Manchester City v pigs

[Ever the pessimist]

4 minutes ago, MSN SYSOP said:

Season of hell.....avoided 

Not sure. This is at least purgatory.

[MSN SYSOP]

1 minute ago, Ever the pessimist said:

Not sure. This is at least purgatory.

Them promoted and winning cup......avoided 

[Ever the pessimist]

7 minutes ago, MSN SYSOP said:

Them promoted and winning cup......avoided 

True. Their promotion and our failure would be pretty damn miserable enough though 

[SiJ]

Just now, Ever the pessimist said:

True. Their promotion and our failure would be pretty damn miserable enough though 

Meh. 

 

They got themselves promoted from one of the worst Championships I've ever seen. 

 

Burnley might do ok, but them and whoever gets up via the play offs are likely to be torn a new one. 

[Miffed]

Heard them at 0-0 singing ‘Are you Wednesday in disguise’

 

Few minutes later and they’re a goal down…. They really are a thick bunch aren’t they 

[Kopparberg]

Thank god for that.
 

40 goalless minutes was a slight worry. 
 

Pep went quite strong with the line up thankfully. 
 

As if you don’t sell out if you’re United - strange bunch 

[Elvin Parsnip]

Unfortunately they will have parachute payments when they get relegated but it didn’t do them much good last time

[bradowl]

41 minutes ago, Elvin Parsnip said:

Unfortunately they will have parachute payments when they get relegated but it didn’t do them much good last time

 

I think they'll have to spend big to survive, something I can't see them doing after debt they've got themselves into. 

Only hope for them is to get some decent loan players in that might keep them up. 

[SiJ]

1 hour ago, Elvin Parsnip said:

Unfortunately they will have parachute payments when they get relegated but it didn’t do them much good last time

If the Prince can't sell and keeps spending future monies, then they will end up in a mess again. 

 

I mean, Norwich, West Brom, Watford and a few others have been in receipt of these parachute payments and all are reportedly in a massive mess. 

[Bannofan]

Couple of observations..if this was at Villa Park or Old Trafford, it would have sold out and there would have been a much better atmosphere.

 

You can argue that we would have sold our allocation,  but you don't know that for fact. The cost of living crisis is a real thing .

 

Also, I think the semi final is the new 'final' for clubs in the Championship or lower reaches of the PL. You look at uniteds fan photos and it's all about "little Tyrone and Clymidias first trip to the national stadium". I wonder how many more would have shelled out the same money again to go 3 weeks later for the actual final? . I think that gets in the heads of smaller teams players as well, the achievement is playing at Wembley rather than playing in a final. 

 

 

[markg]

28 minutes ago, Bannofan said:

Couple of observations..if this was at Villa Park or Old Trafford, it would have sold out and there would have been a much better atmosphere.

 

You can argue that we would have sold our allocation,  but you don't know that for fact. The cost of living crisis is a real thing .

 

Also, I think the semi final is the new 'final' for clubs in the Championship or lower reaches of the PL. You look at uniteds fan photos and it's all about "little Tyrone and Clymidias first trip to the national stadium". I wonder how many more would have shelled out the same money again to go 3 weeks later for the actual final? . I think that gets in the heads of smaller teams players as well, the achievement is playing at Wembley rather than playing in a final. 

 

 

This.

 

Seen some real classy comments from some of our fans about them not being able to sell out the more expensive tickets where we did. Well, that was before people needed to chose between food and days out.

[Bassetts Allsorts]

It was a strange scenario for both teams really.

 

Blades fans went knowing it was a 99.9% certain defeat against one of the best sides on the planet. City fans went knowing it was a 99.9% certain victory and that they'd be doing it all over again a few weeks later. Add the current cost of living crisis and I don't think I can bring myself to take the wee wee for not selling out. I do think if the Blades had drawn Man U or Brighton then they would have sold it out, though. 

 

On the argument of whether or not the FA Cup semi-finals should be at Wembley, I think there's still £120M left to pay on the debt for the stadium and it relies on these games to chip away at that figure. I get the argument for a Villa Park or St James' Park semi-final but then that limits teams to 20k tickets each. I suppose there's only Old Trafford that would be big enough to get anywhere close to the allocation you'd get at Wembley.

[Class of 91]

Thought I'd pop on to give a 1st hand experience (blade as many know)...

 

Many factors contributed to the poor attendance:

 

1) - cost, obviously.

The cost of living and energy crisis is real.

Our season ticket renewals needed to be done by April 5th.

 

I went in the £80 seats. Concessions were only £10 cheaper than adults in any section, meaning children's tickets ranged from £25 (back of top tier) to £110 (premium seats). A family of 4 would be £120 minimum on tickets alone. But you'd need a telescope, never mind binoculars 

Then you have travel costs - official club coach was £40, no concessions. That family of 4 is now £280.

£10 ticketed entry into the BoxPark or Green Man Pub - no concessions. Family of 4 is now £320 and nobody's had a drink or food yet 

£7 a pint in the ground.

£5.50 in Green Man (fairly reasonable in fairness - could have cashed in knowing there's nowhere else to go)

 

2) - ticket selling process.

