FA Cup final day dawns and, as supporters representing the competition's former temporary home in Cardiff return the visits made by Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham and Millwall they are joined by fans of Portsmouth, the club who have retained the trophy for the longest time courtesy of beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 in the last pre-war running of the world famous tournament. Many devotees of both teams are exiled in the capital and one such......

For the first time since Tottenham Hotspur dashed Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough's dreams of FA Cup glory in 1991 the final is being contested without a representative from English football's current Big Four. Just before 3pm on Saturday the fans of Portsmouth and Cardiff City will watch their teams stride out at Wembley for a match which will decide which of them will parade the famous trophy that neither has lifted since the......

After two successful public test events the new Wembley has been granted its test certificate by Brent Council and the FA has wasted no time in announcing the stadium as the venue for May 19th's FA Cup Final which could yet feature the dream final of Chelsea v Watford, though it might just as well see Blackburn facing Manchester United. The FA also confirmed that the players of Stevenage Borough and Kidderminster Harriers (FA......

Same as the old Wembley? Several bloggers were fortunate enough to be among the 60,000 Brent residents to be invited to the first public event at the new stadium and their first impressions sound a strangely familiar note. Rascal Houdi on The National Midday Sun message board concludes: Stadium, superb.....signage, catering & transport, must do better. In fairness, the new owners have only had the keys for a week and are working like crazy......

Once it was a name that evoked magic, dreams and destiny. In recent years it's taken on connotations of folly, nightmare and derision, but now it looks finally as if Wembley might be ready to resume its place at the very top of the pantheon of British sporting venues. The troubled new stadium has been granted its fire alarm safety certificate, the first tangible evidence that it might really be ready to hold all......

Just because Liverpool have won their last 11 games, beaten West Ham twice this season, not lost to them at all for seven years, finished 27 points ahead of them in the league and have kept 33 clean sheets in the last nine months some people think they’ll win the FA Cup final in Cardiff tomorrow. However, Londonist is undaunted in our belief that the spirit of Sir Trevor’s head will see the Hammers......

Hacks across the nation were gearing up today to shout a group "Ha Ha!" in a Nelson from the Simpsons stylee, as they anticpated the announcement from Multiplex, Australian constructors of the new Wembley, that the stadium was NOT going to be ready for the FA Cup Final in May. Our sporting scribes have had to put the schadenfreude on hold however, as the Aussies have instead proclaimed that they will be able to......

The other Wembley story to appear over the past few days comes courtesy of another red top: The Mirror. Apparently a Mirror journalist managed to get access to the new Wembley turf which is currently being "developed amid astonishing secrecy north of London." We know what you're thinking: it's grass, why does grass need to be secret? Well according to the rather over-excited Mirror correspondent 'Wembley chiefs' are worried that the turf could be......

Here is a quote from the sports commentator Sid Waddell, speaking about darts legend Eric Bristow, which you may well have read before somewhere.... "When Alexander the Great was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer. Bristow is only 27." Michael Owen is 25. Most of us mere mortals reach our quarter-century mark looking forwards rather than back. There will of course be plenty of memories and milestones......

Wow, that didn't take long did it? After yesterday's stories about construction firm Multiplex's losses over the Wembley reconstruction project, The Times has wasted no time in pouring salt on the wound: Construction industry experts have cast doubt on whether Wembley Stadium would be completed in time to host the 2006 FA Cup Final even as Multiplex, the Australian builder, pledged to get the job done. It's all very mysterious but these 'experts' seem......

The quest to name the Wembley Stadium Bridge has finally come an end. Just to remind you, the names which were in the running were: Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Geoff Hurst, Live Aid...and Billy: the white horse who helped to restore order at the FA Cup Final of 1923 (Bolton beat West Ham 2-0). So guess who won. Yep the bridge will now be known as the White Horse Bridge (or just......

"Zzzzzz... What? Eh? What have I missed?" If you've just woken up from Saturday's coma-inducing FA Cup Final, you've missed entirely nothing. One hundred and twenty minutes of the most turgid football ever witnessed at an FA Cup Final was followed by a penalty shoot-out which Arsenal won. There's not really a lot more to be said. On the balance of play Arsenal didn't deserve to win. They brought absolutely nothing to the game......

To be honest, the build-up to the FA Cup Final on Saturday hasn't quite reached 'frenzy' status yet, but at least it seems to be progressing beyond 'mildly agitated' and 'a bit miffed'. Sigh....how Londonist yearns for the 'good old days', when the whole country seemed to be holding its collective breath waiting for the big event and every other programme on the telly included the words 'cup final special' in their title. The......

One would imagine that a good few pub conversations on Saturday night might have gone a little bit like this : Bloke A - "Did you see today's results?" Bloke B - "Yeah. Henry got a hat-trick against Norwich didn't he?!" Bloke A - "Uhuh. Never does it against the big boys though does he?" Bloke B - "Nah. Hey, did you see Bowyer lamp Dyer?" Etc etc, repeat ad nauseum from Shepherds Bush......

Saturday sees London versus Ex-London, as Brentford take on the club formerly known as Wimbledon. Or to put it another way, the club that was awarded Wimbledon's place in the Football League. Or to put it another way, a completely despicable franchise that should be hounded out of existence by every right-minded football fan in the country. Yes, it may well have happened over two years ago, when a panel of three decided 2-1......