Wembley Semi Finals?

This weekend see's the FA Cup come to the Semi Final stage with Arsenal taking on Chelsea and Manchester United taking on Everton, but these matches will be being played at Wembley, which many view as taking away some of the glamour of reaching the Final itself. 

In days gone by Arsenal and Chelsea would be playing at Old Trafford, and Manchester United and Everton would be playing at Villa Park. 

At this stage of the competition its only right that the games are played at neutral venues, but playing them at Wembley surely diminishes the prize of reaching a Wembley final?

Reaching Wembley and playing in an FA Cup final at the spiritual home of football used to be the be all and end all for millions of football players, not just in England, but from all over the world, and in recent years the passion and the glory of the FA Cup has been in question as teams prioritise their league status over a good cup run. 

There are plenty of top quality stadia that could be used as neutral venues and the games themeselves would be just as good a showpeice at places like The Emirates, Old Trafford, Anfield, St James Park and so on. For the FA though none of these venues have the moentary potential that Wembley has, as more seats means more tickets and more money. 

There is no doubt that it is a good day out at Wembley, but for fans of Manchester United and Everton in particular a long trip down to London when they could be playing in Birmingham is not always going to be preferred. 

Arsene Wenger a few years back complained that by having their Semi Final at a smaller venue than Wembley, meant that fewer fans were able to get tickets, which is a valid point, but there are big enough venues all over the country that can catter for big matches like these, and you can bet your life on the fact that these 'smaller' venues would not have a third of their seats being taken my corporate big wigs. 

Which ever way you cut it, with Wembley giving a third of their tickets to corporations, wherever the Semi Finals are played the maximum amount of fans for each side is going to be around the 30,000 mark, so why not save Wembley for the bigger occasion, and make a Wembley final a special occasion for all?