More Wembley Photos

I hope you're enjoying these photos, because there's going to be ALOT more of them come mid-May.

I have to admit I had a good feeling about the whole weekend right from the start of it. First of all the flights leaving Toronto, and then my connection at Montreal were in beautiful clear, bright blue skies, that gave wonderful afternoon and early evening views of both cities from the air.
Then, as we came in to land at Heathrow in the early morning sunlight, the route took us over Central London. And what was the first thing that I saw right below me as I looked out of the window when we broke through the blanket of high cloud covering the city?
That's right..... Wembley Stadium with its brand new arch.

At that moment, my mind start to wander to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, this was going to be a very special weekend that would see us reach the FA Cup final for the first time since 1927, the last and only (so far) time the Cup was taken out of England.


Steven & I proudly display the Pontypridd Bluebirds flag at one of the bases of the now famous Wembley Arch.


Most of the Pontypridd/Pontyclun Bluebirds crew pre-match in our hotel.


In the stadium. Pre-match. The tension builds!


Post-match celebrations. Nice little story this, honest!
After the game we headed back to our hotel, and "retired to the bar" for a quiet celebration pint.... or 12.
A couple of hours after the game, talk around the bar suddenly spreads that the players might be putting an appearance in. And sure enough, first Dave Jones (the manager) appears accompanied by Peter Ridsdale (Chairman), and then the players who quickly head off to one of the suites to celebrate with family and friends before the drive back to South Wales. At this point Steve & I grabbed the opportunity to congratulate Mr Ridsdale, and of course the cheesy photo.

A nice point here as most of the players came out of their private reception to mingle with the fans, which gave us a chance to congratulate them ourselves, shake hands, and say "Thank You" for one of the most amazing days of my football supporting life.
I had the chance to speak with midfielder Stephen McPhail, central defenders Roger Johnson & Glenn Loovens (who were the best players on the pitch that day... and I told them so!), Darren Purse, Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and goal-scoring hero, local boy Joe Ledley.
Unfortunately by this time Steven had left, so no photos of us with the players this time......
......
......
...... but maybe, just maybe!

Take the weather with you....

So, on Sunday 6th April, I woke up, opened the curtains and THIS is the sight that met my eyes!


Snow in Canada in April is not uncommon, however, there was one slight problem with this.... I wasn't in Canada anymore. Its was FA Cup semi-final day, and Wembley Stadium was waking up to a covering of about an inch of snow. It was cold, and the wind was biting, but somehow the unusual weather seemed fitting for the start of an unusual day!


And this is what we were all there for!


The famous Wembley Way starts to get busy as City fans arrive in the morning and enjoy the pre-match atmosphere.

The Bobby Moore memorial statue stands proudly at the top of Wembley way, welcoming everyone to the stadium. A fitting tribute to a fine player, and a fine gentleman.

More sporty fun!

So this week we took a quick trip up to Ottawa for Game 3 of the Senators first round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sadly not all has gone well for the Sens since the game against Detroit earlier in the season, and so being 2-0 down in games became 3-0 down as, after a very spirited first two periods, the Penguins went on and blitzed Ottawa in the third period, and ran out 4-1 winners.

Along with this disappointment, but a great although too brief trip, I forgot to take my camera to the game.... so no shots of Amanda, Mr Brian, Yvon and Izzy (yes, Izzy was there again!) in the stands enjoying the atmosphere.

However, let us brush over this and return to far happier matters......
.....




All of which means that I will now be returning BACK to London, AGAIN for a weekend in the middle of May, for THE FA CUP FINAL!
I still can't believe that I have seen Cardiff City in (and WIN) an FA Cup semi-final!

I refer you to my previous statement!

Yes I've had a few days to come back down to Earth and regain my senses......... and I've totally and utterly failed!
I still don't think I've even processed that we were in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley to begin with, let alone the fact that I was actually at the game, with all the greatest fans in the world, AND that we WON the game, and are now in THE FA CUP FINAL!

To those of you not familiar with British football, the FA Cup is a knockout tournament that basically means, along with the luck of the draw, any team in the country can win the trophy, simply by winning their match and progressing to the next round, and so on. Until there are just TWO teams left.... and this year, from the 731 teams to start the tournament, CARDIFF CITY and Portsmouth are those two remaining.

Over the past few years, the Cup has become rather stale, bland and dry as its become dominated by the so called "big four" teams in English football: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool & Manchester United. This year has seen shock after shock as smaller teams have beaten the bigger richer ones, and brought the romance back into this competition.

Now, after 81 years since our last appearance in the Final, when we became the only team to take the FA Cup out of England, the 2008 version of the Bluebirds are once again flying high into the final.

Here are just a few of the wonderful memories from the semi-final against Barnsley on Sunday afternoon. There's plenty more to follow!













Hope you enjoy these small samples of the build up to the big game!

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