just like to know the views of fellow tarn supporters about the semi finals at wembley do you think it takes the shine of the final all though i wouldnt mind been at them both
absolutely-it's simply................ to try to recoup some of the massive overspend on the stadium-
RE: absolutely-it's simply................ semi finals should be a neutral grounds. no way should they be at wembley. the fa cup final should be special ffs.
Couldn't agree more !!!! ... er ahem except this year when we might get a shot at the semi and a day out at Wembley.
It totally devalues the FA Cup final and the whole experience of wembley in general Not to mention it, as usual, favours the london teams who now hve the 'home' advantage whenever they play a northern team. The FA have even admitted that the decision to have the semi finals at wembley is nothing to do with football but purely a business decision. A business decision taken to try to scrape back some of the hundreds of millions of pounds that they wasted by spending near enough a billion rebuilding wembley when it could have been done for a fraction of the cost elsewhere in the country and if they had turned the original wembley into the national football museum (a proper one, not just one stuck in the back of one teams stand with a sloping roof) then they could easily have made a profit.
No How can it take the shine off it. Wembley is just a patch a grass where Football has been played for only "85 years". It's the Competition that counts the most not the venue.
RE: It totally devalues the FA Cup final and the whole experience of wembley in general Semi finals were being played at Wembley long before the new one. I am sure we won't be complaining if we win today.
And that was originally supposed to be a one off To acccommodate an Arsenal V Spurs semi until the dee dars started moaning. Of course if we get there I'll be going, but it does devalue the final. The decision to revert back to Wembley is to recoup some of the money....they were happy enough using neutral venues for the last few years and not having them at the Millennium.
Like ferguson says, why should man utd and middlesbrough fans have to travel to london and pay london prices if their teams get drawn in the semi finals when there are perfectly good grounds up here? And of course it takes the shine off the final, especially if you are a small club as it isn't just the experience of being in a cup final that makes the day, it is the experience of this is it, you are watching your team at wembley, a once in a lifetime event and fans make a day of it, they explore the area, try out overy local pub and sample the atmosphere. They look at the stadium and take photo's knowing that this could be their only chance, they look around in the ground, look up at the scoreboards, at the roof, even around the concourses at the toilets and refreshment stands. They do all this because it is possibly their only chance, add that to the fact it is the final and you have one of the best days out that a football fan can ever imagine. Take away the fact that it is the final and you are left with just the wembley experience and is essentially just another game. Move foraward to the final and yes you still have the cup final aspect which makes the day out amazing but you have lost the 'only chance at wembley' part of the day which really makes a difference.
The FA have admitted as much themselves. with comments such as 'this was not a footballing decision' and 'it was always part of the business plan'
I agree to an extent that it devalues the final but for clubs like us its great to have that feeling of being one game away from Wembley. It feels like a cup final for us.
Should be at Old Trafford or Villa Park etc Wembley is special and should be reserved for the final. I'm not sure that the playoff finals should be at Wembley either, why not play them over 2 legs? After all it is effectively a league game.
