Wembley 2024 FA Cup semi final scenes Man City v Chelsea
The weekend saw Manchester City make another trip to the national stadium at Wembley. This visit was for the FA Cup semi final game against Chelsea.
I think this was maybe our 19th or 20th trip in the last dozen years or so which in turn means we are pretty familiar with the travel arrangements and have a good sense of how the day pans out.
As per usual we opted to drive, as unless you get unlucky with the traffic it’s a pretty straight forward journey. Other than on one occasion we have always opted to park on the official Wembley car parks as the price/convenience factor seems to work out for us.
Nice and easy
There are a number of car parks at the stadium and irrespective of which car park you are allocated to when booking they are all very convenient and just a stone’s throw from the stadium. This make it nice and easy to grab the cameras from the car go for a wander and leave the gear safely in the car before going into the match, I generally find that any sort of public event can be pretty fascinating if you enjoy people watching and/or photography.
Previous trips to Wembley have offered up some interesting pictures and you can find plenty of photo galleries from some previous trips at the following links:
Routine journey
The journey from home to Wembley stadium is normally routine and just shy of 200 miles. On this occasion the weather was good and the traffic was free flowing, other than stopping for coffee at Watford Gap services on the way down and at Corley on the way home we didn’t break our journeys.
Decent but chilly weather and genuine kindness
Thankfully and despite the seemingly endless rain of recent weeks the weather for the most part was bright and stayed dry for the day but it was pretty chilly out of the sunshine and probably a little colder than it looked.
We had a good wander around the stadium, then down past the top of Wembley Way and on towards the shops and cafes on Wembley Hill Road. The last couple of times at Wembley my son and I had enjoyed a decent coffee and bite to eat at a small cafe and so my wife and I headed there for coffee.
We actually found ourselves in different premises than we had headed for the one I was looking for was closed we ourselves in Auntie Jenny’s Kitchen that serves Jamaican cuisine – which I hadn’t quite noticed until I asked for a couple of coffees, only to be told that they didn’t serve coffee.
But before I could look for an alternative drink we were told ‘don’t worry I’ll ask if we can make you one’ and we were ushered to our seats. Not only was coffee served we were also given some fabulous cake – a mixture of rum and something else which I can’t recall.
The circle of life
The owner would not take any money of us. Despite trying our level best to pay for what we had been served it just wasn’t going to happen. So although the mistake was ours in thinking we could get a coffee at an establishment that didn’t serve coffee we were treated to an act of genuine human kindness. The owner referred to the ‘circle of life’ and said it’s better to give than receive. Acts like that make a difference and we really appreciated that kindness.
If you’re down that way you could do worse than checking Auntie Jenny’s Kitchen out.
At the altar of mammon
Once again empty seats in all areas of the ground maybe point towards footballs own story of how it continues to eat itself whilst worshipping at the altar of mammon.
The contrast between the endless monetisation of almost every aspect of attending a football match is in stark contrast to the experience of the open hospitality received at Auntie Jenny’s.
Of course Wembley is always a decent day out – win or lose it’s a good experience. I’ve written previously about what I think is a general devaluing of what I think should be a special occasion by the use of Wembley for semi finals.
The words I wrote last year after the semi final against Sheffield United fit exactly my thoughts after this most recent game. I have repeated them again (in italics below). The only change I have made is to the kick off time, which was 30 minutes earlier on the Sheffield game.
Wembley for semi finals?
Part of the joy of your club being at Wembley is actually being there and experiencing what is generally (win or lose) a pretty good day out.
There are plenty of opinions about whether the national stadium should be used for semi-finals or reserved just for the main event of cup competitions and play off finals.
My general opinion is the tournament and occasions are devalued by playing semi-finals there. But of course the location and timing of football games are the servants of other money making masters.
The so called ‘match day experience’ rarely has the match going supporter at the heart of things and this game was no different.
Rubbish timing and quiet in the stands
Although a kick off time of 17:15 is not geared for match going supporters, our familiarity with the journey meant our travel to Wembley was routine and without fuss.
The weather was good enough for our usual wander around and allowed me to indulge one of my other interests – photography. Although I didn’t take so many pictures you’ll find a few pictures from the day in the picture galleries below.
You can also find some people pictures from the 2020 final against Aston Villa at this link and some from last year’s Wembley visit at this link.
Not the right place
The absurdity of using Wembley (in my opinion) for this game was brought home by the thousands of empty seats that in turn contributed to a pretty quiet stadium. I think there are many reasons for empty seats at sporting events, and that include: the cost of living, the match day expense and the need for folk to balance their own budgets.
I don’t line up with the hard of thinking view that it points to a lack of support – more a lack of affordability for many folk.
Picture gallery 1
Clicking on any of the images below will open a picture gallery from the day. The pictures can be viewed by clicking or scrolling through.
Picture gallery 2
This addiotnal picture gallery is made up of pictures taken by my wife. Clicking on any of the images below will open a picture gallery, click or scroll through to view images.
It was a great day out and a great result for City.