as well these days. Although I can totally understand why it would be less viable financially and more difficult for the supporters of clubs going to a ground with less capacity, as well as the clubs who wouldn't generate as much income through that stream.

[Winston Biscuit]

I think I am in the rare category of people that would have preferred to see us play the semi somewhere else, like Villa Park

[South Coast Royal]

I think I am in the rare category of people that would have preferred to see us play the semi somewhere else, like Villa Park

No, you are not.
Semi-finals were always about Villa Park , Hillsboro etc. but the greedy football administrators want to get more and more out of the fans.
A final is something very special rather than "we were here a few weeks ago" paying Wembley prices.

Also with the main contenders often from Liverpool and Manchester the logistics of getting to London and back are a nightmare.

[South Coast Royal]

I think I am in the rare category of people that would have preferred to see us play the semi somewhere else, like Villa Park

No, you are not.
Semi-finals were always about Villa Park , Hillsboro etc. but the greedy football administrators want to get more and more out of the fans.
A final is something very special rather than "we were here a few weeks ago" paying Wembley prices.

Also with the main contenders often from Liverpool and Manchester the logistics of getting to London and back are a nightmare.

Perhaps the FA/ government could do a bit of levelling up and have that stadium built in the Midlands, a stadium that might not have cost the fortune that it took to convert Wembley into what?
A stadium still difficult to get to and slightly different seating.

[Brogue]

looks like they will all be coming through Reading, https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/readi ... l-23472332

[Hendo]

Just seen on a retro football twitter page I follow a goal from an FA Cup Semi-Final in 1993. Looked an awful lot like Wembley, turns out it was! Both semi finals that year were played at Wembley. Doing a bit more digging it turns out they were both derbys, which is pretty cool (Sheffield and North London).

As I was not even 2 at the time, why were both semis played at Wembley that year? Was it because of the derbys? Was there the same uproar we have now about semi-finals being played at Wembley? Looking into it, it looks like the semi's in 1994 were played at Wembley as well, with the Manchester Utd semi final replay at Maine Road.

[From Despair To Where?]

Just seen on a retro football twitter page I follow a goal from an FA Cup Semi-Final in 1993. Looked an awful lot like Wembley, turns out it was! Both semi finals that year were played at Wembley. Doing a bit more digging it turns out they were both derbys, which is pretty cool (Sheffield and North London).

As I was not even 2 at the time, why were both semis played at Wembley that year? Was it because of the derbys? Was there the same uproar we have now about semi-finals being played at Wembley? Looking into it, it looks like the semi's in 1994 were played at Wembley as well, with the Manchester Utd semi final replay at Maine Road.

Basically, Arsenal and Spurs met in the semi final in 1991 and the FA decided to play it at Wembey for convenience sake. 2 years later Arsenal met Spurs again so it was moved to Wembley and the 2 Sheffield clubs had a hissy fit because they didn't think it was fair and didn't want to play at Elland Rd.

[Hendo]

Just seen on a retro football twitter page I follow a goal from an FA Cup Semi-Final in 1993. Looked an awful lot like Wembley, turns out it was! Both semi finals that year were played at Wembley. Doing a bit more digging it turns out they were both derbys, which is pretty cool (Sheffield and North London).

As I was not even 2 at the time, why were both semis played at Wembley that year? Was it because of the derbys? Was there the same uproar we have now about semi-finals being played at Wembley? Looking into it, it looks like the semi's in 1994 were played at Wembley as well, with the Manchester Utd semi final replay at Maine Road.

Basically, Arsenal and Spurs met in the semi final in 1991 and the FA decided to play it at Wembey for convenience sake. 2 years later Arsenal met Spurs again so it was moved to Wembley and the 2 Sheffield clubs had a hissy fit because they didn't think it was fair and didn't want to play at Elland Rd.

I see, interesting...

And the next season? Or was it something The FA were experimenting with?

[From Despair To Where?]

I think they experimented the next season which saw Oldham and Man Utd fans trawling down to Wembley and they weren't too keen on that with an obvious alternative venue at Maine Rd, which is where the replay was played. The other Semi final was Chelsea v Luton which was and Wembley was less than 2/3 full.

It was abandoned after that until the FA needed to pay for year shiny new stadium.

[Hendo]

Interesting, I had no idea that FA Cup semis were played at Wembley before the new stadium. Thought they had always been played at another venue. I guess they did apart from a couple of odd occasions.

[From Despair To Where?]

I get the point of an Arsenal-Spurs semi being played there. Pointless sending them both up to Villa Park or Hillbsorough and have 2 sets of rival fans using the same trains/motorways etc. and any other stadium in London wouldn't satisfy demand for tickets. Its was all down to the 2 Sheffield clubs throwing their toys out of the pram. The Man utd and Oldham fans rightly complained about using Wembley and Chelsea - Luton wasn't a big enough game to warrant it.

I reckon now there's realistically enough big stadia to do it again and if Arsenal and Spurs met again there's West Ham or the FA could throw a bit of money at the RFU to use Twickenham but it's driven by money.

[Silver Fox]

I'm sure the Wednesday fans were ruing the whining when they were headed down to Wembers for the third time when the final was replayed.