Magic of the FA Cup

[Sir David Gray]

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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.

[Tom Hart RIP]

I remember clearly every fs cup final from 1966 to about 1990. Since then I would have trouble remembering any.

[Golden Bear]

The Spurs v Villa game has been one big yawn so far. Hardly anything of note and nearly half an hour gone.

[Pete]

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The Spurs v Villa game has been one big yawn so far. Hardly anything of note and nearly half an hour gone.

The only thing I noticed that the Villa fans were singing the Halliday and the Warburton songs.

[Sergey]

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The Spurs v Villa game has been one big yawn so far. Hardly anything of note and nearly half an hour gone.

Albert Adomah of Aston Villa started his career in the Pub League with Harrow Borough.

Good players to be found at the level

[easty]

I'm nae John Terry fan but his red card looked a bit harsh today.

In fact...**** him, the prick deserved 2 reds.

[tamig]

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I'm nae John Terry fan but his red card looked a bit harsh today.

In fact...**** him, the prick deserved 2 reds.

No such thing as an undeserved red card for him. He should be sine died for his dressing up stunt at the Champs League final alone. Tube.

[hibbysam]

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I find it sad to see how teams treat the FA Cup.

A great tournament that the clubs treat as a pain in the ar**.

When Norwich equalised against Southampton the commentator said right away that this was the result neither side wanted. Why, so they could get back to mid table mediocrity in their respective Leagues?

As a laddie and even until relatively recently I loved the FA Cup but now it has lost it's appeal.

Apart from anything else it was a competition years ago where you could get decent accumulators up in the fixed odds.

The best one in which your scenario applies Scoop, was recently in the Europa League, the commentator said it was good for Southampton to be out as they could concentrate on finishing in the top 6 of the league, so that they could qualify for the Europa league again... very strange stuff!

[Smartie]

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Albert Adomah of Aston Villa started his career in the Pub League with Harrow Borough.

Good players to be found at the level

He's been superb.

Miles better than that £17m top scorer in the Dutch league chap who plays for Spurs.

[Sir David Gray]

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The only thing I noticed that the Villa fans were singing the Halliday and the Warburton songs.

Tottenham fans are now singing about Super John McGinn.

[BullsCloseHibs]

Spurs fans copying our songs

[Broken Gnome]

Sure we all appreciated that extended testimony to Colin Calderwood there..

[Dibben]

Close up there of Colin Calderwood...

At least he's learned to look interested in his team!

[NthCarolinaHibs]

Praising CC to the hilt..calling him a "Top man"..no mention of him with us tho....

[BullsCloseHibs]

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Close up there of Colin Calderwood...

At least he's learned to look interested in his team!

Colin who?

[NAE NOOKIE]

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74396 at Old Trafford yesterday.

Man Utd could get 74,000 at home to Civil Service Strollers .... hardly part of the equation mate. Did you see pictures of Cardiff v Fulham, even Gary Lineker made a joke about the game being played behind closed doors.

[Sir David Gray]

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Man Utd could get 74,000 at home to Civil Service Strollers .... hardly part of the equation mate. Did you see pictures of Cardiff v Fulham, even Gary Lineker made a joke about the game being played behind closed doors.

Cardiff have previous for low attendances in the FA Cup with crowds of around 4000 in the last two seasons. Today's attendance was actually better than either of the previous two.

The daft kick off time, the fact it was on TV and the large distance for away fans to travel probably didn't help matters either.

Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham all had pretty much a full house today and Middlesbrough's crowd wasn't bad either.

[cleanyman]

This is why the Scottish will always be the superior competition.

Every club in Scotland still cares about it

[Mr White]

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This is why the Scottish will always be the superior competition.

Every club in Scotland still cares about it

Except hearts. They've done their best to exit as early as possible for the last 5 years. They did at least manage to win a tie last season but they made up for that by chucking a 2 goal lead against lower league opposition at home in the 5th round.

[Risboro Hibby]

I was at the Wycombe Stourbridge cup tie yesterday which was a fantastic game with a terrific atmosphere. Nearly an upset as Stourbridge clattered the bar at 1 1 with 10 to go before Wycombe then went up field to score the winner

Smaller teams still look to the Fa cup with excitement. It is the big clubs that ruin it playing understrength teams Hopefully in Scotland we still see our cup as a major trophy As most of us supporters of non OF teams will never see our team win the Premier League the cup as we all know by experience is our teams best chance of glory

[jgl07]

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Man Utd could get 74,000 at home to Civil Service Strollers .... hardly part of the equation mate. Did you see pictures of Cardiff v Fulham, even Gary Lineker made a joke about the game being played behind closed doors.

The reason that Manchester United get 75,000 crowds is that every season ticket holder is obliged to buy a ticket for all cup matches and all European matches.

The reported attendances include these and a lot do not attend.