Quote Originally Posted by NAE NOOKIE View Post
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Three things have contributed to the FA cup losing its mystique:

1) The year Man Utd bumped it to play in the club world cup thing, the FA scored a huge own goal by not allowing them to play a weakened team. It had a lasting effect on the tournaments prestige.

2) The loss of the old Wembley. The stadium's place in the tournaments history was as important as the trophy itself and even though it did have to be replaced and the new stadium is awesome, for some reason its just not the same. For those of us who watch on the telly the rubbish camera angle doesn't help.

3) The Champions league ..... back in the day if you couldn't win the league the FA cup was a more than acceptable 2nd prize. Now all the big clubs care about is finishing in the top 4 of the EPL and the FA cup is very much an afterthought to them.

Bless em, the BBC have done their best to polish the turd that the FA cup has become, but the truth is that all you have to do is look at the attendances. For a lot of clubs back in the day a decent draw in the FA cup would guarantee you one of your biggest crowds of the season ... not any more and that says it all .... here's a selection:

Sunderland v Burnley ....................... 17,632
Birmingham v Newcastle .................. 13,172
Bolton v Crystal Palace ..................... 11,683
Norwich v Southampton .................... 12,479
QPR v Blackburn .............................. 7,482
Hull v Swansea ................................ 6,608

Preston bucked the trend with an excellent 22,000 against Arsenal .... but I think the point is made.
74396 at Old Trafford yesterday.