Who else is Wembleyed out?

[Alan Harper's Tash]

There is a priority order. It’s a toss up between the PL, for the 4th time in a row, and the CL for the 2nd time in a row, but the FA Cup will always come third. However, as there’s still a chance of a double treble, we‘d be foolish to 2nd guess Pep’s team selections going forward, bar player injuries and suspensions.

I’m not, I’m just assuming that our semi final lineup will be a squad rotation lineup.

 

[jrb]

I’m not, I’m just assuming that our semi final lineup will be a squad rotation lineup.

You can never assume where Pep is concerned or 2nd guess him. Because the CL and FA Cup semi-final games are 2 days apart Pep will definitely make changes and use the squad players in the 1st half of the FA Cup semi-final, and maybe bring on more first team players in the 2nd half if City are losing? We all expect Chelsea to start with their strongest 11.

Good night Alan. It’s 1.40am. It’s been a pleasure. Let’s hope City beat Chelsea and get to the FA Cup final?

 

[Axel Freed]

I appreciate football has changed and keeps on changing, but an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley will never replicate or better scenes or an atmosphere like this at another ground ground.

Unfortunately most City fans won’t experience it as they have no choice but to go to Wembley for a FA Cup semi final. And they don’t know any difference.

As football fans, even FOC’s, we forget how special semi-finals were at other grounds, which were used to host FA Cup semi-finals.

View attachment 111808

View attachment 111809

Semi finals at provincial grounds did seem more special in those times it’s true. But that was largely I think due to the FA Cup itself being more special back then.

The FA Cup was the number one priority for usually 20 of the 22 clubs. Finishing in the top 4 or top 6 didn’t mean anything like as much as it does now. Getting to the semi final with a chance of earning a shot at glory in the final was a huge opportunity for the club and the fans. Had the semis been held at Wembley back then I think they would’ve been just as memorable as semis at Villa Park or wherever.

If City were playing Chelsea at Villa Park this year it wouldn’t make it seem any more exciting or enjoyable because the prize itself doesn’t have the same prestige attached to it. That aside it certainly wouldn’t be a special or memorable occasion for the 15 or 20 thousand blues who wouldn’t be able to get tickets.

 

[melrose40yarder]

How can anyone get sick of playing at Wembley us old uns thought we would never get there again.
Never take it for granted.

 

[urban genie]

Not doing the semi, I have my reasons, bit will happily be at the final and champs. league final, wembley is shite, the area shite, the KO times are always shite, going the same place is boring, but then so is every season, rarely any new grounds to visit or that you can get a ticket for.


But aways days are about the day out or overnight with mates or family more than the game alone , so won't tire or it, semis at wembley though interest me less every time, partly finacial, partly the tediuosness of it and how it ruins the feat of getting to the final

 

[Bluesince1979]

I wont go the semis for sure. Might do the final if we get there.

Im just at a stage in my life where i dont like faff and arsing about too much and wembley can be a huge faff.

 

[elbearos]

Any one not going ,i need two please, or 4

 

[balotellishaircut]

"oh no, Margot Robbie, not another blowjob, I've barely recovered from the one you gave me yesterday"

Fucking brilliant

 

[blue44]

thanks JRB. just hope can ge him a ticket along with me and his grandad

Mate,when you're buying your ticket,you should be able to get a " pull through " for your lad.Always got one for my lad that way with his points being well behind mine,,good luck.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Not going to the semi final, and won't be going to the final. Two reasons.
A. I won't qualify for a ticket. I did qualify for the Watford final, but not last year. Thankfully, due to someone on here going on holiday that weekend, he made his ticket available to me. Thanks S.

B. It's just too expensive. Last June probably cost me nearly €450, once flights, hotel and walking around money was taken into account. I don't feel I can justify that, even for a cup final.

I don't believe I'm better qualified than you in terms of points, mate. I just don't believe it.
Last year, I wasn't qualified for the first few wodges of tickets, but they kept releasing them in dribs and drabs (presumably because of returns from the associations), right up to quite close to the actual match. About a week or two before, I idly put the OS on to see if any tickets were available — telling myself sternly in advance that I wasn't buying one, it was just to take a peep, as it were — and stone me, there were single seats here and there up in the gods! I must have sat and stared at that screen for about twenty minutes, with my finger hovering over Buy. I certainly couldn't afford it, and it was stupid. But then I said to myself, “Wake up, mate — this is the rags! These are the people who had their foot on our neck for twenty years. These are the hated, arrogant enemy. For decades and decades. Time for payback, on one of the world's biggest stages. You cannot not go.” So I hit Buy (it was about £110 I think, and up there you feel as if you're in outer space). It set me back financially, and I was in the red for quite a while. But I didn't regret having been there. At that point, I thought it was a once in a lifetime thing. Ironically, it may well happen again…
If we get through to the final again, and it's the rags again, it's problematic, for sure. If it's Coventry — for sure not. I won't be going. Again, it's not the right time of the year, financially.
Wembley for semi-finals is a luxury, it seems to me. I went to the Arsenal one (and felt sick at the end, another match we should have bloody well won). Equally, Community Shield. But not going to see City in a final, that hurts. I was at the League Cup final in ’74, and the F.A. Cup final in ’81 (too young for ’69), so I hadn't actually seen City win a final until the League Cup one against the Arse in 2018. That was therefore a big day for me.
On the other hand, even had I been qualified, I was not vaguely tempted either by Porto or Istanbul. What with the Covid tests, Porto was one hell of a business. And Istanbul is the other side of Europe. Just out of the question, financially. If we got to the final of the CL this year, though, and I could somehow get a ticket…

I'll never be maxed out as far as City at Wembley in a final is concerned. Never. Like Moses and the tribes of Israel, we wandered in the desert. Not for forty years, but for many. These are astonishing times. They will not last for ever.