The FA Cup Final returns to its spiritual home tomorrow when Chelsea and Man Utd walk out onto the new “hallowed turf” at Wembley. The last six Fa Cup Finals have, of course, been played in Cardiff, and apart from the the extended cap park that was Wales, it was a superb venue.

But to everyone, the FA Cup Final will always mean Wembley and unless you’re under about the age of 10 you will probably have some great memories of Finals at Wembley. Personally, mine go back to 1971 and Liverpool against Arsenal. Hold on, how old am I?!!

Which other memories stand out for me? Well, there is Sunderland beating the then mighty Leeds and that amazing double save by Jim Montgomery, the Sunderland goalkeeper. Shankly is 1974 with those famous hand signals, when Liverpool brushed aside Newcastle. Does anyone know whay they actually meant? Southampton beating Man Utd in 1976. Liverpool and Utd again in 1977 and Stuart Peearson punnching the air. The dramatic Alan Sunderland winner for Arsenal against Man Utd in 1979. The Rikcy Villa final and that amazing run and goal against Man City in the 1981 reply. The all Merseyside affairs of 1986 and 1989, Liverpool beating their neighbours on both occasions. Sandwiched in between those, two incredible games for different reasons. Firstly in 1987 that diving header by Coventry’s Keith Houchen and the following year, Dave Beasant making history for the first ever penalty save and John Aldridge for missing it! One of the truly great upsets that makes the FA Cup stand out.

Keith Houchen in mid air. Now that’s what I call a “diving header”!

Gazza’s tackle in 1991 which, let’s be honest, basically finished his career. He was never the same again. Michael Thomas’ goal for Liverpool against Sunderland in 1992. Brighton oh so very nearly beating Man Utd in 1994. Those disastrous suits the Liverpool players wore in 1996. The game itself also stands out but for all the wrong reasons. It had to be one of the worst games of football I think I have ever had the misfortunate to sit through. Just before Cantona scored I turned to my mate and said I didn’t care who scored I just wanted anyone to score because I just couldn’t have coped with another 30 minutes of such mind numbing boredom! Fortunately Eric answered my wish about 5 seconds later and I was out of there! Roberto Di Matteo goal in 43 seconds in 1997 for Chelsea, the fastest ever Cup Final goal.

Some great memories but what memories are going to be inprinted on our pyschies from tomorrow? Well, Chelsea and Man Utd have the chance to do so and let’s hope they serve up a classic to kick off the new Wembley era. The memories are all to come but how do the old and new stadiums compare?

The stadium was actually originally known as the Empire Stadium and was initially built to stage the British Empire Exhibition in 1924.

It opened with the ‘white horse’ FA Cup final of 1923. We’ve proabably all seen those famous black and white images when an estimated 200,000 people tried to get into the 126,000-capacity stadium and thousands spilt out onto the pitch. Unthinkable these days!

Of course, as well as all the FA Cup Finals between 1923-2000, Wembley also staged rugby league’s Challenge Cup final, the League Cup final and the 1948 Olympics.

And probably its finest ever hour, England’s 1966 World Cup win.

Compare that to its final hour which was quite so enjoyable for England and inparticular Kevin Keegan as England lost to Germany 1- 0 in a World Cup qualifier.

Old Wembley memories

Only four days after England that England defeat the Australian company Multiplex signed a deal to build the new stadium for £326.5m. Yeah, right! I don’t know who wrote the estimate but I think he was a little optimistic!

After nearly six-and-a-half troubled years and costing slightly more than the original estimate, the 2007 FA Cup final eventually got the green light

The new stadium, which has a circumference of 1km, has shifted 30m north towards Wembley Park station, although the orientation remains the same.

The new version has a partially retractable roof which weighs in at almost 7,000 tonnes. It rises 52m above the pitch (more than twice as high as the old one) and covers 11 acres (four acres are moveable). Posh, isn’t it?

Wembley under construction

The new stadium promised a bigger, better Wembley that will be the envy of the world, at least that’s what they are saying. It has 90,000 seats and the new ground is the largest in the world with every seat under cover. Every seat will have more leg room than the old royal box and cater for the larger individual op the 21st century. There are no restricted views now and each seat faces the centre circle and they have also removed the old greyhound track so fans are much closer to the pitch, which is 4m lower than the old one. The stadium’s footprint is, amazingly, more than twice the old one and took 250,000 tonnes of concrete and steel to build (compared to 25,000 tonnes). Environmentally friendly then!

