TWENTY thousand empty seats at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday does not make Cardiff the wrong place to hold the FA Cup semi-finals.

The fact that Blackburn supporters decided against following their team should not be taken as a reflection of every club.

The Millennium Stadium was full 24 hours later for Manchester United v Newcastle and has always been at its 72,000 capacity for similar games in the past.

Yes, it is a long way to go and a lot of money to pay. But it is better that 20,000-plus loyal fans have the choice to go than to have no chance at all, which would happen at much smaller stadiums like Villa Park or the City of Manchester Stadium.

For any club outside the Premiership's top three, an FA Cup semi-final comes around only on a handful of occasions in a lifetime if you are lucky.

For their fans, it doesn't matter where it is as long as they can be there.

It was interesting to hear Alex Ferguson hailing the importance of the FA Cup to Manchester United.

It represents something of a U-turn from United who became the only club ever to pull out of the cup to take part in the World Club Championship.

United had no time for the cup then but it is their number one priority now. Hopefully, that will be an important lesson.