City fail to fly me to the Blue Moon as they are shot down by the Gunners

Sunday the 23^rd April 2017

FA Cup Semi Final (Wembley Stadium)

Arsenal 2 Manchester City 1 (after extra time)

Yesterday afternoon at the world famous Wembley Stadium a well organised, technically gifted and very slightly fortunate Arsenal outlasted the footballing superstars representing Man City. Arsene Wenger’s Gunners will now play Chelsea in the FA Cup Final next month and Pep Guardiola’s City slickers will now concentrate on finishing in the top four places in the Premier League. I was there to see it all with my old mucker Anne Donkin and my old pal John Rees.

Fly me to the Blue Moon

It was an early start to take in the match, getting up at 0430 for a 0700 flight and a late finish, getting back home at midnight. This is how the day panned out.

Pre Match Communications: In the early stages of this ‘Road’ journey I was keen to find out more about the competing clubs by contacting the clubs directly. When you are dealing with Penrith, Dunston UTS, Spennymoor, Skelmersdale and the like this is both relatively easy and great fun. Now I am among the big boys it has not been so straightforward. I have however had some very helpful support from a couple of Scots based twitter feeds. The City fan @thegingerwigmcfc and the Scots Arsenal feed @ArsenalScotland have been great in answering questions relating to their Scots heritage. 6/10

Pre Match Pint: The pre match pint was a real highlight of the day yesterday. The Weatherspoon pub ‘JJ Moon’ on Wembley High Street was made available for the exclusive use of Man City fans. Good beer available in here too. I really enjoyed the singing of the Man City fans – especially the homage to Zabaleta to the tune of my old man’s a dustman:

“Ohhh ….. Pablo Zab-a-lett-ahh

He is the fucking man

He is an Agentinian

He’s harder than Jaap Stam

He plays in blue and white

For Guardiola’s men

And when we win the league

We’ll sing this song again

Ohhh ….. Pablo Zab-a-lett-ahh”

etc etc

I was trying to take a photo of Mrs Donkin and John Rees enjoying a pre match libation when they were photo bombed by a couple of very exuberant City fans 10/10

Pre match optimism. City fans with JR and Mrs D at the JJ (Blue) Moon

Programme: The programme is good but like everything associated with a day out at Wembley it was over priced. At £5.00 it is the most expensive matchday mag that I have picked up on the ‘The Road’. It does contain some good stuff and I particularly liked the ‘he played for both teams’ feature on Niall Quinn and the retro coverage of the 1932 FA Cup semi final between City and Arsenal

I also like the programme cover design but compared to the ‘books’ produced by Burnley and Arsenal in the previous two rounds this publication is a bit light on content 7/10

Ground: Wembley Stadium is iconic. It is one of the most famous Sports Stadia in the world.  Wembley is a 90000 all seater stadium where every seat offers a great view of the action. We were on the half way line high in the upper tier

The view from my seat. Wembley looking good

The pitch looked great. It was liking watching a snooker game from this vantage point 10/10

Atmosphere: The atmosphere in the ground among the City fans was slightly muted. City were expected to win and the bookmakers made them odds-on favourites. The first half was dominated by the men from Manchester and when they did not score there was a palpable unease among the faithful. A couple of lusty choruses of ‘blue moon’ were essayed to give their favourites encouragement but in truth the singing never really caught on … not in the way it did in the pub before the match.

Halifax Blues: L-R Mrs D, Adrian Furness, Matt Bowler and David Ellis

I had the pleasure of being introduced to a few members of the Halifax and District Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club before the game and they were in high spirits and in good voice. It was great to meet up with David Ellis the Chair of the club who, along with John Rees, sorted out my ticket. It was great to chat about City and about football in general with David. He advised me that sky blue is the most beautiful colour in the world. Funny that, I always thought it was maroon.

Unusually, in my experience for such a big match, the segregation in force in the ground did not seem to be applied after the game. The atmosphere after the game was surprisingly convivial as the fans from both clubs mingled and headed for the various stations. A half hearted triumphalist Arsenal chant was met with the self effacing City song delivered with disappointment tinged with regret:

“We never win at home and we never win away

We lost last week and we lost today

We don't give a fuck cause we're all pissed up

M – C – F - C - OK!”

Oh well, there is always next season 5/10

Scottishness: As has been reported on this blog, Arsenal do not have any Scots in their squad and have not selected a Scot to play for their team for 19 years. Hence not much Scottishness in their ranks. Manchester City also do not have any jocks in their squad at the moment either and indeed they have not had a Scotsman in their team for over 10 years. I did meet a guy in the JJ Moon pub from the borders who described himself as the ‘Selkirk Blue, but I guess that is a bit spurious 2/10

Entertainment:

A slow burner of a football match that started relatively quietly and got better and better as the afternoon progressed.

The first half was a fascinating football contest. Man City dominated proceedings and Arsenal competed by employing a more physical approach than we are used to seeing from the Gunners. The Citizens did however dominate possession and were rewarded with a good goal which, unfortunately for them, was ruled out by the linesman. The German wonder boy Sane played the ball in from the left and his curled cross was adjudged to have gone in and out of play before the ball broke to Aguero to score from close range.