How the old and new compare

Knocking down the old iconic Twin Towers proved an unpopular decision, but filling that iconic space is the 133m arch that towers over the new Wembley stadium. Will it prove to have the same representation of the new Wembley as the towers did for the old?

It took 1,750 tonnes of British steel to make - the same as 275 double decker buses or 10 jumbo jets. At 315m it is the longest single roof structure in the world - the London Eye could squeeze between the top of the arch and the pitch.

When lit up on a clear evening it should be visible 13 miles away at Canary Wharf and has a beacon to warn low-flying airplanes. Good to know!

But it is not just for show, the arch supports the weight of the north stand and 60% of the south stand. So, let’s hope it works then!

The Wembley arch

Tomorrow’s Final will be Wembley’s first major event. Soon to be followed by the Football League play-offs at the end of May and England’s first game, a friendly against Brazil on 1 June.

But it is more than the new home of football. An estimated 1.5m sports fans will watch events like the return of rugby league’s Challenge Cup final, also returning to Wembley.

A revolutionary platform allows athletics to be held over the lower bowl, the NFL hosts its first regular season game outside North America, while George Michael headlines the music events.

Welcome to new Wembley - good things come to those who wait.

Let’s hope it’s as good as it looks!

The Soccer Blogger

Espanyol 2 - 2 Sevilla AET (Sevilla Win 3 - 1 on penalties)

Glasgow city centre was turned into a fiesta yesterday as thousands of Spanish fans from Sevilla and Espanyol flooded into the city for the Uefa Cup Final at Hampden Park. However it was in Sevilla where the fiesta would have continued well into the early hours of the morning as Sevilla became only the second team to retain the Uefa Cup after Real Madrid did so in 1986.

Sevilla’s captain and keeper, Palop, lifts the Uefa Cup.

It was a thrilling game, fit for a major final, that saw Adriano open the scoring for Sevilla after 18 minutes with a lovely finish. That goal was wiped out by the help of a deflection from Alberto Riera only 10 minutes later. However, it was on 68 minutes when the final seemed to turn in Sevilla’s favour when Espanyol’s holding midfielder Moises was booked for a second bookable offence and was shown the red card. Before that Espanyol were in the ascendancy but they now had to shore up their defence to try to hold on to what they had. It worked, as the game went to extra-time.

However, it was Kanoute, the former West Ham and Spurs striker who, in the 105th minute, seemed to end the Espanyol resistance. Kanoute stole into the near post to poke in a low Navas cross. It looked like the game was there for the taking by Sevilla but they missed two more one on one situations with the Espanyol keeper, Iraizoz, who denied both Puerta and Alves.

More drama was to follow when out of nothing and with only 5 minutes remaining, the Espanyol substitute Jonatas equalised to take the Final to the drama of the penalty shoot-out. It was a fierce long range shot that seemed to take a slight deflection but the Espanyol players and fans didn’t mind, they suddenly had hope again!

Jonatas celebrates his equaliser in extra-time

However, after all their hard work clawing their way back into the Final and taking the game to extra-time and a shoot-out, Espanyol’s efforts from the penalty spot were awful.

It was the Sevilla captain, Palop, who had also made some excellent saves during the game that proved to be the hero and broke the Catalan hearts.

So, in a week’s time we will know who Sevilla will play at the beginning of next season for the Uefa Super Cup. Will it be Liverpool or AC Milan. Athens awaits!

The Soccer Blogger

If we put to one side the managerial train wreck that was Charlton this season, there have still been quite a few managerial movements this year. Now that the season has come to a conclusion, a lot of them have happened in the last week or so.

Recently we had Chris Coleman being sacked as Fulham manager and Lawrie Sanchez leaving the Northern Ireland job to take over. We’ve had Sam Allardyce leave Bolton after over 7 years in charge. He left for a break. He’s already got his feet under the desk at Newcastle United. Some break! Paul Jewell saved Wigan from the dreaded drop and promptly decided he’d had enough. Moments later, Stuart Pearce was booted out of Manchester City after only 2 years in charge, which seems about average in this day and age! Now the manager Jewell defeated on the last day of the season, Sheffield United’s Neil Warnock, has also decided, three days after that crushing defeat, that enough is enough and it’s time for a break.

