Semi Final

[den]

We wont know until Thursday

Rovers official site

[SAS]

Midday would be terrible for a kick off time, that would mean setting off at what 4am or something.

[SouthAussieRover]

Quotes from the FA, saying the ties will be played at Cardiff and no decision will be made about times until after Newcastle's game in europe.

Teamtalk

Do keep up.

I posted the same report from Sporting Life a hour ago

[Blue blood]

Really disappointed that we got Arsenal as:

IMO they're the best team left in the competion. Oh and all their players including Gilberto will be back for that game. They'll have a fully fit squad to choose from.

I'd much rather beat Manure or the barcodes as its more personal and we've more of a history to them. The prospect of Todd firing in a thunderbolt header against Newcastle to win the tie or a beautiful handball volley from Stead for Dickov to put away vs manure were much more appealing. Oh well I suppose that'll have to wait for the final.

My housemate is an Arsenal fan - I'm not sure I could speak to him again if they beat us.

btw does anyone know when tickets will go on sale?

[Ossydave]

An absolute joke if we play at noon on the Saturday. The whole pathetic organisation of the semi's really does beggar belief. I don't know of a single person who thinks the arrangements are sensible.

I'll go whatever the kick off time as I've never seen my team in an FA cup semi final, the FA themselves are doing a damn fine job of wrecking the whole event though.

[Lee]

Midday would be terrible for a kick off time, that would mean setting off at what 4am or something.

We set off at 4am for the Full Members Cup final at Wembley, whats the problem with that!!!

Enjoy the day, enjoy the game and enjoy the victory!

[Nayef]

Whilst we're all complaining about this spare a thought for the geordies. What a journey they would be making..

[Manchester Blue]

All the stubborn, selfish barstewards at the FA have to do is move our game to Villa Park or even better Old Trafford and problem solved, you could even have them on the same day. It is an insult for the FA to suggest they are putting the fans first when that is clearly the last thing on their minds. It's just a shambles and really takes the shine off for me.

[SAS]

Midday would be terrible for a kick off time, that would mean setting off at what 4am or something.

We set off at 4am for the Full Members Cup final at Wembley, whats the problem with that!!!

Enjoy the day, enjoy the game and enjoy the victory!

less sleep

[den]

Quotes from the FA, saying the ties will be played at Cardiff and no decision will be made about times until after Newcastle's game in europe.

Teamtalk

Do keep up.

I posted the same report from Sporting Life a hour ago

Sorry SAR. I'll pay more attention in future.

Edited March 15, 2005 by den

[yorkblues]

not very happy off to prague that weekend on a stag do

[blue/white]

Tooting Rover.....

I gave up on Football 365 years ago. Just another set of journos incapable of looking beyond the 'big three' (plus Spurs too, as it's a site set up by Danny Kelly). And they refer to Man U as 'Man Yoo'. Hilarious!

I have too other than the odd Nicholson article.

cheers.

[Scotty]

If we do have to play at noon I'd seriously consider not going. It's a scandalous decision by the FA to play both games at Cardiff anyway, but to then make one of them a noon kick-off would be unbelieveably stupid. They'd be lucky if they got 40k there.

Right now I should be looking forward to one of the biggest games of my life - instead I'm just really angry about the whole thing.

[SuperStella]

John Williams in tonights L.E.T: -

"No discussions have taken place between us and Arsenal about changing the venue.

"We are preparing for the game being at Cardiff and it promises to be a great occasion for our fans."

[Jan]

A lunchtime start would solve ALL my problems about going. Yay the FA!

[Billy Castell]

You've surprised me Jan. I thought you were going to be angry and blame Souness for the early kick off and the semis being in Cardiff .

(Just a joke)

[stuwilky]

A lunchtime start would solve ALL my problems about going. Yay the FA!

Im afraid that you would be very much in a minority Jan.

For those of us who wont use Rovers Transport and prefer to make our own way there there is the grand total of 1 (ONE) train from Blackburn that is due to arrive in Cardiff prior to kick off.

That train also goes round the house.

Blackburn 0700 to Bolton

Bolton 0804 to Manc Picc

Manc Picc to Cardiff Central - arrives 1151.

Yes, a whole NINE Minutes before Kick off.

I shall post my correspondence on here when it is composed.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Here we go folks got my reply- make of it what you will but to me it is all about Money and reading between the lines the replenishing of funds for their wasting of monies on the ' New Wembley'.

At least they replied anyway

Thinking of a reply at moment but will just hang fire for the minute - have been trying to get on the MU Board (Red issue) but waiting for access at minute - also posted on Geordie board

At least they replied anyway

Dear Supporter,

Many thanks for contacting The Football Association.

We appreciate there are arguments for and against any venue we use for the semi-finals in terms of capacity, accessibility, neutrality and location.

Over the last few years the decision on semi-final venues has consistently attracted criticism, even though these are the ones now being touted in many of your e-mails as the preferred venues (Villa Park and Old Trafford) Travel time to and from games has been a major cause of complaint for both these venues so it is not something that is exclusive to the Millennium Stadium.

We based our decision on the following;

-With a capacity of 74,525, it is significantly larger than both Villa Park (42,602) and Old Trafford (68,210) which have hosted the Semi-Finals in recent years.

