Long Live The Cup!

Transportation time. Let’s travel back to the 26th June 1999.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United should be allowed a bye in the next seasons FA Cup to play in the football pinnacle that is… The World Team Championships. The Football Association asked United to take place in the ‘prestigious’ tournament which was held in January, the same time as the third round of the cup, as they apparently believed it would help England’s World Cup bid for 2006, which eventually went to the Germans, who hosted a better World Cup than we were capable of at that time. Then Sir Alex asked to come in at a later stage in the tournament, which the FA declined, understandably. This was the feud that killed the FA Cup.

It was the FA who ironically killed the Cup, with a rod in their back from UEFA. They didn’t have the balls to stand up to UEFA, simply put. This put the cup where lower league teams can pit against Premiership sides where often giant killings happen, at the centre of ridicule. The champions of Europe, the most famous Premiership team, advised not to take part in the magical tournament that has spanned longer than most clubs.

Right, how this links in with this years cup.

The FA Cup has somewhat come under a mini revival these last few years, but only for some. For some it is seen as a distraction at a vital point in the season. But full credit goes to the clubs that treat the FA Cup properly. But its not enough and its sickening that the only teams that do take it at least a little bit seriously tend to be clubs that are at a progressive point in the clubs history, on the verge of reaching the Champions League, but can’t quite get there, the Europa League rejects. Or cash strapped Portsmouth, who couldn’t possibly lose to Southampton for fear of a rebellion from the South Coast locals, and it gives them extra income

Tottenham, Villa, Man City and surprisingly, Birmingham have a better chance than most to reach the Semi Finals, with Villa up against, my team that I am very proud of, Palace in a replay at Villa Park, before having the delight of facing West Brom or Reading…Not the most appealing, but all due respect to Villa, who fielded a full strength side against defiant Palace, and are in the final of the Carling Cup. Whereas Arsenal, Liverpool and Man United are out with only a slight bit of disappointment surging through the clubs, who now see it as a blessing for their tired ‘stars’ to have a bit of respite. Arsenal, Liverpool and Man United don’t care, obviously. Liverpool need to focus on getting their Champions League assault in full throttle, and Man United and Arsenal have title aspirations, or Arsenal did, at the time of the cup tie against Stoke. Leeds aren’t better than the reigning champions of England, everyone knows that, and although the magic of the FA Cup is to see these giant clubs go out, it undermines the competition and the opposition when you play reserve team players, and then play a full strength side in the Carling Cup, often seen as the Mickey Mouse Cup. Leeds would much rather beat a full strength United side, not a weakened one.

The Cup is seen as a bit of silverware for the Villas and the Tottenhams of the world, and often, finals between bigger clubs are dull affairs. It is just frustrating when the top teams don’t particularly care about the hallowed competition.

Even Chelsea, favourites to win it, let their inspirational captain John Terry travel to Dubai to patch up marriage problems. Now, I don’t know if this is because JT has too much power at Chelsea, or because Chelsea are ‘only’ playing Cardiff, but each situation is wrong. Cardiff got thrashed 4-1, so Chelsea were strong enough to beat them, but this is beside the point. The point is years ago a team wouldn’t let their captain just leave, and miss a round of the cup.

I mean, the FA Cup does still bring joy to us fans, Championship teams (and Portsmouth) especially. It’s always good to see your team go on a cup run, but even we, even the fans think it’s more vital to win in the teams respective leagues than to progress in the cup. Me included. So this may sound hypocritical, but teams should take the FA Cup more seriously, as it is slowly being overtaken by the pointless affair that is the Carling Cup.

So over to you Lord Triesman and Co. Rejuvenate the FA cup that you destroyed, all those years ago. And you have to do better than to play the semi finals at Wembley.