Warnock had been at Brammal Lane for seven and a half years, similar to Allardyce at Bolton. That length of time in charge of a top flight football club nowadays is some feat. I think I’m right in saying that apart from the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Dario Grady of Crewe (who has also left recently) and Arsene Wenger, Allardyce and Warnock were just about the longest serving managers around. Not any more. Ferguson is way out on his own with Wenger a distant second.

Of course, it’s not just the defeat on Sunday and the simple fact Sheffield United were relegated that has prompted Warnock and United to part company. There have been external reasons as well. Warnock stated that he was leaving with “a bitter taste in the mouth”, referring of course to the ongoing saga that is West Ham United and the “signing” of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Sheffield United are furious at what they see as West Ham cheating (fielding illegible players) and the Premier League coping out of deducted points points which would have certainly seen West Ham relegated and Sheffield saved.

I’m not really going to talk about all that here. For a start I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about it and secondly, there will no doubt be books written on it all in the near future. Suffice it to say, one player (Tevez) doesn’t really make a team. Plus Sheffield United were in that position in the league because of their results over the whole course of a season, if they’d won more games it wouldn’t be an issue. Why aren’t Watford and Charlton bleating? Because they weren’t good enough, and to be honest neither were Sheffield Utd.

No disputing though what Warnock, a self confessed fan of the club first and foremost, has done for The Blades over those seven and a half years. When he joined they were only getting a maximum crowd of about 8,000 and to be honest it wasn’t much of a ground either. Now, the stadium is worthy of full houses and that’s what they get. Apart from the relegation obviously, Warnock leaves the club far far healthier than when he arrived. It has the feeling of a real family oriented club, which unfortunately, there aren’t too many more of. It is a shame too see a club like Sheffield Utd get relegated and also see a character like Warnock depart. However, I think Utd should accept their fate with grace, learn from it and come straight back a stronger set of players and club for the experience.

The Soccer Blogger

The Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has announced that the club held a board meeting at 1pm this afternoon following the departure of Paul Jewell and have appointed Chris Hutchings as the club’s new manager.

Hutchings was assistant manager under Jewell. It is understood that following the stress of the relegation battle, Paul Jewell has decided to take a break from football.

Hutchings also succeeded Jewell at Bradford six years ago, but lasted less than five months and won only one of 12 Premiership games.

The Wigan Chairman, Dave Whelan stated about Hutchings, “He is a very, very capable manager and he’s been Paul’s right-hand man for a long time.”

Perhaps Jewell won’t be going to Man City or any other club if Whelan’s comments are anything to go by. However, as we all know, strange things happen in the world of football! So expect to Mr. Jewell at a club near you soon!

The Soccer Blogger

Breaking News

Less than 24 hours after saving Wigan Athletic from relegation on the final day of the season, Paul Jewell has resigned as their manager.

Wigan confirmed the shock news that Jewell had left his post and they will hold a news conference at 3pm this afternoon.

Jewell’s exit comes after the drama of beating Sheffield United 2-1 on Sunday to ensure Wigan’s top-flight status.

Chairman Dave Whelan and Paul Jewell celebrating yesterday’s precious win at Bramall Lane.

All the speculation has already started as to where Jewell will go. He has been linked to Manchester City, where manager Stuart Pearce could make way if a takeover of the club succeeds. The speed of the departure after yesterday’s dramatic events at Bramall Lane suggest that both Jewell and his Chairman, Dave Whelan, knew that he was leaving. This is even more likely as I understand that Dave Whelan may even be announcing who the new Wigan manager will be. If so, he must have known to be able to make arrangements so quickly.

Jewell joined Wigan in June 2001 from Sheffield Wednesday. He guided them League One title in 2002-03 and in 2004-05 they finished runners-up to Sunderland in the Championship to reach the top flight for the first time in their history.

Wigan surprised many people under Jewell’s leadership by surviving comfortably in their first season, finishing 10th and also reaching the Carling Cup final. However, as is usual, the second season proved far harder for Wigan and they only survived the dreaded drop yesterday over Sheffield United by virtue of a better goal difference by one. Yes, one goal more over the course of a 38 match season was the difference between survival and relegation despair. You can’t get any closer than that!

This afternoon’s press conference should be very interesting and I’ll let you know what happens later.

The Soccer Blogger