Jordan Henderson feels FA Cup semi should have been moved to alternative venue

Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson believes it would have made sense to switch the Reds’ FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City away from Wembley.

The Football Association confirmed on Friday that the tie between the north-west giants will go ahead at the national stadium in north London on April 16 despite the West Coast Mainline train service being down over the Easter weekend because of engineering works.

The FA has pledged to lay on 100 buses from Anfield and the Etihad Stadium and back to take 5,000 Liverpool and City fans to the match, and advised supporters should avoid travelling by train from the north-west wherever possible.

The FA has confirmed the schedules, broadcast details and travel advice for the 2021-22 @EmiratesFACup and @VitalityWFACup semi-finals.

— The FA (@FA) March 25, 2022

England midfielder Henderson sympathises with the inconvenience this causes to fans, and personally favours a return to the traditional approach of staging semi-finals at neutral club grounds and reserving Wembley for the final.

“I think this time, I’ve been thinking a bit more about the fans,” he said.

“In many ways it’s their day, and not being able to get down to London for different reasons – the cost of that…

“In my head it would make sense obviously to change it to a (different) neutral venue, especially with it being two teams from the north-west.

“That’s just my opinion. There’s obviously complications within that I’m sure which the FA have got to overcome but looking at the fans, which is probably the most important thing for me and something that we’ve learned over the past couple of years how important the fans are to football, that it is really disappointing to see that it’s a struggle and it’s got to be