[James Ducker] Shame on Man City for denying FA Youth Cup finalists the stage they deserve | Manchester derby should be played at Etihad or Old Trafford, not the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium
by nearly_headless_nic
![[James Ducker] Shame on Man City for denying FA Youth Cup finalists the stage they deserve | Manchester derby should be played at Etihad or Old Trafford, not the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium](https://www.eucup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BtH-__MoT6Nu282savDfVF1_XTIUdNOf1MbyECWHPzk-1024x576.jpeg "[James Ducker] Shame on Man City for denying FA Youth Cup finalists the stage they deserve | Manchester derby should be played at Etihad or Old Trafford, not the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium")
[James Ducker] Shame on Man City for denying FA Youth Cup finalists the stage they deserve | Manchester derby should be played at Etihad or Old Trafford, not the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium
by nearly_headless_nic
8 Comments
**From the article:**
>**The FA had asked City whether they would be willing for the final to be moved to Old Trafford and the club said no because they were drawn as the home team and want to remain so on sporting grounds. Which, in all honesty, feels like an own goal on City’s part.**
>Ask those under-18 players at City if they would prefer to play at the Joie Stadium or in front of a potential sell-out 74,000 crowd at Old Trafford and it would be a surprise if the majority did not plump for the latter option.
[.]
>Yet here is an opportunity for City’s brightest young talents to play in front of a packed crowd against their bitter local rivals and it is being passed over. **Sporting integrity? Home advantage? Really? Are those lads not going to get far more out of the experience of playing in front of 70,000 than 7,000?**
>**A total of 67,492 packed into Old Trafford four years ago to watch United beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 in the 2022 Youth Cup final. It is hard to believe there would not be an even bigger crowd against City.**
City don’t want a stadium full of United fans when they are the home team.
If it were the Etihad that would happen. With the 7,000 seater, it’s going to be a lot more even numbers.
Optics of a small club.
It just makes it even more comical when City fans try and claim people actually from Manchester overwhelmingly support City
If that was the case, why are they so worried about their stadium being overrun for a game where 95% of people attending would be Manchester locals?
If the city is blue and all our fans are from outside Manchester you’d think they’d be able to pull more fans to this game than ours who would have to travel from London
Absolutely delusional and small-time to rob their team of the chance to play in a big stadium to cover up their own inferiority complex
But nice to know they still very much accept they are little brother in their own city
Objectively shouldn’t be allowed without good reason e.g. safety risks. They should forfeit the right to host to the opponent who can then choose whether to use their own venue or a neutral ground. It’s a fucking teenager tournament.
I don’t really get this. Isn’t it going to be extra embarassing to not sell out even a 7000 seater stadium?
Also why isn’t the final held at a neutral ground?
67 thousand to see united. 20 and 25 thousand to see city 2 years running. Everyone knows why they did it and it’s almost as embarrassing as letting their stadium get taken over for the day. The “fans” don’t even turn up for semi finals
When you are a sportswashing organisation you don’t care about fans
Guess they would have hated to receive confirmation that Manchester is red.