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After an underwhelming weekend of FA Cup action, I’m forced to ask myself whether the grand old competition even matters anymore.
Hey, I’m not in a rush to throw close to 140 years of history away but seriously, when did a team winning the FA Cup last capture the imagination?
Some may argue Portsmouth helped upset the status quo in 2008, however I’d rather watch grass grow than be subjected to a replay of that awful final against Cardiff City.
The 'Big Four's' stranglehold of the competition hasn’t exactly got the football nation in a dither either. Not since 1995 when Everton triumphed over Manchester United has anyone other than Pompey touched the pot that used to have us all dreaming of Wembley Way, laps of honor and open top bus tours.
I suppose you could argue that the West Ham and Liverpool thriller in 2006 was the kind of match that the FA Cup built its lore on. That match though was played in Wales and not the home of football. The contest also finished in a lottery as penalties were used to find a winner for the second consecutive year - wholly unsatisfying!
Maybe I’m becoming a miserable old git but in my opinion you have to go back to Liverpool’s dramatic victory against Merseyside rivals, Everton in 1989 or Tottenham beating Nottingham Forest in 1991 to capture the true essence of the Cup.
Now they were proper finals and worthy of the FA Cup tradition.
Critics have said that the competition has not been the same since United opted not to defend their title in 2000. Whether that was United’s or the Football Associations fault we’ll never truly know but their omission and the final's enforced absence from Wembley for six years were the undertakers sizing up the competition for burial.
The most serious deathblow though was the formation of the Premier League.
Since this economic beast reared its all-powerful head we’ve seen a succession of Premiership managers field weakened teams in the competition as survival in the top flight figured heavily in the bottom line. Only teams with massive squads have been able to compete with any kind of consistency which translates into the 'Big Four' monopoly we’ve been subjected too for the last decade or so.
Hardly the unpredictability that the Cup built its name on.
I suppose a few romantics will point to the Cinderella run of Leeds United this year as proof positive that the Cup still has the power to stun a nation. Granted the victory at Old Trafford was as delicious as it was surprising. To then follow up that performance with the heroic display at White Hart Lane was even more heart warming.
However who else joined them in creating Cup magic?
The answer is no one and without a single marquee tie in the 5th round, I can see the Cup slipping further into irrelevancy.
There are only two possible ways to restore glamour to this fast disappearing giant.
One would be to dramatically increase the prize money. This unfortunately is almost an impossibility after the Setanta TV fiasco hit the FA hard in the pocket book along with the crushing debt owed on Wembley.
The other scenario, which has been mooted before, is to give the winner a UEFA Champions League spot. For all but the 'Big Four' this would be the greatest incentive in the history of football but do you think Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or United would ever let this happen? Not on your life!
Taking the FA Cup in this direction though would fire the imagination of supporters. If you knew a place in Europe’s elite competition was the pot at the end of the rainbow, I can guarantee you that all clubs and their managers would take each and every match seriously. Crowds would come flocking back and television would pay handsomely for the rights to cover these potential winner-take-all epics. This to me is a no brainer.
It is time for the Football Association to stand up to the Premier League and demand that this be the future of the FA Cup. If they don’t, I’m afraid that the greatest and oldest knockout competition in the world will fade away much like my memories of great Cup Finals.
Until then, I’ll see you at the far post.
