I go back to my original point - when the FA suggest to the current holders that they'd be better off in the World Club Championship in order to benefit the FA's bid for a World Cup (which is based on "We invented football, gimme gimme gimme" - sound familiar?), they undermined their own tournament for the sake of greasing some palms that, at the end of the day, weren't greased by the move.
Two other things that've taken the gloss off is the use of Wembley for semi-finals and the awful quality of some of the finals. The 2007 game between Chelsea and Man Utd was a particular low-light, being one of the worst games that I've ever had the misfortune to witness.
You're all spoiled! you just have too much football to choose from and that is why a lot of the magic has left the cup.
A Spurs Vs Nomads final this season would definitely bring the magic of the FA Cup back to N.London at least.
I agree with this, watching football on TV used to be a rare treat, these days we can watch any game we like on the internet, while TV coverage is now spread across 5 different providers, half the magic of the cup is lost while trying to figure out which bloody channel it's on
i blame the fact that itv and sky get to cover it...too many bloody adverts. its the fans cup...so its ok to watch it on the net and save us the fans a bob or 2!!
the fa cup is still big for non league clubs,it's a chance to win some prize money which is the life blood to some clubs.Sutton used it this year,they wanted to get to 4th quaifilying round to have enough money for the plans for the season,getting to the 2nd round,and t.v. coverage of it brought in a lot more which was a bonus,which they can use towards ground inprovements which they are making,plus of course there's alway's a chance of a giant killing,althought i don't think we'll ever see an other Sutton v Coventry
Most finals were terrible games anyway - the Man Utd/Everton final in '95 was sheer purgatory - but using Wembley for the semis just so the FA can recoup some of the costs certainly makes getting to Wembley less special. Yet the choice for neutral venues before then can be remarkably boneheaded - when we played Arsenal in the semis in 2001, the game was played at...Old Trafford?!?
I never got why the neutral venues "had" to be Villa Park and Old Trafford anyway - a little flexibility based on who would be playing would've gone a long way.
Because Man Utd needed more money? I'm sure that there were far more appropriate choices, depending on who the teams were.
It sickened me I had to travel all the way to OT to see us lose v Toon and Arsenal. I prefer the semi-finals at Wembley. Admittedly I haven't got a ticket for those yet, but at least I didn't have to suffer the god awful journey home from Manchester on those horrible days. Ditto, the trip home from Cardiff. I love Wembley, me Though I preferred the old Wembley of the 60s and 70s. I don't think the new Wembley is an improvement on those halcyon days of 1000,000 people standing.
I was wondering that as well - how can it be neutral if, as is likely, the same two clubs get a percentage of matchday revenue in exchange for the use of their stadiums?
