Wembley FA Cup Final Villa Surfer Flag

[Clampy]

They haven't moved the kick off time to boost it's flagging profile, they've moved it to boost their own profits.

[dave.woodhall]

"It's tradition" is no argument unless you can argue it's a valid tradition. See fox-hunting, for instance. In any case, it's not exactly a long-lasting tradition and most pre-floodlit era finals kicked off earlier (ie the finals when Villa used to sometimes win it!)

Take a wild guess what time the 1923 FA Cup final kicked off.

[pauliewalnuts]

"It's tradition" is no argument unless you can argue it's a valid tradition. See fox-hunting, for instance. In any case, it's not exactly a long-lasting tradition and most pre-floodlit era finals kicked off earlier (ie the finals when Villa used to sometimes win it!)

Take a wild guess what time the 1923 FA Cup final kicked off.

I don't know, but all those people on the pitch, what a depressing flash forward to the bad years of the 1980s

*Jonathan Pearce face*

[cdbearsfan]

I'll say 11am. Or you're going to prove me wrong and say it was 3pm after all...

[cdbearsfan]

They haven't moved the kick off time to boost it's flagging profile, they've moved it to boost their own profits.

Well, maybe. However it's happened though, the competition has regained some of the esteem it lost when the Final played second fiddle to Premier League games. 3pm or 5.30pm is neither here nor there.

[amfy]

A coupe of hours might not be significant to us, but if one of the north eastern teams was in the final, they'd probably find extra time & penalties would complicate their journey home somewhat. There is no chance that the decision would be any different if the fans had further to travel.

[cdbearsfan]

Agree. I would hope train companies would lay on extra trains in such circumstances.

The real traditionalists would never have got rid of cup final replays which would've been much, much more awkward than a 5.30pm kick off.

[amfy]

Virgin Trains are the official shirt sponsor of Preston North End, and last week they had to issue an apology for not being able to get PNE fans back from their play off final due to a 5.30 kick off.

So no, they wouldn't.

[dave.woodhall]

They haven't moved the kick off time to boost it's flagging profile, they've moved it to boost their own profits.

Well, maybe. However it's happened though, the competition has regained some of the esteem it lost when the Final played second fiddle to Premier League games. 3pm or 5.30pm is neither here nor there.

Which happened maybe twice, and also used to be a regular thing.

[cdbearsfan]

Probably because they'd anticipated a strike which never happened, and it was the day before a Bank Holiday so they may have had lots of staff on leave.

If there's a choice between taking money off 25,000 Geordies/Mackems and not taking it, I reckon most train companies would probably rather have a few extra trains and maximise their profits.

[amfy]

.........Or just sting them for the overnight sleeper at twice the price of a regular train - it all works for someone, but not the fan.

[pauliewalnuts]

If there's a choice between taking money off 25,000 Geordies/Mackems and not taking it, I reckon most train companies would probably rather have a few extra trains and maximise their profits.

They weren't exactly begging for the business when Man City played Wigan.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2309785/FA-Cup-final-5-15pm-kick--Manchester-City-v-Wigan--train-firm-rescue-fans.html

[cdbearsfan]

They haven't moved the kick off time to boost it's flagging profile, they've moved it to boost their own profits.

Well, maybe. However it's happened though, the competition has regained some of the esteem it lost when the Final played second fiddle to Premier League games. 3pm or 5.30pm is neither here nor there.

Which happened maybe twice, and also used to be a regular thing.

Sadly, it'll probably continue to happen in every Euro/World Cup year, and in ones where Wembley has been selected to host the Champions League Final.

I'm not particularly bothered about traditions, as I've said. I think what is best for the FA Cup is for the Final to be last game of the season and not played on the same day as any league games. I think that if this isn't the case, regardless of how often it happened in the past, the FA Cup's reputation will suffer.

I think that moving the game from 3pm to 5.30pm will cause no damage whatsoever to the competition's esteem.

[dave.woodhall]

Probably because they'd anticipated a strike which never happened, and it was the day before a Bank Holiday so they may have had lots of staff on leave.

If there's a choice between taking money off 25,000 Geordies/Mackems and not taking it, I reckon most train companies would probably rather have a few extra trains and maximise their profits.

They can't do that anymore, with different train companies, Railtrack and all that bollocks. If only there was some way of having all the rail network under one ownership, possibly with the profits being utilised for the public good.

[pauliewalnuts]

Probably because they'd anticipated a strike which never happened, and it was the day before a Bank Holiday so they may have had lots of staff on leave.

If there's a choice between taking money off 25,000 Geordies/Mackems and not taking it, I reckon most train companies would probably rather have a few extra trains and maximise their profits.

They can't do that anymore, with different train companies, Railtrack and all that bollocks. If only there was some way of having all the rail network under one ownership, possibly with the profits being utilised for the public good.

Nah, it's surely much better to have far more expensive tickets through privatised train companies, companies which still need enormous government subsidies, thus giving us the most expensive train tickets in Europe AND one of the highest government subsidies for the industry.

Brilliant.