The First 90 Minutes.com

Following Chelsea’s FA Cup triumph TF90M’s Tim Sansom examines whether the tournament still has its magic.

I have got to start off by saying that I did not watch the FA Cup final last Saturday. I am still not sure whether I missed that much apart from the fastest goal in FA Cup history, and a sweet strike from the weaker foot of Frank Lampard.

I also have to admit that this was the second final in succession that I missed. In 2008, I still do not quite understand why I agreed to an eight-hour shopping expedition around the depths of Birmingham’s Bull Ring Shopping Centre instead of the annual showdown between Portsmouth and Cardiff. To my shame, I found myself walking around endless fake palm trees, whilst listening to canned Girls Aloud, which I believed was the way of this shopping centre to seduce me to hand over £50 for a pair of fashionably ‘ripped’ jeans.

This year was slightly different. I had every intention of catching Chelsea versus Everton, because I wanted to check out this resurgent Everton who appeared to be rediscovering a bit of glory that had deserted Goodison Park for too long. An old university friend is a devout Evertonian, so there was a bit of a personal interest in this match. However, good intentions fell by the wayside. A trip to the dentist on this hot Saturday afternoon, followed by dinner at relatives and a train ride within a carriage that had debatable levels of air conditioning, was my FA Cup afternoon.

My low point in the FA Cup Final came in 2007. Those were the days when I believed that every single showdown between the Premiership’s ‘so-called’ top four would be a magical clash that would be remembered for years to come. The scene had been set. I was sitting on the bed of a student hall of residence salivating over the prospect of Ronaldo versus Drogba, and Lampard versus Rooney, and I was served a game that had as much flavour as cold porridge.

I know that I should feel the magic of the FA Cup. I care about football’s tradition and hate to see our national game gradually sinking into a well pool of gut-wrenching financial greed and television overkill. When the FA Cup comes up trumps, it certainly delivers. Whether it was in Bournemouth in January 1984, Sutton United in 1989, or Wrexham in 1992, there is nothing quite like a cup upset to stir the footballing soul. If Havant and Waterlooville had beaten Liverpool in the fourth round of the 2008 FA Cup, it is probable that most Liverpool fans would have struggled to shrug off the embarrassment.  Anfield would never have been the same again.

Unless you are the team that is at the wrong end of an upset, you hope that a shock in the cup will happen at the end of every round, but the magic is lost when TV companies appear to choose games for no apparent reason than the fact that teams such as Manchester United are playing. I understand that sight of United on the television will guarantee a decent audience regardless of the opposition, but I always thought that the FA Cup was more than just an exhibition match for the top teams of this country. A cup upset is never quite the same when the match is brutally shoehorned into two minutes of highlights coverage before the closing credits.

I have always tried to get to a third round game on the first Saturday of January. There is nothing quite like the feeling of travelling under leaden skies to a cup tie that has the potential to be something special. I have always hoped that I would watch an upset, but I have never quite made it yet. Third round Saturday has been diluted due to various big name teams putting out (perhaps understandably) under-strength teams for the sake of keeping their best players for the critical promotion, relegation, and Champions League games.

Although you can understand that it would be slightly foolish to put out the top team against Bournemouth and receive multiple injuries that would jeopardise the next crucial game, this attitude destroys the romance of the cup. Although it is unfair to destroy the small club’s moment in the sun, it can be suggested that this team was not playing the first eleven of their opponents.  Despite the achievements and the gushing by the television commentator, a little bit of that victory has turned a bit sour.

There is still a lot going for the FA Cup final. There were various grumblings that the big teams had failed to make the latter rounds in the 2008 contest, but I like to think that the competition was made a little bit more exciting. However despite the best efforts of football traditionalists, I get a sense that this competition is not quite at the same level of importance as it was even ten years ago. At the moment, the magic show of the FA Cup Final has become nothing more than a three card trick in a smoky social club.