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Is this really what the FA Cup has come to?

Discussion in 'Swansea City' started by DragonPhilljack, Feb 17, 2014.

  1. mustyfrog

    mustyfrog Well-Known Member

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    get rid of Monk please
     
    #21
  2. swan_and_only

    swan_and_only Moderator
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    Interesting article:

    Magic of the Cup can prove costly

    It’s gone and happened again.

    Middlesbrough got to two cup finals in a season, lost them both and were relegated. Arguably, the club has never really recovered. Wigan at least went one better by beating Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup final. A result, incidentally, that I took great delight in reminding Paul Gallagher about every time he rang until he finally bit and reminded me about certain unsavoury incidents in my own career – something you’ll read more about in the book.

    But Wigan couldn’t avoid relegation, either, an outcome that has once again thrown up the modern-day football paradox – Premier League survival or medals?

    I’ve been in this situation and it is tough to come out with your head held up. On the one hand, the Premier League is what it has always been about – getting to the top, staying there and proving that you have as much right to be there as anybody. But a chance to win the FA Cup … well, that’s every kid’s dream, isn’t it?

    Let’s be honest with ourselves. It was. It isn’t any more because the face of football has changed. It is much easier to play at Wembley than it was, thanks to the FA’s scant regard for budgets. And in a rare masterstroke, Uefa rebranded the European Cup as the Champions League and what footballer hasn’t dreamt about becoming the champion of champions?

    As Don King pointed out in an advert for the BBC’s coverage of the competition: “The FA Cup? That aint no name! You need something big like a bowl – The FA Bowl? The FA Super Mega Bowl?!”*http://vimeo.com/46115827

    And the Premier League is also a super brand. How often do you hear “best league in the world, most exciting league in the world, most watched league in the world, everyone wants to play here”. All that is brand management. You won’t find many Premier League players who think the Premier League is better than La Liga or the Bundesliga but you’ll find plenty who won’t get the same wages in any other league in the world. You might even find a couple who admit to that, I certainly would.

    The Premier League is where it’s at and getting there or staying in it is what football has become all about in this country. It’s all relative, of course, because for a big team, the Cup is a nice sideshow should they win it.

    For a small club, it remains a huge deal both in terms of achievement and potential ramifications should they take their eye off the Premier League. In years gone by, Wigan have survived; this year, the added strain of a Cup run has cost them. It might be coincidence but I doubt it.

    The next generation of kids coming through don’t dream about winning the FA Cup, they dream about playing against Ronaldo in the Champions League. The sooner the older generation realise this and understand that the Cup is not and never will be as important as it once was, the sooner we can all get on and embrace football for what it is today and stop bashing over the head those of us who caught on a long time ago. Certain traditions in football die hard but, in my experience, a lot of that tradition appears to offer nothing more than a barrier to progress.

    Anyway, I digress. The point is that it’s nice to win the Cup but it isn’t a deal-breaker and I can say that as somebody who has sat in a changing-room having just been relegated partly because the Cup got in the way of our league form. I’ve been bitter about it ever since.

    I also talk as someone who is incredibly proud to have scored against Manchester United in the Cup, something that I never tire of telling people. Lots of people score against United every year but in an FA Cup-tie … well, that’s a little different, that’s definitely something to tell people that you’ve done.

    But even for the Uniteds of this country, the Cup isn’t a deal-breaker. It’s a bonus.

    And that isn’t just for financial reasons, either. I think, as a point of prestige, a player wants to be able to say that he has won the Champions League. Many years ago, that would have been a dream because only one or two teams from each country could enter. Now, in the UK, there are four places up for grabs so the chances of qualification and ultimately winning it are very good, no matter how good Barcelona are.

    This probably explains the reason why Arsenal players celebrated so enthusiastically after clinching that final spot last season, give or take the bonus that they were on for doing it. And while it seems unlikely now, Arsene Wenger could feasibly spend £100 million – if the rumours are to be believed – and win the Champions League next season. It is not beyond the realms of reality any more but, after all, you have to be in it to win it.

    Chelsea will fancy their chances again if Jose Mourinho comes back, Manchester City will be stronger and United are always strong contenders. Ask all these clubs what their priority is and they will say: “We’re going to try to get as far as we can in the Champions League”.

    And the teams below them? “We’re going to try to qualify for the Champions League”. And the teams under them? “We want to stay in the Premier League”. Nobody will mention the FA Cup. I’m not bashing the competition over the head, it’s just a fact brought about by market forces.

