As a former Hull City player and chief executive of the East Riding County FA, Adam Lowthorpe is gearing up for a big day out at Wembley on Sunday.
Hull face Sheffield United under the Arch for a place in The Final and will be backed by over 32,000 fans in their first Semi-Final appearance since 1930.
And Lowthorpe, who made just short of 100 appearances for Hull in his six seasons with the club, admits the phone lines have been busy at County HQ since City’s Sixth Round victory over Sunderland.
Hull City v Sheffield United
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Semi-Final
4.07pm, Sunday 13 April
Wembley connected by EE
Winners receive £900,000
Losing club receive £450,000
Live on BT Sport
"Ticket requests have been quite high and it’s the same with people pre-empting the Final too," Lowthorpe told TheFA.com.
"We do have a big allocation and I think we could get rid of them three times over, so I’m expecting to hear from a few people who I’ve not heard from in a while!
"But there’s great excitement in the city and the fact that it’s a favourable draw adds to that.
"It’s a brilliant occasion and I remember the last time we got to Wembley in 2008, the whole occasion was amazing.
"That was the first time we’d been to Wembley in the play-offs and now we’re thinking this is a good opportunity for us to progress in The FA Cup.
"Especially because our form in the league has been good, we beat Swansea last weekend and that took a little bit of pressure off at the bottom end, so everyone is really optimistic and looking forward to the weekend."
Lowthorpe believes the change in fortunes for Hull City over the last few years since his playing days with the club has had a big effect on the city as a whole.
After making his debut in the old Third Division in 1993, the club had a difficult existence in the subsequent years with financial problems.
Lowthorpe believes Hull's move to the KC Stadium was the 'catalyst' for their recent success
But since moving to the new KC Stadium in late 2002, Hull’s progress has been rapid and that has had an impact on the area’s football.
"I have two little boys, one is seven and one is four and I went to a football birthday party recently and there were 14 kids there, with ten of them wearing Hull shirts," he explained.
"That is something which is so different to me growing up in Hull, when there were lots of Liverpool, Manchester United and Leeds fans around.
"The stadium was a catalyst for things, after previously being locked out of the old ground at Boothferry Park and with the council having issues with the club.
Hull's journey to Wembley has excited fans young and old
"When KC Communications built the ground, it came at the right time. People had spoken of Hull being a sleeping giant for a while and the stadium raised everyone’s expectations.
"It’s gone from strength to strength since then and it just shows what the success of the team can do and it’s really lifted the area.
"We get 25,000 people in the stadium compared to four or five thousand back in the old days.
"It’s no co-incidence that we’ve got the City Of Culture title in 2017 too, it’s those type of things which come on the back of pride in the area and the profile being raised."
