Why the death knell is sounding for the FA Cup, but there are ways to save it

Published 22:59 03/01/10

Sadly, I fear we witnessed the death knell of the FA Cup at the weekend.

I grew up idolising the competition and fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition when I first played in it for non-League Stafford Rangers.

But the FA Cup’s decline, which started in 1999-2000 when Manchester United dropped out of the Cup to play in the World Club Championship, appears to have reached the point of no return.

At the weekend we had precious few shocks - with the obvious exception of Leeds' epic win at Old Trafford - and so many emphatic wins which made you wonder if the underdogs had actually bothered trying that hard.

My talkSPORT phone-in was flooded by concerned die-hard football fans who have grown up with famous upsets like Hereford beating Newcastle, Bournemouth beating Manchester United and Sutton United knocking out Coventry.

But nowadays you even have lower division clubs putting out weakened teams as their League programme is more important to them.

I was at Nottingham Forest versus Birmingham where both teams made changes.

Forest boss Billy Davies candidly admitted their next Championship match against West Brom is his top priority.

So no wonder there were some real hidings - like Preston thrashing League One promotion hopefuls Colchester 7-0, for example - while Tottenham, Chelsea, Wigan and Bolton all cruised to emphatic victories.

Alas, the days when the FA Cup third round was still regarded as a rare weekend in the year when people can expect unlikely results appears gone forever.

And, alarmingly, it appears to be becoming a turn-off for supporters as well.

There were pitiful crowds at Middlesbrough (12,474) and Wigan (5,335) which says a lot.

But I think there are some possible solutions.

One is to give the fourth Champions League place in the Premier League every season to the FA Cup winners.

Then you would have teams going out all guns blazing to try and get to the final.

You could also introduce all the teams from the top two divisions in at the second round. That way you would get more sides from lower down the pyramid playing against the big boys to remind us all what the FA Cup is about.

And my other suggestion would be increasing the prize money on offer in the earlier rounds to focus the attention of smaller clubs.

The FA are making shed loads of cash from England merchandising, so they shouldn’t have a problem providing more prize money for rounds one, two, three and four when you still have clubs involved that need the cash.

Right now, if you have a club which is only going to get a few grand for winning a tie, sadly some feel why should they bother risking their stars.

It is a disgrace that something akin to bribery should be necessary to revive the competition.

But sadly people seem to think they can disrespect the FA Cup all too easily.

And I just wish so much that everyone would take it seriously once more.

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