-The Millennium Stadium and Cardiff's ability to stage games of this size. Cardiff has also proved to be a very popular venue for fans in the past -Revenue generated due to the fact that at least 30,000 extra fans will be able to attend these games. It's an unavoidable fact that as the major funding body in football we have a responsibility to the long term future of the game, this future needs funding. What should be highlighted is that The FA is a not for profit organisation and has invested over £150 million in grass roots football over the last three years.

We appreciate that like the Millennium Stadium, there are arguments for any of the venues mentioned in the e-mails fans have sent through.

Nevertheless, the decisions on venues always attract criticism from certain quarters as it's impossible to pick a venue that perfectly matches the needs of the various stakeholders in an FA Cup Semi-Final.

We fully appreciate your comments and your concerns and these will be circulated to the relevant decision makers in this organisation. Thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Arana

Senior Customer Relations Manager

The FA

[den]

A lunchtime start would solve ALL my problems about going.  Yay the FA!

Im afraid that you would be very much in a minority Jan.

For those of us who wont use Rovers Transport and prefer to make our own way there there is the grand total of 1 (ONE) train from Blackburn that is due to arrive in Cardiff prior to kick off.

That train also goes round the house.

Blackburn 0700 to Bolton

Bolton 0804 to Manc Picc

Manc Picc to Cardiff Central - arrives 1151.

Yes, a whole NINE Minutes before Kick off.

I shall post my correspondence on here when it is composed.

Stu, you should email the club before they meet on Thursday.

[Lee]

And what are the club going to be able to do?

It is the FA, the TV companies and the Police who determine these things, the clubs just have to like it or lump it.

There are always going to be fans who won't be happy with whatever choice was made, one things for sure the games were always going to be held in Cardiff, sure the club could make an appeal for the game to be played elsewhere, but on what basis? The fact that we won't sell out all our tickets? We'd be the laughing stock, the media already think we'll bring bugger all to the semi. Of course any appeal would always fall on deaf ears.

As Cpt Kayos has seen from his reply, it is precisely what Adrian Bevington at the FA put out yesterday "chance for more fans to see the games, blah blah blah", we all know that the fans opinions aren't taken into consideration.

Get your tickets, cheer on the lads, enjoy the day, we may never get another chance.

[den]

Lee, all I'm saying is that rovers should know the train times the supporters will be bound to, in the event of a lunch time kick off. They should take that into consideration, that's all. Can't they bring this forward at Thursday's meeting?

It wont bother me in the skightest, whatever time kick off is. We're booked in Cardiff for Friday and Saturday nights.

[den]

A bit sad to bring this back up, but Rovers next four games -

Liverpool, Arsenal, Man U, Arsenal.

Rangers -

Motherwell, Motherwell, Dundee Utd, Dunfermline.

Big games in Scotland my arse

[Lee]

Lee, all I'm saying is that rovers should know the train times the supporters will be bound to, in the event of a lunch time kick off. They should take that into consideration, that's all. Can't they bring this forward at Thursday's meeting?

It wont bother me in the skightest, whatever time kick off is. We're booked in Cardiff for Friday and Saturday nights.

Better hope the game aint moved to a monday then Den (JOKE EVERYONE!)

There's sod all trains on a Saturday and there's sod all trains on a Sunday, thats the rail system for you! The quickest journey takes nigh on five hours.

If we played at 5.15pm Saturday and it went to extra time and penalties you'd be hard pressed to get a train back.

Sure I'll mention it to Tom Finn, but I doubt it'll hold much sway.

[speeeeeeedie]

If fans from all clubs are seriously mad, all 4 clubs should act on that and get together to petition the FA for a change. As Lee said the FA, Police and TV are the three big hitters here, with the clubs, then fans, a long way behind. The FA and TV won't budge and they want to maximize revenue. The only realistic hope right now of a venue change is the police. Having 4 clubs worth of fans in Cardiff for a weekend would be a disaster. We're talking over 100,000. Most fans would be OK with it but you always have the odd idiot who will cause problems. Add to those the local misfits who want to join in and you have a hooligan's dream date. Every officer in Wales will have to be drafted in, car crime and juvenile incidents elsewhere will skyrocket as there is no one to control what is happening because the FA want to allow "at least 30,000 extra fans" the opportunity to go.

The cited 12pm kickoff time on Saturday to allow teams to check into the hotels separately and give fans from our game (presumably - unless Newcastle get dumped out and the FA then decide to let them play before us) plenty of time to leave before the Manc's and Geordie's turn up is a joke. Loads of Geordies will turn up on Friday, as will the Manc's - it would be a good weekend away - I'd do the same.

I read on a link that one Man U group is urging fans to boycott, well that is all well and good for them but all that will do is make it easier for the millions of Southern based Man U fans who don't go to games to get tickets, so that would be negated. The Geordies are so trophy starved that half the city will turn up, and Arsenal only have the Cup as a hope of any silverware so they'll be there in droves too. We are just happy for a day out.

The FA have dropped another clanger by announcing back in September that the semi's would be in Cardiff without knowing who would be playing, and with typical FA arrogance and a dose of British stubbornness are refusing to bend to cater to the people that make the game popular.

[CAPT KAYOS]

speeeeeeedie!!!!!!!!!!