Why we can't afford to have our cake and eat it when it comes to FA Cup shocks

By David Anderson

Published 08:30 17/02/10

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Like all kids of my generation, I was brought up on the magic of the FA Cup final.

It was near enough the only club match I ever saw live on the telly in the 1970s and the final truly was the highlight of the footballing year.

Liverpool may have been winning title after title, but lifting the Cup seemed to have much more glamour and kudos attached to it when watched from our settees at home.

Over the years, this lustre has dulled and the Cup has lost much of its sparkle.

I know people are switched off when older folk harp on about things being better in their day, but in the case of the Cup it's true.

Last weekend's fifth-round 'action' hardly set the pulse racing and the closest we got to a something resembling a shock was Crystal Palace nearly beating Aston Villa.

Part of the problem is that as fans, we want to have our cake and eat it when it comes to the Cup.

We want to revel in the shocks, but we also want the big boys slugging it out at Wembley, making it a final to remember.

We loved it in 2008 when Barnsley beat Liverpool and Chelsea and then moaned when we were presented with a semi-final line-up of the Tykes against Cardiff and Portsmouth against West Brom.

Yet last season we were complaining about the Cup being too predictable when we had Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal in the semis.

This is reflected in the fans and there were just 28,000 at Eastlands to see Manchester City draw with Stoke and just 13,600 at the Reebok for Bolton's stalemate with Tottenham.

The dominance of the Premier League and Champions League is squeezing the life out of the Cup to the extent where it's worth more to finish fourth than win at Wembley.

This cannot be right and something need to be done before the oldest and grandest knock-out competition in the world is counted out for good.

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