    In a way, it’s a shame City aren’t in this season’s Champions League final at Wembley. If they were, you’d be able to see how much more important this trophy is to their players. I guarantee you that the performance and effort would be unrecognisable from the FA Cup final … plus I could wind up Paul Gallagher again should they lose.It’s nice to watch the FA Cup, it’s even better when a team like Wigan come from nowhere to win it, especially against a big team. After all, that’s what the Cup is all about.The ramifications of relegation will be negated if Wigan can bounce back next season but if they don’t, well, it’s a long way back.It seems that they are about to lose their manager, Roberto Martinez, their best players, such as Callum McManaman, may be sold, chairman Dave Whelan isn’t getting any younger and the club rarely filled the DW Stadium even when they were in the Premier League.

    In the short term, winning the FA Cup is an incredible achievement for Wigan. In the long term, it could be the worst thing that ever happened to them.
     
    #22
  3. KieranDaviesSCFC

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    Perhaps you're right but the priorities and circumstances have changed.

    As I've said many times, if we'd had a better striker than Alvaro we may had got something out of the game and not even Sir Alex Ferguson could had legislated for Tayls' mistake.

    I thought the 'B-Team' played well for 60 minutes, didn't you?

    Rest assured the team selection would had been discussed between the supreme leader & faithful chairman beforehand.

    One thing we could hopefully both agree on is that Napoli is MASSIVE!
     
    #23
  4. roofjack_22

    roofjack_22 Well-Known Member

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    Difference between Wigan and us is wigan struggled with relegation every season , I think. We finished 11th , 9th and are currently 10th with a pretty good fixture list remaining .
     
    #24
  5. swan_and_only

    swan_and_only Moderator
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    Past seasons positions don't mean anything, and were not totally safe yet so risking important players for a cup that doesn't bring much dividends isn't worth it. 3 games in one week is too much and as someone stated earlier, priorities should be Liverpool(PL)>Napoli(EL)>Everton(FA) there was going to always be one game out of the 3 that was going to field a weak team and I'm happy it was the FA cup game. No complaints from me!
     
    #25
  6. roofjack_22

    roofjack_22 Well-Known Member

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    This has nothing to do with priorities , this was a total cop out . We look foolish , we wasted a huge opportunity to do well in a very prestigious cup , while giving injured 1st teamers some minutes to prepare for another cup and the remaining Premier games . We finally get players back healthy and we fire the manager and ditch the FA Cup , ****ing brilliant .
     
    #26
  7. swanseaandproud

    swanseaandproud Well-Known Member

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    sorry but we must forget all about cup matches this season. You can blame useless laudrup for that for letting our premiership survival get to the point that monk is now forced to put all our efforts into staying in the premiership. Our cup runs have been ruined by an inept manager and now monk will get all the flack from fans who cannot understand that he has no choice but to fix the mess laudrup has left behind and our cup runs has to suffer now..<ok>
     
    #27
  8. roofjack_22

    roofjack_22 Well-Known Member

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  9. swanselona

    swanselona Well-Known Member

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    We will see how much you know when we look at the line up against Napoli.

    I hope that if he puts a good squad out, that you will complain that he is risking our league survival.
     
    #29
  10. Matthew Bound Still Lurks

    Matthew Bound Still Lurks Well-Known Member

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    Who was in charge when we beat Utd ,Liverpool , Chelsea, etc , you couldn't make it up .<doh>
     
    #30

  11. swanselona

    swanselona Well-Known Member

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    Those pictures are wrong mate, they are not broken.
     
    #31
  12. ValleyGraduate12

    ValleyGraduate12 Aberdude's Puppet
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    I think he'simplying change the record <whistle>

    Also forgot to inculde Arsenal at the Emirates <ok>
     
    #32
  13. JackPA26

    JackPA26 Active Member

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    Alan Curtis of course....come on, you should pay a bit more attention:grin:
     
    #33
  14. JackPA26

    JackPA26 Active Member

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    If Monk picks anything close to our A team for Thursday, I wonder how many will criticize him for risking injury to key players 3 days before another key PL fixture?

    I'm sure a few on here will still find a way to blame ML for getting us to Europe in the first place.....I mean, what the hell did he think he was doing, leading us to our first major trophy. The only good thing he did that day was to play Ki in defense ahead of Monk...at least then insiders at the club started to plot his downfall :emoticon-0103-cool:

    Joking aside, we should also throw the Europa tie and focus solely on the league. Surely Monk would be nuts to risk injuries to key players.
     
    #34
  15. Matthew Bound Still Lurks

    Matthew Bound Still Lurks Well-Known Member

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    I'm bad :cheesy:
     
    #35
  16. Matthew Bound Still Lurks

    Matthew Bound Still Lurks Well-Known Member

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    Well it'll be interesting to see who he picks , unless of course we'll duplicate yesterdays team and use them for Sundays <whistle>, Its harder to progress in the Europa then the FA due to the amount of games left in each but he gets paid the big bucks to make the decisions and I'm sure he's clear in his head on whats important (and if he isn't I'm sure someone will remind him )
     
    #36

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