For May 4th I'm going back 19 years to 2002 and the FA Cup Final played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along at once. Very few of my programmes carry the autograph of one of the players involved but, following yesterday's Grobbelaarfest, today I have another signed one for you. Recognise the autograph? Thought not! As they used to say on Soccer AM, it's only Ray Parlour, the Romford Pele who I was lucky enough to meet at another sporting dinner (who needs McDonalds eh?).
You may recall that the FA Cup Final had to be staged away from Wembley between 2001 and 2006. The next largest venue which had the added attraction of being neutral irrespective of the participants involved was the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (I have no idea what's wrong with Twickenham). Uniquely this meant taking the Final of English football's most iconic cup competition outside of England for the six years concerned. To be honest, Cardiff is a great place for a major match. The Stadium was completed in 1999 at the cost of just £121 million (sounds cheap when compared to Wembley or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium doesn't it?) and is the home of the Wales Rugby Union team. The Welsh football team also used it as their national stadium for a while but seem to have been dropped it in favour of Cardiff City's new stadium in recent years.
Did you know that the Millennium Stadium is no longer called the Millennium Stadium? In 2016 it was renamed the Principality Stadium apparently for sponsorship reasons according to wikipedia albeit I have no idea who Principality are or what they do. The stadium is smart and modern but its biggest plus point is that it's slap bang in the middle of Cardiff City centre within staggering distance of numerous watering holes (pint of Brains in the Goat Major anybody?). By comparison Wembley's surrounds are dreadful and Wembley Stadium seems to be disappearing amongst more and more high rise buildings as each year goes by. Give me the Millennium (or Principality) any day.
A confession. I am particularly old school when it comes to the FA Cup Final. Ever since I was a kid, I've absolutely adored Cup Final day with it's wall to wall coverage on TV that started early on a Saturday morning. Of course that was back in the day when there wasn't much live football on the three TV channels that existed so the whole thing was a massive event each year. At school you had to choose the side that you wanted to win and woe betide you if your choice wasn't that of your interrogator! Even to this traditionalist however, I have to concede that Cup Final day isn't what it used to be and I've been known to miss the odd one on TV in recent years. Why is it that I can name every Finalist from 1970 until about 1991 but, since then, I'd struggle?
The opportunity to go to an FA Cup Final however remains a massive thrill. I've been lucky enough to attend seven FA Cup Finals down the years (you'll no doubt get to see which were the others over the coming days) including this one: Arsenal against Chelsea. Gunners against Pensioners (does anyone use that nickname for Chelsea any more?). My ticket for the Final came as a result of corporate hospitality thank you very much so don't be fooled into thinking that the people in the corporate seats aren't real football fans. I recognise that I'm not a loyal follower of either side but I reckon I've put in the hard yards down the years watching games from the Extra Preliminary Round onwards and I do dislike Arsenal a lot so I was really rooting for Chelsea!
Rather disappointingly for me and in front of 73,963, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal were excellent on the day. Their two goals were superbly taken (take a look at the video attached to my blog). Parlour got the first, only his second goal of the season and Freddie Ljungberg made sure of victory with a classy second. Ah well, better luck next time ABA (anyone but Arsenal).
CRB Match No. 1274
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