In 1976, as a second tier team, we played Aston Villa in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. I was busting a gut to get there and was truly disappointed I wasn't there for the replay. This year I am struggling to find the enthusiasm to get to Coventry. I'm older and crabbier, of course, but even allowing for this it has just got me wondering. After we'd beaten the Villa in 76 I genuinely began to dream of a cup run like '63. There was a genuine optimism. We had Channon and Osgood who could take teams apart on their day and who loved the big time. But also, 2ND Div Fulham had only just missed out and Sunderland had won the thing only 3 years earlier. It was possible to win the FA Cup as a second tier team, or as a mid-table first division club. Winning the double was as rare as hen's teeth (well almost). Now if any of the big boys take it seriously they'll win it. The winners are likely to be Chelsea, one of the Manchester's, Arsenal, Spurs .. and whoever they beat in the final could be thrown a bone as we were in 2003. About the only real surprise lately was when Pompey won it, and that was a freak year (none more so than when they beat United at OT). The fact that Everton's win over Man Utd in 1995 was seen as a shock summed up where we had started to go. So while I'll trot out the "I don't want the Cup to be a distraction" I feel saddened. FA Cup 3rd Round used to be a highlight in the football calendar and for any club in Division 1 or 2 it represented a realistic chance of a big trophy. Now it doesn't and everyone seems to want out as quickly as possible. I understand it, but cannot help be a tad depressed. Any other old (or young) gits feel the same?
When we are comfortable in the PL we may relearn to love the Cup. At the moment we are more concerned with the league. At nonleague level, the cup is still loved even at the earliest qualification stages. It's a shame the 'big clubs' don't feel the same respect.
For me the FA cup has not got the same glamour because most of the big guns do not put out their first teams to play in it. Yes as they get further along they put in a few more of the first team regulars but never it seems their full first team. So In a way it is not the same attraction. I too remember our forays in the FA cup and yes would have got to as many games as possible. However when the family comes along your responsibilities change. Your Wife/Partner doesn't mind you going to football of an afternoon but puffs her cheeks out if it is likely to be an all day affair, now and again maybe. Also as the family grows up your youngsters maybe start playing and then they need your support. So football kinda goes out the window, or it did for me so you have to worship from afar so to speak.
It's the FA Cup - it's magic. Sort yourselves out. It is still the biggest cup competition in the world.
No, because someone asks this every year - and if it really were dead, people would have stopped asking. I might be true to say that it's dying, but it's not dead.
I still love First and second round day (because I played in them) and I love 3rd round day and the draw. awesome.
I feel saddened at the way the FA Cup has become denigrated in thw way that the League Cup started to becime cheapened in the mid 90's by clubs fielding weakened teams. One of the best football books I have read is "Why England lose" where the authors take the trouble to explain just why this has become such an inferior competition and why the Premier League is a better "product." When I read this, it was a very good argument but the chapter seemed to be built around the fact that league football offers a longer duration and more complex permutation of possibilities which does equate to better TV. The fact that the FA Cup used to be the one live , domestic football match in the season has also lessened it's impact. However, I feel that the argument presented by the authors Kuper and Szymanski would easily be countered if the cup could guaranteed a Champions League berth. As a mathematical exercise, whilst the "big" clubs will now stand a better chance of winning, the fact that fewer games are needed to lift this silverware also makes the probability of a smaller team winning more certain. I would concede that the big clubs would do better is they played to full strength but it is surely equally true that smaller clubs would similarly perform better if they picked their best players too. I feel that this would even things out even though there is a much wider gulf between the top teams in say 1976 when we won the cup and nowadays. I think that the FA Cup is still magical and if Man Utd's reluctant decision to play in a World Club Championship has tarnished the competition, the Third round is still a highight if the season. I was disappointed that we didn't get a home draw. For me, the Cup is full of romance and offers the chance for smaller clubs to do a bit of giant killing. It was great to find the 2 Manchester clubs facing each other at this early stage as one club will go out. The competition offers the chance for local rivalries to be played out where differences in leagues may make this a rarity - think of the reason game against Pompey and the banter this generated. I also think that no other competition has the kind of heritage of the FA Cup which stretches back to 1871 when the Wanderers won the first competition. I love the idea that this is a competition open to non-league teams and therefore embraces a very high proprtion of football clubs throughout England from all levels. There is almost an element of "Football communism" in this competition that, for several Saturdays in the season, sees teams pitted against each other in a unique, 90 min struggle where there is no aggregate of the course of 10 months which will see the superior teams rise to the top and the weakest ones get relegated. More than league matches, I feel that the FA Cup is about true sporting ideals and given that it has a history unlike any other football competition in the world and is probably only rivaled by cricket as a competitive game that reaches back so far in the past. Tell me the FA Cup is not exciting when Saints reach the semi's and then I might be persuaded!
I get a big buzz watching the Non-League sides going far and playing against League sides. That's what the FA Cup is all about. Blue Sq South Salisbury City v League One Sheffield United tomorrow.
Great post Ian, I agree with all you say. I love the idea of "football communism", as you put it, and this was even more pronounced in the 1960's and 70's when the FA Cup Final was literally the only domestic club football shown live on TV. The build up to the Final occupied back pages of newspapers for weeks, with teams modelling the suits they would wear at Wembley, and people, especially kids like me at the time deciding which team to support. I could have told you every player on both teams for every final between 1962 and 1976! And I bet a lot of the people supporting Sunderland for the 1973 final didn't have a clue where Sunderland was, but the British love of the underdog comes to the fore on such occasions. I guess Saints had a lot of neutral support in 1976 as well. This year there are some great fixtures for the romantics among us, notably Salisbury City's trip to Bramall Lane. They have little chance but who knows?
It's probably that, in every sense, coventry away is an unattractive tie. If we had drawn a big side or even one of the non-league teams, I'm sure the feeling would be very different. I'm certainly not overly excited for the game tomorrow, but you'll find me glued to the tv sunday afternoon waiting to find out who we have in the 4th round in the cup. At the end of the day the FA cup is, and always will be, magic.
Get rid of the other stupid little cups and then the FA Cup will be a lot better. All you need is one league and one cup, forget all the other ****.
Yeah it's great when you win it, but couldn't give less of a **** until you reach the final. It's a good feeling to win the JPT but not as good as it should be to win a competition.
Surely the context of the JPT was that it was the only trophy we could realistically win while we were in the 3rd tier of football? No-one has ever won the FA Cup or League Cup from there, and probably never will. It's a great competition for League 1 and 2 teams, and we bloody won it when we needed some silverware, as Alan Pardew rightly said. We probably won't ever win the FA Cup from the 2nd tier again, but we were and remain one of the only clubs ever to do so. That was a hell of an achievement and nobody can ever take that from us.
Let's be honest though, the JPT was easy, and when we're back in the Premier League we can hardly brag about winning the cup which had previously been won by Luton Town and MK Dons. If I've learnt anything from our time in League One, it's that cups are not important and no one really cares. Every club should be focusing on climbing the ladder and reaching the holy grail that is the Premier League, because teams like Reading and Swansea have shown that it's possible. Maybe the FA Cup would mean more to lower teams if the reward for reaching each round was greater.