Sane's cross did not go out of play. The disallowed Man City 'goal' should have counted

The TV footage has subsequently proved that the whole of the ball did not cross the whole of the line hence Sane’s pass was legal and the goal should have stood. Half time 0-0

The second half was a lot more comfortable for the mighty Arsenal. They are now employing a three-at-the-back system and the players are still getting used to this new formation. In the second period they settled in to their work and were having their best spell when Man City scored. The men in sky blue scored a breakaway goal in the 62^nd minute that was both simple and beautiful in its execution. Sergio Aguero used blistering pace to race from his own half to spring beyond the Arsenal defence and bear down on goal. As the keeper came out a deft flick of the outside of his right boot sent the ball over him and into the net. The Gunners were not shot down yet though. Arsenal’s back three formation had freed the two wing backs to allow them to express themselves in wide forward positions.  They combined in the 71^st minute to fashion an exquisite equaliser. Oxlade-Chamberlain foraged down the right flank and sent over a delightful cross for his left sided peer Monreal to meet on the volley and belt the ball past Bravo in the City goal. Despite Arsenal improving in the second half Man City continued to carve out the best chances and both Toure and Fernandino struck the frame of the goal. Full time 1-1

So, for the first time since the MK Dons v Charlton Athletic replay in December a match on the Road to Wembley from Scotland was going to extra time. The momentum was with Arsenal who had looked more relaxed in the second half and had ridden their luck. Towards the end of the first period of extra time the Arsenal talisman Sanchez forced the ball over the line following a goal mouth scramble. Final Score Arsenal 2 Man City 1.

Would the match have panned out differently if the disallowed Man City goal in the first half had stood? Were Man City unlucky to lose? The answer to both of these questions is probably yes. However, the beleaguered Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will be unconcerned about these hypothetical debating points. The Professor is now one win away from winning the FA Cup for Arsenal for an incredible seventh time. See you again on the 27^th May Prof! 9/10

Match Day Catering: The pie stall in the Man City section of the ground was miles away from where we were seating so I went for a hot dog instead. Big mistake. This £5.20 item was dodgy processed meat inside a dry bit of bread roll. In another part of the ground Mrs Donkin went for the pie and described it as ‘good but messy’ claiming that it should have been served with a spoon. 5/10

Value for Money: Regular readers will know that my wife’s ticket was £159 from an on-line tout. Ridiculous when you get there and see that some seats were empty. More fool me for paying this and engaging with the murky world of the so-called ticket exchanges. The admission price of my seat was £40. This was the most expensive ticket on ‘The Road’ so far. However, this was Wembley, this was The FA Cup semi final and this was two of the best teams in world football going at it hammer and tongs. So the price can be considered reasonable 8/10

The je ne sais quoi factor: A recurring theme in this category is meeting up with old friends. Yesterday it was the turn of John Rees. John is an ex colleague whose friendship I value massively and it was great to catch up with him again not having seen him for several years.

Your blogger and John Rees enjoying a pre-match refreshment

It was also great fun to spend a day on ‘The Road’ with my long suffering old mucker Anne Donkin. This is the 16^th match on this journey and Anne has not been to any of the previous 15 despite being something of a football fan herself these days. With the Wembley jaunt being completed by plains and trains (i.e. no driving) we both indulged in some alcohol abuse during the course of the day as the pints and the G&Ts flowed. Always good to make sure that a football watching experience is suitably oiled.

It was also pretty special to meet up with some of the guys from the Halifax and District Branch of Manchester City Supporters Club. Once again thanks to David Ellis and his pals for sorting out the ticket for this match 9/10

Overall Road to Wembley from Scotland Rating 71/100

At this point I have to bid farewell to Manchester City. My time with them was simply too short. I enjoyed the craic yesterday and enjoyed the email dialogue over the last few weeks with David Ellis. Before the draw for the semi finals was made I had a view of Man City based on a prejudice that they were a ‘money club’. It is true that they have benefited from significant investment but that is not the fans fault. The Man City fans are, as far as I can gather, loyal supporters who followed the team through thin and thin before the club was transformed by the Arab money. Good luck to them. They are clearly enjoying seeing a team of world class footballers representing their club every week and I will retain a soft spot for City in the future. I loved the City fans sense of humour and their songs are both unique and genuinely funny. City may have lost yesterday but I do think there are good times ahead under the stewardship of Pep Guardiola.

So, Arsenal survive to play in the FA Cup Final. Arsene Wenger survives as a consequence and he could be putting the cup back on the mantelpiece at the Emirates soon. A seventh FA Cup would be quite an achievement for a coach who according to some Arsenal fans does not know what he is doing.

Chelsea won the other semi final and I will be exploring their historical links to Scotland soon in a future post. Keep visiting this blog for that and for news of how Arsenal prepare for the big day in five weeks time … and …. oh … anyone got a spare ticket for the FA Cup Final?

Miles on the clock for this match (inc airport transfers, trains and planes) 1020

Total Miles on the Road to Wembley from Scotland so far 8753