Not sure if this is FA or United, or a mixture of both to blame. I've been fairly vocal on this on our own forum. It wasn't great.

We let season ticket holders have 1 full week of sales before moving to members and general sale - 1 ticket per ST.

Allocated 34,000 tickets and only 24,000 season tickets, why did we need 1 full week?

 

The original general sale was meant to be 500+ loyalty points and wasn't going on sale until the week leading up to the game. They then changed this on Tuesday or Wednesday last week to allow ST holders to purchase for guests; family members, friends etc.

This was far too late, 3 or 4 days before the game - hotels, coaches and trains all booked up. People had made other plans.

 

The sale of tickets was meant to be North to South - clearly wasn't as the big empty block you saw on TV was on North side of stadium - £80 tickets.

The bottom tier was fully sold out on the first day of sales (ST holders). This then meant people were buying up in the gods to try and get sat together etc. then all of a sudden on that general sale day - the bottom tier opened up FFS. Loads of people had bought upper tier tickets as the bottom had all gone. No idea who thought it was wise to hold that block back until last.

 

Safe standing tickets came on sale on the last day of sale too - there was only 800 tickets in that section in total. Ridiculous decision holding them back

 

3) - opposition 

I'd go regardless, but understand why folk didn't want to shell out £100s to watch 6 or 7 goals fly past us. 

As it happened, we kept it to a surprisingly respectable scoreline.

 

4)  - location

Why are semi finals still at Wembley? London's a ball ache to get to. 

 

The biggest thing for me is that they held back those lower tier seats in direct view of the cameras. They should have been the FIRST tickets on sale, not last.

 

Anyway, thought i'd share.

 

[Ellis Rimmer]

1 hour ago, Bassetts Allsorts said:

 

 

On the argument of whether or not the FA Cup semi-finals should be at Wembley, I think there's still £120M left to pay on the debt for the stadium and it relies on these games to chip away at that figure. I get the argument for a Villa Park or St James' Park semi-final but then that limits teams to 20k tickets each. I suppose there's only Old Trafford that would be big enough to get anywhere close to the allocation you'd get at Wembley.

I don't get the argument every year. Every United fan that wanted to go had the opportunity to go. If you move it to a small ground, then they don't all get that opportunity. 

[Dronfield Blue]

3 minutes ago, Ellis Rimmer said:

I don't get the argument every year. Every United fan that wanted to go had the opportunity to go. If you move it to a small ground, then they don't all get that opportunity. 

 

Watched it on TV, it looked like a lot didn't bother.

[The only way is S6]

If it’s at Wembley, they complain, price & distance. (3 hours on one straight road that is)

If it’s at Villa, not enough tickets 

If it’s at OT, biased

They probably suggested S2.

 

Where did they want it played? 

 

[SiJ]

It was a crap game. 

 

Felt like a pre-season friendly at Wembley. 

 

Atmosphere was pants, City barely got out of reverse gear, Dem Blades looked like what they are: a good Championship side. 

 

Really wasn't a great spectacle for the FA Cup semi final or Wembley. I suppose Dem Blades have bigger priorities and the odds of them beating City atm were pretty much zero. In saying that, promotion is effectively wrapped up bar some complete meltdown. If ever a game was a free hit, this was it. 

[flo]

I don't understand the hold semi finals at a different ground thing because there isn't another ground other than Old Trafford that can hold 69,000 nearby. And Old Trafford always seems to have bad things said about it. 

[Bannofan]

I think the semi finals thing was that it worked perfectly well at neutral big grounds for years leading up to 1993 , with no real complaints. 

 

Wembley was sacred,  the holy grail of club football. I still maintain that as a club and fan base if you've gone there in the semi finals for your first ever visit , the actual final 3 weeks later is not going to hold the same excitement. 

 

The semis are at Wembley to make money for the FA. No other reason, it's not about the fans. That game just didn't justify it being at Wembley.  

 

You can laugh at Man Utd fans, and it may be first world problems, but they are going to have to shell out for a 3rd trip there this season now. 

[Ellis Rimmer]

2 minutes ago, Bannofan said:

I think the semi finals thing was that it worked perfectly well at neutral big grounds for years leading up to 1993 , with no real complaints. 

 

Wembley was sacred,  the holy grail of club football. I still maintain that as a club and fan base if you've gone there in the semi finals for your first ever visit , the actual final 3 weeks later is not going to hold the same excitement. 

 

The semis are at Wembley to make money for the FA. No other reason, it's not about the fans. That game just didn't justify it being at Wembley.  

 

You can laugh at Man Utd fans, and it may be first world problems, but they are going to have to shell out for a 3rd trip there this season now. 

I don't really think that holds true, you could go watch England play a friendly at Wembley, or NFL or Ed Sheerhan, always has been like that. If Wednesday got to a final you're going to be excited because it's the final.

 

Wembley 2016 wasn't anymore exciting than Millennium stadium 2005

 

Wembley 2016 wasn't less exciting because I had seen Doncaster Rovers in a play off final there.