To all those left behind.....

[cheltenhamlion]

The club aren't doing anything as it would clash with too many prior bookings at Villa Park that day. Which is a bit shit.

[PeterWithesShin]

Should ask the Sty to screen it for us, at least they'd finally get a full house and see an FA Cup final.

[cheltenhamlion]

Do it at The Hawthorns. If we lose our fans can have a riot and blame it on their stewards.

[el león Benidorm]

The White Star in Benidorm. Massive outdoor screen and beer at €1.80 a pint.

[oldhill_avfc]

If anyone fancies a trip up to Blackpool to watch the game in a pub and then follow it up with a great concert then I've got a couple of Bryan Ferry tickets up for grabs on the eve of the 30th May.  Face value £70 each - looking for offers.

[The Grocer]

Frustratingly it's my partners birthday on 30th May! A few of us are going to the evening racing at Stratford races, which starts at 5pm. She understands it is non-negotiable that I disappear to watch the match (to be fair she's always pretty sound about me doing what I want). Assuming it's not on at the races can anyone recommend decent pubs in Stratford that will have the game on?  Thanks in advance

[Ron Manager]

The club aren't doing anything as it would clash with too many prior bookings at Villa Park that day. Which is a bit shit.

Its more than that!  Appalling public relations considering Arsenal are putting it on at their place.

[amfy]

The club aren't doing anything as it would clash with too many prior bookings at Villa Park that day. Which is a bit shit.

Its more than that!  Appalling public relations considering Arsenal are putting it on at their place.

Not accepting bookings for cup final day would be a criminal loss of revenue for Villa most years. I imagine they have spent some time seeing if they can come to some agreement with people who might have their wedding there that day, but in the end, Villa have to honour their contract with their existing customers.

It is fair to say it is a bit shit, but it is messing with people's wedding bookings which would be appalling customer relations.

Given that we went to a 6 game booking history, and most of the 'left behind' on this thread are due to being far away or having other commitments, how many people, in reality, have this need to be at Villa Park on the day as their second choice venue?

Areenal's position is a bit different as they have about 10,000 season ticket holders without cup final tickets!

[luke95]

The club aren't doing anything as it would clash with too many prior bookings at Villa Park that day. Which is a bit shit.

Its more than that!  Appalling public relations considering Arsenal are putting it on at their place.

Its very shortsighted of the club to be booked up for private functions on Cup Final day, not taking bookings for that single day wasnt gona lead us to bankruptcy.

[PeterWithesShin]

This season has gone on longer than usual, with how much in advance weddings are booked, the club may well have accepted the bookings thinking it was after the season ended.

[ez]

I'm really torn on what to do. When i let my season ticket lapse 5 years ago i planned that in the event of Villa reaching the fa cup final i would use the money i'd saved to pay a tout for a ticket. Now we are there i have conflicting thoughts in my head. One says the amount of money the touts will be asking will be high and should be put to use at home. The other shouts this is Villa in the fa cup final, something we've never won in my lifetime.

[Louzie0]

The club aren't doing anything as it would clash with too many prior bookings at Villa Park that day. Which is a bit shit.

Its more than that!  Appalling public relations considering Arsenal are putting it on at their place.

Its very shortsighted of the club to be booked up for private functions on Cup Final day, not taking bookings for that single day wasnt gona lead us to bankruptcy.

They may well have tried to get somebody to move their booking.  My Dad had his 70 th birthday there at the end of May, 2000. I 've posted before about it but the club called a couple of weeks before and asked if it could be moved or cancelled. Er, no!

We ended up having lunch in The Corner Flag watching the demolition of the Trinity Road Stand, just the other side of the window! Surreal.

[amfy]

They could even have offered someone a good sum of money to move their wedding.
Enough for a top notch venue and re-arrangement fees, but re-arranging a wedding, that has possibly been 18 months+ in the planning at this kind of notice would be a nightmare.
Unlikely to be anywhere that great left for May 30th at this kind of notice either.

[Louzie0]

Reminds me of the time the Deputy Head sabotaged the School Play almost 2 years in advance!

The DH was i/c site bookings. The School Play was an annual event. I was directing, that year. 

The final run up went: whole show rehearsal Saturday morning, set build Saturday morning afternoon and early evening, dress rehearsal Monday evening, 'preview' for local primary school Tuesday aft, First Night Tuesday night.  It was a point of honour with us that the preview would be perfect, completely as performance.

On the Thursday before the Big Weekend, the DH came to me. 

There was a wedding booked in for Saturday from about 20 months before, with a Big Band onstage ( so no room for the set) and tables all over the hall, which would have to be set up during the morning...oh, and there was a visiting troupe in on Friday so the stage was needed all day then, anyway. 

Oh, God. How? The DH had confused the dates, blocking us in for the weekend after Show Week.

The reason we did it all after school and at the last weekend was to avoid taking staff and students out of lessons before GCSE and A levels. It was about this time of year. The lessons were sacrosanct.  I couldn't see any other way out, though, so I asked.

I have never been so thankful for understanding colleagues and students who came through in a genuine emergency. The School Keepers especially were brilliant as their official hours could have closed us down.

Basically, everybody, including the  backstage and lighting crews and orchestra students and staff all worked through Monday, Monday night and Tuesday morning and we made our preview.


I know, only a school play, but it meant such a lot to all the people involved in it at the time.
That's maybe not a million miles from what the FA Cup might mean to our players and people at the club.  They would have really tried to get something, I'm sure.

[KRS]

Assuming its a wedding and one of them is a Villa fan (why else would you even consider getting married at Villa Park?)...you got to feel sorry for the poor sod who booked his wedding on Cup Final day and is going to miss the chance of seeing us win the FA Cup at Wembley.