‘Better than Wembley’ – the days when Cardiff really was the capital of the footballing world...
For seven years, major football finals were held in the Millennium Stadium while Wembley was rebuilt – here, fans of Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, West Ham and others tell Dominic Booth about those brilliant days out
THE nightclub isn’t there any more but, in 2005, Lava Lounge in Cardiff’s city centre was the place to be.
On Friday and Saturday nights, queues would snake from its basement level doors out of the Brewery Quarter and on to St Mary Street.
On this one particular Saturday, it’s busy too. But this is the early afternoon. It’s reasonably quiet, so quiet in fact that the people inside – mostly dressed in claret and blue – ask the staff to put the music on.
Someone obliges, the sound of Madness fills the club and, suddenly, everyone is bouncing.
These are West Ham United supporters and they’re in town for a Championship play-off final against Preston North End.
Pubs aren’t officially segregated but door staff are told to “just let in people wearing the same colour”. So this end of town is all claret and blue.
This was the fifth out of seven years that major English football finals were held in the Millennium Stadium, while Wembley was rebuilt.
There were some terrific finals. West Ham were back a year later and lost out after a stunning late goal from Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
In 2001, Liverpool had staged another late comeback, this time beating Arsenal with two goals in the last 10 minutes.
When Millwall and Manchester United came to town in 2004, there were fears of hooliganism.
Unusually, police road blocks stopped vehicles on main roads into Cardiff – but the most difficult task police had on the day seemed to be directing a Millwall supporter to McDonald’s.
Manchester United won easily, 3-0. These were before the days of Cardiff City being in the Premier League, so major football clubs bringing tens of thousands of fans were a rare sight in the city.
Between 2001 and 2007 (it was only supposed to be for three years but there were long delays to Wembley’s redevelopment) the then-Millennium Stadium hosted 44 showpiece finals, welcoming supporters from 48 different clubs.
And, speaking to them now, they loved it.
“Better than Wembley,” is a common theme, even today.
“I have often been asked what is my favourite stadium I have been to and why,” says Frank Stubbs, who wrote a fan’s diary on Arsenal’s website and now runs the Maidstone Arsenal Supporters Club.
He has attended more than 2,000 Arsenal games, including every one of the Gunners’ nine finals at the Millennium Stadium.
“If I was forced to choose just one, anywhere in the world, it would be the Millennium,” adds Frank.
“Some stadia may well be bigger, possibly have better facilities, but it’s the whole package for me.
“Travelling to another big city always gives the game a sense of occasion.
“The stadium’s location right smack bang in the middle of Cardiff city centre makes it very special.
“Only Newcastle comes close for me on that front.
“It means the whole city comes alive on match day.
“Once you arrive in the city no further travel on a metro or tram or bus is required.
“You simply stroll through the streets, full of colour and noise and when you catch a glimpse it sends a shiver down your spine.
“Throw in the fact us Arsenal fans have some fantastic memories from many of our visits (and a couple of proper bad ones too) and overall I can’t think of any other stadium I have visited in the world that can beat that whole package.”
Frank says recent league visits to Cardiff for Premier League matches have brought “memories of some great times flooding back”.
“Going forward, the home of the FA Cup Final will always be Wembley and I get that, but I wish the semis were split across Cardiff and Old Trafford so that Wembley appearance remains the Holy Grail,” he said.
There were plenty of reasons for the doubters and Wembley traditionalists to knock Cardiff as a host city for the cup final.
The Brynglas tunnels created some initial travel difficulties and pundits – bizarrely – started to speculate about the “curse” of the south changing room, which had seen the first 12 major finals being won by the team in the north dressing room.
There was also a feeling from some that to stage major cup finals outside England was wrong.
They were soon proven wrong. The Echo and WalesOnline’s head of sport, Paul Abbandonato, covered the matches and remembers how the London-centric national media were left stunned by how Cardiff stole supporters’ hearts with the Millennium Stadium’s brilliant atmosphere on cup final days. “They were utterly magical times. For a while, Cardiff seemed to be the capital of the football world,” he says.
“The FA Cup had had a sequence of dull finals, the last one at the old Wembley between Chelsea and Aston Villa perhaps the worst in history, and it was like the Millennium magic rekindled the great old competition.
“Liverpool v Arsenal, the first big final there, was an epic occasion. Appropriate,
“I felt, that the first FA Cup in Wales was won by the only player on the pitch with Welsh links – Michael Owen, who was brought up here!
“At Wembley you seemed miles away from the action.
“At the Millennium you almost hung over the pitch, were much closer, and that created the atmosphere.
“The stadium was a football amphi-
theatre, a fitting venue for these kind of battles of the titans.
