could cardiff be the venue

fa cup semis one on saturday one on the sunday would be equal distance for most of the clubs involved and would suit the fa for revenue and is not being used that weekend.

 

I think its a great idea to use cardiff for both semi finals.

 

I think they would have announced that before now if it was a possibility.

 

Villa Park or Old Trafford

 

Rumour was last week before the QT were played VP, OT, Emirates and possibly bell end rd.

 

elland road???
why?

 

40k odd capacity I guess.

The other possibility is the City of Manchester stadium.

 

Got to be Kenilworth Road. We normally win there.

 

upton park would be better for us and manure

 

cardif is not going to used as otherwise it would have been anounced before the Q-finals were played

 

Cardiff might......

have been promised at least one semi, as I believe they were on standby again, just in case Wembley was not ready for the Final!!!

 

Blackburn v Chelski / Spuds at the Millenium

Watford V Boro / Manure Wembley

 

really? i know cardif was on standby incase wembley wasn't ready but have they really been promised one semi?

which one would they choose? possibly us then the other semi gets old trafford

 

Nah. Cardiff get money for being on standby - a non-refundable deposit if you will - so they won't need to have been promised a full match.

 

well then that still opens up the questionof where, and to be honest iam glad its not at cardiff i would rather it be in a middle size stadium rather than a large stadium like cardif

 

Thats another point. The 22000 seats Villa would provide will be more than enough. Cardiff and Old Trafford would guarantee empty seats. The Emirates probably wouldn't if only because it's so close to Watford.

 

exactly villa park is a good size for our fans while cardiff and old trafford would mean lots of empty seats on our side but a full capcity for borough or manure and a tighter atmosphere for them-something which our players colud deal without. as for the Emirates we might sell out but you'll have fans who dont even know the name of our manager there

 

The problem is thus.

The likely Semi Final ties are;

Blackburn V Chelski
Watford V Manure

The ideal venue for both is Villa park in terms of fan logistics.
They won't use Villa Park Sat and Sun so there lies the problem.

Old Trafford, can't be used by manure, could be for watford v Boro, not ideal for Blackburn V London team as close to one team, hundreds of miles for the other.

The Emirates is the same ideal for the London clubs, crap for the northern ones.

City of Manchester throws up to close for northern teams to far for southern.

So I guess watford v Boro would be at Old Trafford and Blackburn V either / or at Villa park.

If Manure get through, then something has to give, as one team is not going to be happy.

 

Spot on

 

Do you think the FA are waiting until after the replays to annouce stuff then?

 

Thank you kind sir.

And we can all guess what little team the FA will shyte on from a great height can't we.
Trip to City of Manchester Sunday afternoon anyone?

 

Without doubt.

 

whilr the fa will feck us over somehow i dont think even they'l be that unfair and i dont think manure fans would particly like it either

 

I think they'll look at the respective fan bases when they make their decision. Villa Park or the Emirates are the two obvious choices from a Watford perspective. Though I actually think there's some merit in the choice of Elland Road.

 

Blackburn to Villa 110miles, Manchester 35, Emirates 235.

London to Villa 125miles, Manchester 204, Emirates hop skip and a jump..

Manchester to London 210 miles, Villa park 90, City of Manchester quick crawl.

So one team is going to have a nightmare if they choose two differing venues based on Manure beating Boro.

Boro to Manure must be around 130 miles, hence why i think we could go to OT if Boro win but it would only be 60% full, would the FA want that?

 

while i can see the arguments for elland road, it wont happen. the fa will stick with their favourtes e.g old trafford, villa park and add on to Emirates now

 

Does Bell End Rd solve anything?
50 miles for Blackburn, less for manure and the 3 Southern teams travel nearly 200 miles.

 

If we get Boro they may as well play it at the Ricoh :]] :]] :]] :]] :]]

 

Then both semi-finals could be played in Midlands-based stadiums (or thereabouts), i.e one could be played at Villa Park, the other at a choice between St Andrews, Hawthorns, Molineux, Walkers Stadium, Pride Park, Ricoh Arena, Hillsborough, Bramall Lane or the City Ground.

Would that not be a practical solution?

 

Yes please, my girlfriend lives within walking distance of it. Could live with that

 

Practical solution yes, but a non runner due to low capacities I would guess.

They will want 40k plus hence the old favs already mentioned.

 

since when have the FA been practicle? they'll be more concerned on getting as much cash as possible

 

Therein lies the key to the decision in my opinion Jon. It would cost the FA an awful lot to host a game with 45,000 fans max at a venue that could hold 78,000.

St Andrews: 30,000
Hawthorns: 28,000
Molineux: 29,400
Walkers: 32,500
Ricoh: 32,000
Hillsborough: 39,800
Bramall Lane: 33,000
City Ground: 30,000

With the exception of Hillsborough (which the FA wouldn't touch with a barge pole) none of those is really big enough to host an FA Cup Semi Final in my opinion. There's talk of Brum sorting out a 50,000 stadium in the medium term but until that happens Villa is really the only viable stadium in that region.

 

yer villa park is the only stadium in the midlands which is big enough so it looks like were gonna get screwed over :rant: