May 20, 2000

[Chico Hamilton III]

ten fackin' years ago???? Jesus!

Still feels like an open wound to me.

An alternative source for the match summary

The Washington Post
May 21, 2000, Sunday, Final Edition

Fanfare
Sports in Brief
Soccer


Chelsea Wins FA Cup


Chelsea won the 72nd FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium outside London, beating Aston Villa, 1-0, to secure the trophy for the second time in four years. Italian midfielder Roberto di Matteo scored after 73 minutes from close range after goalkeeper David James failed to hold Gianfranco Zola's free kick. . . ....

fuck that, can't read any more of this. I've never even seen any of the tv replauys of the game

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I queued all night at the ticket office to get top price prime seats. I bought the shirt and punted a few quid on us winning 1-0.
My now departed Mom then in her late 70s was shedding a tear more than me at full time, I guess she knew she wasnt going to see us win the cup again. We were already out the ground by the time that nasty five footer was lifting the trophy.And back home in brum by 1/4 to 7.
The following season, I was half watching their lot on TV playing an early european game somewhere and they were struggling. the bitterness welled up and I was cheering on some obscure team to try and put em out.

[Chico Hamilton III]

 We were already out the ground by the time that nasty five footer was lifting the trophy.And back home in brum by 1/4 to 7.
.

I was living in Tooting at the time, real Chelsea territory ( I remember hanging my Villa union flag out of the window in the weeks leading up to the cup final) and I left the ground before the cup was presented, got the tube straight home, stopped off to buy a couple of armfuls of lager, locked the door behind me and didn't speak to anyone until I got to work on Monday morning.

Mad how a day can change from being one of the happiest in your life to one of the worst in just 90 minutes.

[usav]

Mad how a day can change from being one of the happiest in your life to one of the worst in just 90 minutes.

Indeed the excitement of the whole morning and the build-up to the game is lost forever.  

We had plans for a big piss-up in London that night.   So pissed off and depressed were we after the game, we drove straight home to the Midlands.

The memory is even more poignant for me as I knew I would be leaving for pastures new later that year (October) - and I knew we had blown it big time.

[OldUser]

Why did you have to mention it? Why? WHY?

[Irish villain]

Ten years....I wish the years would slow down a bit.

[SteveN]

Went up to Norfolk to watch it with my late dad - God bless him.  The last time I ever watched the Villa with him and waht I remember is his sadness of how we never even gave it a go.

Just switched off at the final whistle and talked about anything but.

[UsualSuspect]

remember every part of the day so well apart from probably the worst 90 minutes of football i've ever seen.

Im trying to remember if we had a shot on target in that game or the semi. Come to think of it in out last 4 wembley appearances we havent scored from open play.

After the game couldnt get on the tube for about two hours then ended up on the silverlink which stopped at about 28 stations and to top it all some nice friendly Zulus got on at rugby then by the time we got into new street at about half ten they were doing their usual of wandering round new st like a pack of dirty hyenas looking for villa fans on their own.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

I remember standing at Wembley singing Abide With Me as loud as I could thinking that this is the greatest day of my life and that nothing ever was going to top this. I didn't entertain for one minute that it would be anything other than a Villa victory.
Dismal. Fucking dismal.

[curiousorange]

I watched this final at home with my Grandad. I came home from uni especially as we'd been waiting for a decade to watch a Villa FA Cup final together (I started following the team in '89). Although I wasn't confident, that didn't mean a thing as I'm never confident of Villa wins.

After the match I cried on my mother's shoulder for the first time since I was in single figures. My worst day as a Villa fan and probably always will be.

[andyaston]

It was a complete non event even the Chelsea fans didnt seem that bothered they'd won the cup just that they qualified for Europe. It was typical Gregory tactics, try and avoid defeat.

[Vancouver]

I managed to get a pair of tickets from our club Chairman on the south coast as we played in the FA Cup (Premliminary round) at got a pair. The cheeky git charged my dad (who paid for me and was his mate) an arm and a leg. The only trouble was that it was in the Chelsea end. My mate and I, who my dad gave the ticket to, (I was 20 at the time) tried to swap the ticket in the bar before the game. Didn't work.

I wanted to get to the ground early but my dad wanted to get a few more beers inside him. So we missed Abide with me. I wasn't looking forward to being in the Chelsea end but just happy to be there. All I can really remember is my mate shouting 'Go on Ugo' and everyone looking at us. I had to confess to them who we were but they were ok with us (I'm not a bad size). We left as soon as the final whistle went and went back to the pub. This pub was upstairs and full of Villa although it was on the Chelsea side.

This is what will stick with me and make me hate Chelsea for all of this time. There was a pub just down the road, away from the ground, which had a gated driveway next to it with a few tables. It was full of Chelsea and there were these men and women standing behind the gate shouting and swearing at any Villa fan who went past including little kids. One dad went past with his little and they started on him. He quite rightly pointed out how tought they must be by hiding behind the gates. Every since then I have always hated Chelsea.

[curiousorange]

That last tale reminds me of being on the coaches at Wembley at the semi this year and watching as dads set fire to Villa flags in front of their little'uns and giving it the 7, safe in the knowledge that we couldn't do anything about it. Classless c***s.

[Pete3206]

Setting fire to flags? WTF?

[Legion]

Horrible day. Left the ground feeling really low. Got a call from a friend which ended up with me totally losing the plot somewhat. Went out on the night in London with the three guys I'd travelled with. We all felt totally flat and ended up back at the B&B after only a couple of pints. Nowadays, I think my reaction would be not too dissimilar to that of Chico's.