The Football Association’s decision to insist on Liverpool’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City being played at Wembley Stadium has angered and disappointed many but should come as no surprise given the governing body’s track record for putting their own interests ahead of supporters.
Both clubs and sets of fans’ groups requested the showpiece occasion between the Premier League title rivals, set to be played on Saturday 16th April at 3.30pm, be moved away from the national stadium because National Rail's long-planned Bank Holiday rail maintenance works mean there will be no trains into London from the the north west, with the very real prospect of travel chaos on the nation’s roads over the busy Easter weekend.
Despite there being a number of stadiums outside the capital capable of hosting the match and avoiding the need for tens of thousands of supporters from the north west to make long and difficult journeys, the FA have doubled-down on the commercially-motivated decision to denigrate their own competition by hosting the semi-finals there taken when the renovated Wembley re-opened in 2007 by refusing to countenance moving the Liverpool vs City fixture despite the circumstances clearly offering the opportunity to exercise some discretion and common sense.
