FA Cup 2014-2015

'Sea of scarves'
what happened to the inflatables


Will be watching this game rather than the Swansea V Scouse

Campo wrote:'Sea of scarves'
what happened to the inflatables


Will be watching this game rather than the Swansea V Scouse

To be honest, our lot are too reserved and repressed to let their hair down on the inflatables stuff!!

Well done Reading a great day out at The Wembley

3-0!! Wembley beckons!
a real up-and-down rollercoaster with Reading ... and is what makes it so fascinating being a Reading fan !

The irony of Bradford fan throwing an inflatable ball as Reading score

Wait - complete historical


Arsenal v Reading
Arsenal wins // Draws // Reading wins
League 6 0 0
League Cup 3 0 0
FA Cup 3 0 0
Total 12 0 0

FA Cup Fans Choir competition

Has anyone entered the competition to sing at the fa cup final? !!


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Semis - now we are looking at Wembley!!

STADIUM

Wembley Stadium is a football stadium in Wembley Park, London, England, which opened in 2007 on the site of the earlier Wembley Stadium which was demolished in 2003. The stadium hosts major football matches including the FA Cup Final and home matches of the England national football team. Wembley Stadium is a UEFA category four stadium. With 90,000 seats it is the second largest stadium in Europe and the largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is owned by The Football Association through their subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL). Designed by HOK Sport and Foster and Partners, it includes a partially retractable roof and the 134-metre-high (440 ft) Wembley Arch. The stadium was built by Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of £798 million.
In addition to the FA Cup Final, the stadium hosts the season-opening FA Community Shield, the League Cup Final, the Football League Trophy and the Football League play-offs. It hosted the 2011 and 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, the Gold medal matches at the 2012 Olympic Games football tournament, and will host both the semi-finals and final of UEFA Euro 2020. The stadium also hosts the rugby league Challenge Cup Final, the NFL International Series and music concerts.

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Amazing Stadium Stats & Anecdotes

** The stadium contains 2,618 toilets, more than any other venue in the world.

** The stadium has a circumference of 1 km (0.62 mi).

** The bowl volume is listed at 1,139,100 m3, somewhat smaller than the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, but with a greater seating capacity.

** At its peak, there were more than 3,500 construction workers on site.

** 4,000 separate piles form the foundations of the new stadium, the deepest of which is 35 m (115 ft).

** There are 56 km (35 mi) of heavy-duty power cables in the stadium.

** 90,000 m3 (120,000 yd3) of concrete and 23,000 tonnes (25,000 short tons) of steel were used in the construction of the new stadium.

** The total length of the escalators is 400 m (¼ mi).

** The Wembley Arch has a cross-sectional diameter greater than that of a cross-channel Eurostar train.

** The new pitch is 13 ft (4.0 m) lower than the previous pitch. The pitch size, as lined for association football, is 115 yd (105 m) long by 75 yd (69 m) wide, slightly narrower than the old Wembley, as required by the UEFA stadium categories for a category four stadium, the top category.

** The stadium roof has an area of 40,000 m2, of which 13,722 m2 is movable.

** The stadium roof rises to 52 metres above the pitch and is supported by an arch rising 133 metres above the level of the external concourse. With a span of 315 metres, the arch is the longest single span roof structure in the world.

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One from history!

This pic from the 1923 FA Cup final at Wembley, (the one with the white horse) is great!


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How much more damage can the FA do to the FA Cup in terms of devaluing it and taking away anything that is remotely special about it.

Today is a perfect case in point... having the game on a saturday afternoon when there's as many Premiership games as they can cram in... and the game even takes place at the same time as a Premiership game (not that anyone with a soul gives a shit about Chelsea or ManUre)

But it is just symptomatic of how little they care about their own competition... and will then use any lack of audience or interest to justify further bullshit downgrading of what was once the most special footballing competition in the world.

I mean... not that you could expect much more (or less) from any enterprise lorded over by Greg Dyke... I mean what next... Roland Rat hosting all FA Cup coverage?

unlucky daib0, your club down u well. hope u don't have to wait another 70 odd years for another chance at a cup final....

alfiehammer wrote:unlucky daib0, your club down u well. hope u don't have to wait another 70 odd years for another chance at a cup final....

cheers there. Certainly put a bit of sparkle to a mediocre league season ...

Well, we've got to the final: Arsenal v Aston Villa.
It's been a great thread all season, must say. What about doing a similar one next season lads?!

well that's one bright spark on an otherwise dismal weekend of west ham related football... Liverpool out of the cup... rogers their first manager to win nothing in their first three seasons... and Gerrard's final game for the club will not be an FA Cup final...

doesn't make up for us being so crap... but it's something.

Here's a thought -


Ourselves (the Royals I mean) yesterday, along with Liverpool FC today, are the unfortunate FA Cup semifinal losers. So near and yet so far ...

In some sports, and indeed in some big football events (of course, none bigger than the World Cup itself!) there is a third-place play-off. It's usually a relaxed affair, without that almost unbearable previous pressure just one match earlier.

So I'd like to put it to you - would that be a good idea for the FA Cup as well?? A match to decide 3rd and 4th places, perhaps at Wembley or if not at some other big neutral ground ...

what d'you think??

Could resolve things - like if there is an extra European place available.

Or a golden day out for the more modest teams. And also a handy amount of gate money, TV rights etc ...

I like the idea!

Unlucky Diab0, but a great cup run for you none the less. 

Personally, I think a play off for 3rd and 4th would be one game too many.  The BBC win the rights to the FA Cup, but didn't see fit to televise the other semi final today - what's that all about? Unfortunate because I'd have loved to have seen that.  

Just learnt that in fact this has already been done, as in the 70's they did have 3rd/4th place games for 4 years!

1971 Stoke 3-2 Everton at Selhurst Park
1972 Birmingham 0-0 Stoke City at Brimingham (4-3 on pens)
1973 Arsenal 1-3 Wolves at Highbury
1974 Leicester City 0-1 Burnley at Filbert Street

After that they canned the idea ...

Now know more ...

They considered stopping it after the trial on neutral grounds after that Stoke v Everton game attracted only 5,031 interested fans. But the final nail was the attendance of 6,458 for Leicester's home advantage against Burnley... !

I was right then