Bluebirds land Tykes for final fling

BARNSLEY’S hopes of ending their remarkable FA Cup run with a trip to the final in May were boosted yesterday after they were handed a semi-final tie with Cardiff City.

The Tykes, who have already beaten Liverpool and Chelsea in this season’s tournament, avoided Portsmouth, the last Premier League team in the competition, and Championship promotion hopefuls West Brom, who now play each other in the most unusual semi-final draw for over 20 years.

“You would say we wanted to avoid the Premier League side but we’d beaten two in the previous rounds so it’s going to be a tough game,” Simon Davey, Barnsley manager, said. “But we’ve got to be confident after beating Liverpool and Chelsea. We’re 90 minutes away from an FA Cup final.”

Cardiff will be equally confident of success, having sent Middlesbrough tumbling in the quarter-finals, although even if the Welsh club do go on to win the cup at Wembley in May, they will not be eligible to participate in next season’s UEFA Cup.

City, who are members of the Football Association of Wales, would not qualify as the FA Cup falls under the English FA’s jurisdiction. Peter Ridsdale, the Bluebirds’ chairman, suggested yesterday that the club would challenge that agreement but the FAW insist the law cannot be changed.

A spokesman said: “Cardiff would not be eligible for the UEFA cup. The FAW already has European places guaranteed for winners of its own competitions and that cannot change.”

The low-key nature of the four semi-finalists may appeal to the romantics, but whether the FA shares their delight is open to debate. In public, English football’s governing body has trumpeted the shocks in this season’s tournament, claiming they reinforce its “unique” place in the hearts of fans.

Privately, however, there are concerns over whether Wembley’s 90,000 seats — or, more pertinently, its corporate hospitality seating, which accounts for most of the ground’s matchday revenue — will be even half-full for the games, which take place on the weekend of 4 and 5 April.

The FA decided to stage both ties at the national stadium rather than neutral club grounds in a bid to pay off some of the enormous debts incurred by its £757million building costs.

But with none of the participating clubs boasting an average attendance of over 25,000, they are facing the embarrassing scenario of playing the semi-finals in front of thousands of empty seats. Slashing ticket prices has not been ruled out as a way of boosting attendances, but security concerns prevent left-over tickets being made available to neutral fans.