Would I be up for making a 30th trip to Wembley in 14 years? Let me think… | OneFootball

“The City is Yours, The City is Yours, twenty thousand empty seats, are you really sure?”, those are the words of a Man Utd song to the tune of that Inspiral Carpets ‘this is how it feels’ classic, intended to goad Manchester City fans/

On Sunday at the FA Cup semi-final, there was a (see below) massive block of empty seats high in the third tier at Wembley Stadium, where just two months ago, a throng of black and white scarved lads and lasses roared Newcastle United to victory in the League Cup Final against Liverpool.

Besides that huge empty block, there were plenty of other empty seats on show in various places where the seats should have been filled by Manchester City fans.

This a complete contrast to the end that housed the Nottingham Forest fans.

My take on this is mixed.

On the one hand, maybe we should cut Manchester City fans some slack.

I haven’t done the research personally, but I have read elsewhere, that this was City’s 30th trip to the national stadium since 2011.

I’ve been to Wembley twice in the past couple of years (February 2023 and March 2025), both times pushing the boat out with overnight hotel.

And it’s not cheap, once travel, food, drink etc is paid for

Our match tickets were also extortionate, a 50% increase for more or less the same seats in the space of two years.

So, maybe Manchester City fans have a point, to a point.

Would I be prepared to travel to a semi-final at Wembley if I’d been there on 29 other occasions in the past fourteen years?

Football is now an expensive business for fans and The Football Association are culpable, insisting that FA Cup semi-finals are played at Wembley, something that I’ve never agreed with, even if I can see their rationale when it comes to boosting their own coffers.

I think playing semi-finals at Wembley devalues the final, although I could cite many other factors that have contributed to the FA Cup being devalued these past couple of decades.

I asked my son where he thought last weekend’s semi-finals should have been played if Wembley wasn’t to be used. He came up with Villa Park for Man City versus Forest and the Tottenham Stadium for Palace versus Villa. Both venues have been used in the past (well, almost) and I didn’t disagree, before taking him on a trip down memory lane, Hillsborough in ’74, Old Trafford in ’98 and again in ’99.

On the other hand……..

Man City are just about the richest club on the planet. They have an annual turnover of more than £700 million, something that only Real Madrid can eclipse. In my opinion, it seems a tad unrealistic that these new kids on the block can generate commercial revenues that exceed those of their cross-city rivals or even England’s most successful club, who reside just a short trip from the Etihad along the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

The outcome of the 115 charges that are still to be determined might finally dispel the myth that Man City are the biggest club in England (if you’re talking money that is).

Let’s face it, if Man City are such a big club, they should sell out their Wembley allocation for an FA Cup semi-final, no matter how many times they’ve been there in the recent past and no matter the indifferent season they’re having.

I return to my earlier question, “Would I be prepared to travel to a semi-final at Wembley if I’d been there on 29 other occasions in the past fourteen years?”

Two things on that.