FA Cup Semi Final draw - Brighton

[chesterbells]

Maybe your right, but why all of a sudden would loads of those sort of people want to go

Cos their tickets are free(?)

 

[decmancity]

It’s not a good reflection on the club or players, we are playing the best football the premier league has seen, still chasing the major trophies and us as fans can’t be arsed no wonder we get so much stick, and get the piss taken out of us when the cameras show empty seats.

No its not a good reflection on the club if they can't see the amount of stress and pressure people are put under to follow City all over the country to games. The club can comfortably afford to help people out, they haven't. End of.

 

[Mike N]

It’s not a good reflection on the club or players, we are playing the best football the premier league has seen, still chasing the major trophies and us as fans can’t be arsed no wonder we get so much stick, and get the piss taken out of us when the cameras show empty seats.

Good God.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

I binned aways a few years ago, now I'm semi-retired I have moved upto 315 from 117 from plat to gold but in both domestic cup schemes (think the LC one will go next season with my points I'll always be fine for a ticket, don't do CL games home or away anymore and for the LC final & this semi am in the cheapest seats driving down Saturday morning, staying at my lad's near Oxford & he's driving into the game rather than on the piss all day on the coach (taking some cans down for afterwards back at his pad).....money while not tight isn't as freely available to spend on football anymore.

I've cut my cloth accordingly and would only have not gone to the semi had we been playing Millwall as I can't be arsed with all the shit & hassle that would have entailed.

 

[kippaxkid74]

Lets be clear, Saturday is not a boycott - people just cant be arsed. I have no issue with people who have taken that decision though, they are entitled to do so.

I know that's not at me, but i am sick of the broad generalisation on here that people "can't be arsed". Many are so skint they have finally had to miss a Wembley. So yeah, i take it personally and will feel guilty as hell. My post last week explained my reasons, as i felt i need to give a note to teacher (which in this case "teacher" seems to be our seat counting other fans..)

My reasons were this - was this ok?!

My 76 year old mum has made me pay for her season ticket and cup matches the last 5 years, claiming she can't afford it etc, so i pay it, but i'm going under...
So this will be the first wembley match since the 86 full members cup we've not been to, all the semis / shields / league cup finals / fa cup finals / play off final - we did them all, every one of them :( (and i'm not including the spurs prem games there).
Always went to the semis and shield saying what others are saying here - ie that it's city at wembley and we'dve killed for that years ago. But i haven't got the money, will need it for the final if we get there, but i'm not sure how i'm going to pay for that either this time. And as for the season ticket renewal :( My partners debts mean we may be forced bankrupt later this year. In other words, i'm not going but it's due to money, and i feel guilty as hell and i shouldn't feel that way!!! :(
If you have the money and stuff then GO, it's worth it. I just can't this year and feel pig sick :(

Though actually it's a good job i didn't book, as my 2 year old had been quite ill and though he's getting better he gave it me for mother's day, and i'm full of fever, tonsilitis, and also for good measure severe conjunctivitis so can't see great. Had to sell tonight's game on ticket exchange (and it has sold, so no emoty seats!), i hate missing any match.

So althought maybe many are "wembleyd out", there are also many who are feeling such a strain that the match ticket, train or coach, and probable overnight stay (would've been for us as my mum isn't in great health and can't do the long day trip to london anymore) is just too expensive :(

 

[Keith Lemon]

Cos their tickets are free(?)

Maybe a few but no thousands

 

[scousemanc]

With a 17.30 kick off there is no train I can catch back from any Wembley station that gets me back to Lime Street, so I am not going. I know of one other season ticket holder who lives on merseyside who is in exactly the same position. So that's 2 tickets that would have been sold if the kick off was earlier.
Now, you can call us bad fans if you like, but the simple fact is, our non attendance is entirely down to the kick off time.
I emailed the club to point this out to them and this is their reply:

"Thank you for your feedback and we are sorry to hear that you are unable to attend the game due to the kick off time.
This is not something that is arranged by the club, but the FA. Please be assured that your comments will be circulated back to the relevant contact for consideration ahead of future fixtures."

So whatever fans feel about other fans not attending, the simple fact is that a kick off time of 17.30 has consequences. In this case, 2 tickets not being sold.

 

[journolud]

If you were a player walking out on Saturday and you looked at both ends of the ground. How do you think you would feel??

Just a question and not having a go at either “going” or “not going”

I think I would be feeling a sense of anticipation about being one step away from the final of another competition and would be focussed on the game. Don't think I would be wondering where @Didsbury Dave was.

 

[cptaidan88]

Of the 16 lads on my minibus for the EFL Cup final, 3 of us are going on Saturday. The others can’t justify paying for Wembley in March April and May if [IF] we get there as well as their seasoncard money coming out, Spurs CL and a couple went Fulham and a number will be going to Old Trafford. Oh plus possible [POSSIBLE] CL semifinal tickets.

It’s not exactly a boycott from our lads but it’s not that they can’t be arsed.

Sort of proving my point. With limited funds available, the people in your group of friends have chosen to give this one a swerve, in order to prioritise other games. The Final is far from guaranteed and would be more expensive, but they've chosen to save money for a hypothetical scenario because its a more glamorous game.

I've not criticised anyones choices, I completely understand them - I just took exception to you referring to it as a boycott. Apathy is a more accurate description for the vast majority of non-attendees.

@kippaxkid74 Completely agree, and you don't have to and shouldn't feel as though you need to justify yourself to me or anyone else. Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

[M18CTID]

Of the 16 lads on my minibus for the EFL Cup final, 3 of us are going on Saturday. The others can’t justify paying for Wembley in March April and May if [IF] we get there as well as their seasoncard money coming out, Spurs CL and a couple went Fulham and a number will be going to Old Trafford. Oh plus possible [POSSIBLE] CL semifinal tickets.

It’s not exactly a boycott from our lads but it’s not that they can’t be arsed.

Exactly. No doubt there will be some fans somewhere who "can't be arsed" but for me the vast majority of those giving this a miss are doing it primarily from a financial perspective as they're having to juggle which games to attend due to the possibility of an FA Cup and CL Semi and Final to come. That coming on top of a Wembley visit just a few weeks ago where we sold 35,000 tickets. I'm having to do some juggling of my own and I've sacked off Spurs away in the CL next week (the difference is, the Spurs away tickets sold out easily so no-one will notice that I've given that one a miss) to go to this game instead. Others have done the opposite so even some of the regular away game followers are having to pick and choose. I do 50%-60% of away games each season these days and I would've also liked to have gone to Fulham on Saturday but the longer we've stayed in the FA Cup and CL made that one impossible.

Now if we were only still in the FA Cup, had been knocked out of the League Cup early on (meaning 35000 of our fans hadn't already had to fork out for a trip to Wembley for a LC Final a few weeks previous), been knocked out of the CL before the quarter-final, and were out of the title race, then I've absolutely no doubt that we would comfortably have sold out for Saturday. Because that's the situation we were in in 2017 when we played Arsenal - we'd been knocked out of the LC in October by United, knocked out of the Round of 16 in the CL by Monaco, and had no chance of winning the league either, so apart from a possible FA Cup final there was nothing else anyone had to think about budgeting for apart from the remaining league games which the vast majority would have already paid for by virtue of having a season ticket.