Wembley laps up a Blue carnival as Everton FC keep supporters smiling

Apr 20 2009 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

WHEN the draw for this FA Cup semi-final was made, some Manchester United fans cheered but it was the Evertonians who were doing all the cheering yesterday.

Smiling from before the kick-off as soon as they heard Sir Alex Ferguson’s team selection, this was a true blue carnival from start to finish.

Elland Road is almost 200 miles north of Wembley Stadium but the spirit and atmosphere of Leeds United’s home on an FA Cup semi-final day was recreated by the travelling Evertonians yesterday 14 years after their triumph at the same stage of the competition against Tottenham Hotspur.

Just as they had in Yorkshire back then, Everton officially did not have more tickets than the opposition and on this time they did not have three sides of the ground but yet again the fans’ spirit, desire and passion will remain the overriding memory of a very special day.

Even before you stepped foot on Lime Street’s platforms yesterday morning you could feel the anticipation in the air.

Street vendors selling flags and souvenir magazines to read on the journey to the capital were doing a roaring trade and the queues of supporters waiting to board their football specials snaked around the station as far as the eye could see.

Those who travelled by car reported that the motorways were also a sea of blue and as the trains approached the more leafier suburbs of ‘The Smoke’ it seemed that every Home Counties ale house had been transformed into The Winslow.

The bias seemed even more prevalent in the streets around Wembley and it was only once the United fans had taken their seats a few minutes before the kick-off that you noticed that 50% of the stadium was actually red – albeit an infinitely quieter half.

Breaking off from munching on their prawn sandwiches, Red Devil cynics would argue that their all-conquering side have been there and done this all before so many times and this was the success-starved Evertonians’ ‘cup final’ but you would never have heard them over the deafening racket that emanated from the blue side of the stadium.

While the Evertonians made themselves at home with a rousing rendition of ‘Z-Cars’ played over the stadium’s public address system, United’s customised version of ‘Take me home, country roads’ failed to inspire their own followers.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Goodison Park, Rotterdam, Elland Road, the old Wembley, the new Wembley or even Kirkby for these supporters – they’d even create an atmosphere on the moon if their beloved boys in blue played a fixture there.