The magic of the FA Cup has been slowly eroded over the last decade, and nothing – and I mean nothing – has contributed more to this decline than holding the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium.

With Sheffield United involved, I obviously had a more vested interest in this year’s semis than usual. But everything I saw last weekend only served to confirm my belief that Wembley semis are contributing to the slow death of the FA Cup.

When I was young, the idea of seeing your team playing at the home of English football was aspirational and dream-like. You knew that only the best of the best (in knock-out terms at least) got to play there.

But that is no longer the case. It’s not a magical venue reserved for the elite, it is a commercial venue used to maximise revenue. A plastic shrine to foam hands and double-teamed scarves.

It’s not a magical venue reserved for the elite, it is a commercial venue used to maximise revenue

And don’t give me that nonsense that the Football Association holds the games there to give more fans the opportunity to watch the games. Yes, it may be the biggest stadium in England, but it is hardly what you would describe as centrally located.

Of this year’s four semi-finalists, three were from the north of England, which would explain why neither game was a complete sell-out. How is it fair to expect thousands of supporters to make a massively expensive round trip to the south at a time when money is tight for everyone?

And that’s before we even touch on the environmental aspects of transporting 200,000 people several hundred miles in 24 hours. That’s the sort of carbon footprint that makes Greta Thunberg break out in a cold sweat.

I understand that back in the days when neutral venues were used for the semis, the situation was far from perfect. You would often end up playing at a ground that was closer to one team or the other. And getting tickets was never easy as the stadia were smaller.

But that was part of the magic and exclusivity of the cup. Plus you knew that, if your team made it to the final, there was a proper reason to pack up the kids, head off down to London and make a holiday out of it.

By reaching the final, your team had achieved something truly special and unique, so what the heck if you had to re-mortgage your home to go and watch it?

The chances were another visit to Wembley wouldn’t come around again for years, if not decades. So you made the extra effort and were happy to do so.

That exclusivity has gone, and with it, the magic.

I’m not saying moving the semis back to neutral venues would solve everything and restore the cup to its previous glory. Football has moved on, and domestic competitions will never have the significance they once did.

But giving the FA Cup final a unique Wembley stage would at least make it something that little bit more special.

 

How not to run a football club

Frank Lampard’s appointment as interim Chelsea manager has not been what you would call a resounding success. Five games, five defeats and just the single goal scored. It’s what managerial nightmares are made of.

And it is likely to get worse, considering their next match is at Arsenal on Tuesday where their opponents will be desperate to keep their rapidly fading title aspirations alive.

We could easily be talking about six defeats out of six.

It is now plainly obvious that the new owners of the club made a colossal balls-up with their transfer policy (if signing every player who was available can be considered a policy).

Rather than buying success, this outrageous transfer splurge has only created confusion, unrest and unhappiness in a squad that is massively bloated yet somehow devoid of strikers.

And it’s also looking like their decision to get rid of Graham Potter was just as stupid. There was always the chance – albeit small – that he could have turned things around and the club’s long-term vision could have remained intact.

Instead, they turned to a man whose love for the club meant he couldn’t say no and, in the process, probably hammered the final nail into his managerial career.

Good work Americans.

 

A bigger gulf than expected

I’m not remotely surprised that Manchester City beat Arsenal last Wednesday. Pep Guardiola’s team have been relentlessly brilliant over the past few months, and they weren’t going to miss their chance to pounce on a wobbling Arsenal.

But what did shock me was the gulf in quality between the two teams.

Only Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale kept the scoreline respectable and, but for him, it could have been twice as bad for the Gunners. With so much at stake, I thought Arsenal would put up more of a fight.

Still, as one Arsenal fan said after the game, if you had offered them a title fight at the start of the season, they would have snapped your hand off even if they had known it would be ultimately fruitless.

 

A Welsh success story

After a decade-and-a-half of wallowing in the world of non-league football, Wrexham are finally back in the league proper.

Of course, the main – some may say only – reason they achieved this was because of their celebrity Hollywood owners.

I don’t begrudge them their success, of course not, it’s always nice to see a hard-up club get back on its feet after a prolonged period of being down in the dumps.

And there is no doubting what Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have done with Wrexham has had a deeply profound impact on the whole Welsh town, which is also something to be welcomed.

But, while I am happy for everyone associated with Wrexham, I am getting rather fed up with being constantly told this is some sort of football fairy tale.

Rich men buying a football club and investing millions in a bid to make it successful is a story that has been told a million times in football. Just because this particular story happens to involve celebrity owners with millions of followers, a hotline to Disney and a host of famous friends doesn’t change the basic plot.

The only thing different to your average takeover is the way it is being covered by a media who are only too happy to play into Ryan’s insanely clever marketing hands.

Success story? Yes. Fairy tale? Not really.

 

E-mail: James@quizando.com

Twitter: @maltablade