“I recall after the first game there was a match report in The Sun, which said something like ‘Great game, great stadium... shame it’s miles away from anywhere.’
“It was an incredibly crass comment. Miles from where – London?
“‘Oh the irony,’ I thought – and wrote in defence of Cardiff.
“Wembley was stuck at the end of an industrial estate. A nightmare to get to, food extortionately priced.
“The fans adored the Millennium because it’s smack bang in the middle of the city and visiting supporters loved making the short walk from bars, pubs and restaurants into their seats. “Heady days for Cardiff and Wales.” Arsenal fans aren’t the only ones to recall fond memories of a vibrant city centre.
“To be able to walk from one end of the city to the other was great.
“It’s not like London, it really created a carnival atmosphere,” recalls Watford fan Simon Mail, who saw his team win the 2006 play-off final against Leeds.
Fans arriving by train would see police officers outside the central station, in the shadow of the stadium itself, along with several security guards, hoping to get people in and out as efficiently as possible to minimise the potential for trouble.
And while there wasn’t any formal segregation around the streets, the policy of bouncers only allowing entry to fans wearing the same colour actually seemed to boost the feel-good atmosphere among fans in town.
In any case, often the informal segregation wouldn’t be needed, with reports of Chelsea and Liverpool fans mingling happily before their 2005 League Cup final.
West Ham fan Rick, who asked not to have his surname included, went to two play-off finals in Cardiff as well as the famous 2006 FA Cup final.
“The atmosphere was great in all three games,” he says.
“A bit nervy in both play-off finals with what was at stake.
“The days in Cardiff were great. I went to the Brewery Quarter all three times and that had everything we needed.
“It was absolutely packed out all three years. The atmosphere out on the streets was superb too.”
That mood was mirrored inside the stadium, where fans remember a closed roof and steep stands bringing them close to the pitch – very unlike the Wembley dynamic.
Ben Bryans, secretary of the Leicestershire Manchester United supporters club, went to all of the Red Devils’ games in the Welsh capital after staying with friends in Brecon the night before.
“We much preferred it in Cardiff,” he says.
“Even the FA Cup semi finals these days are at Wembley, which takes the shine off when you get to the final.
“So it’d be awesome if they could move the semis back to somewhere like Cardiff. It made it more neutral as well – because nine times out of 10 United were playing a London club.
“I haven’t got a bad word to say about Cardiff, the atmosphere was always brilliant, even when it rained all day in 2005 when we played Arsenal off the park and somehow lost on penalties.”
It wasn’t always completely rosy – as anyone involved in security before a major final will tell you. The threat of terrorism, as well as hooliganism, dominated the agenda in the build-up to Manchester United’s FA Cup final against Millwall in 2004, with United fans using Cardiff as a location for a protest against their Glazer owners in 2005.
But any issues leading up to games were quickly dealt with. South Wales police put armed officers on the roads in 2004 and arrests were usually minimal.
“The main objective was to make Cardiff a safe place for people to come and visit, and enjoy the cup final,” said Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Cahill.
“We asked for firm and friendly policing and the feedback from the fans (was) that they had a great day out in Cardiff.”
The feedback from fans – even more than a decade on – is still overwhelming positive, even nostalgic.
“It is a great stadium, right in the city centre so perfect for eating and drinking nearby,” adds Tim Payton of the Arsenal Supporters Trust.
“We always went across on the train and it was great, obviously not as convenient for us in London as Wembley, but great once we we there.
“The stands are quite steep and the noise really held. The roof was closed one time as well (against Southampton), so that was noisy.”
Bolton fan Kyle Cambray, who saw his team play Middlesbrough in 2004, said: “The League Cup final in Cardiff was one of my first away days as a big family.
“There were six or seven of us that travelled down on the train singing songs and enjoying the atmosphere.
“The day in Cardiff was great, we found a local pub before hand and just celebrated the occasion.”
Liverpool fan Joe Rimmer says: “I went to the Gerrard final (against West Ham) and it was an amazing day.
“But my favourite final was the 2003 League Cup final against United, which we won 2-0.
“The roof was on and the atmosphere was just electric.”
Debate about how often the Wales football team should play at the national stadium – now the Principality Stadium of course – will rumble on, especially in light of the fierce response following the Spain match last week.
Those who attend big Wales rugby internationals will testify to the stadium’s brilliant atmosphere when full.
We’ve also seen illustrious events like Anthony Joshua fights, the Champions League final and world class concerts held in the stadium, with enormous success.
And for seven years, starting in the early 2000s, fans of English football clubs also got to enjoy the unique atmosphere of the Millennium Stadium and the city around it.
They were truly special occasions.