Why being in an FA Cup semi-final means so much to Leeds fans

FA Cup highlights: How Leeds United beat West Ham on penalties to reach Wembley Adam Pope has covered Leeds United for the city's BBC radio station for more than 20 years. Here he speaks to Whites fans to find out what being back in the FA Cup semi-finals means. Almost 40 years without a semi-final appearance in the most prestigious of domestic cups is a footballing barren land.

More so when the club that have trudged across it for nigh on four decades were responsible for an iconic moment in the cup's 1972 centenary edition. Since Billy Bremner lifted the FA Cup, headlines around Leeds ' association with the competition have been largely corrosive for the club's reputation. The tone was set in the 1973 final, when second division Sunderland shocked Don Revie's side beneath Wembley's Twin Towers.

There have, of course, been positive times - the run to the 1987 semi-finals and, memorably, Simon Grayson's third-tier outfit beating Manchester United in their own backyard in 2010. Otherwise it has been capitulation at Crawley, humiliation at Histon, submission at Sutton, harrowing against Hereford, no-show at Newport and wretched at Rochdale. There are others too, and that is why being back at Wembley for Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea matters.

"It's massive," says long-standing supporter Gareth from Morley. "I'm old-school. Never seen us in the final and only one semi-final.