FA CUP SEMI FINALS WEEKEND

I'm not a great lover of Villa being a Wolves fan but today they were screwed... again. Just heard the commentator tell me how Chelsea won it convincingly...fucking joke. The big teams get the big decissions always have always will...

And Howard Webb is our ref at the World Cup. Sheesh.

Villa ripped off again by a referee. If that 'non-penalty' had happened at the other end not only would it have been given but the defender would have been off as well. Obviously the fa want a chelsea - tottenham final for the tv revenue/ratings. And even if they don't get tottenham through they want to ensure portsmouth have no chance.

(10-04-2010 19:09 )rickhardo Wrote:  And Howard Webb is our ref at the World Cup. Sheesh.

Sheesh Kebab indeed. Bring back Collina, he always used to give us dodgy penalties, Michael Owen v Argies 2002.

A leg end.

I've been to semi finals at Hillsborough, Villa Park and Highbury and never once made it to the twin towers in the FA cup. All special days and I agree if you want to go back to the good old days when everyone kicked off at three o'clock and fuck sky tv and their money then fair enough. How many clubs will be left ?

(10-04-2010 19:52 )thinwhiteduke Wrote:  I've been to semi finals at Hillsborough, Villa Park and Highbury and never once made it to the twin towers in the FA cup. All special days and I agree if you want to go back to the good old days when everyone kicked off at three o'clock and fuck sky tv and their money then fair enough. How many clubs will be left ?

You are not going to lose much revenue if you stage the semi-finals at the Emirates or Old Trafford.

For all Sky's money, and in the main, through gritted teeth, it has probably been a good thing for English football, look at the revenue generated for overseas sales, a Premier League team, Portsmouth, has gone into Administration and Liverpool and Man United are saddled with huge debts.

Unfortunately, the 'big four', like the banks, will not be allowed to fail.
I hope they implode and the likes of Wolves, Birmingham, Fulham can compete on a level playing field.

However, if the top teams were the three mentioned above you can bet that Sky would not be paying the PL the same money as now.

(10-04-2010 19:22 )m100 Wrote:  Obviously the fa want a chelsea - tottenham final for the tv revenue/ratings. And even if they don't get tottenham through they want to ensure portsmouth have no chance.

The FA get the same revenue whatever teams are in the final. It makes no difference.

Given a choice, they would go for underdogs getting through. It promotes the idea of the "magic of the FA Cup". They would not have wanted Chelsea to beat Aston Villa. The Portsmouth-Cardiff final was a godsend to the FA.

I had the chance to go to the game, but after watching it on tv, i'm glad i didn't. The 1st half was like watching paint dry and to be fair the 2nd half wasn't a great deal better.....put that with paying £7 for a chilli dog at Wembley and you can see why i was so pleased that i didn't go!!

Who was the smart arse who thought that it was a good idea to water a rock hard surface?? Smart move that, the 1st half was like watching dancing on ice!! Spend nearly a billion quid on as new stadium, but in the quest for revenue forget just about the most important aspect, the playing surface......How many times has the pitch at Wembley been relaid now? 10?

Yes, it was a pen, but i'm not certain that it would have changed the end result. We've just got too many guns at our disposal for Villa to be honest. Still, now i can relax and sit and watch tomorrow's game......Now that Portsmouth are already relegated they've got bugger all to worry about apart from enjoying themselves, so i reckon it'll be a lot closer than people think.

(10-04-2010 20:20 )cosmonaut Wrote:  The FA get the same revenue whatever teams are in the final. It makes no difference.

It does to how they can sell the game overseas. Man U v Chelsea is much more attractive to the Far East market than Cardiff v Portsmouth.

(10-04-2010 20:20 )cosmonaut Wrote:  

(10-04-2010 19:22 )m100 Wrote:  Obviously the fa want a chelsea - tottenham final for the tv revenue/ratings. And even if they don't get tottenham through they want to ensure portsmouth have no chance.

The FA get the same revenue whatever teams are in the final. It makes no difference.

Given a choice, they would go for underdogs getting through. It promotes the idea of the "magic of the FA Cup". They would not have wanted Chelsea to beat Aston Villa. The Portsmouth-Cardiff final was a godsend to the FA.

Thought there might have been extra revenue to gain from abroad if it was Man U v Chelsea than Scunthorpe v Walsall....