FA Cup lost its magic

[cricketfieldclarets]

So they say.

Yet this seasons semi final contains this seasons champions league entrants. Tonight two big teams played out an exciting game (ruined by the ref) with full strength sides.

This seasons cup had it all. Big shocks. Exciting games. Drama.

Still the best domestic cup competition in the world for me.

Hopefully we can have another good chance next season.

[cricketfieldclarets]

And should always be on free to air TV!

[kentonclaret]

The "big shocks" mainly revolved around sides at the top of the Championship (Brighton, Newcastle, Leeds) who played under strength teams agains lower league opposition and exited the competition. The main priority for these clubs being the fight for a PL place.

The semi finalists being the top 3 sides in the PL table plus 5th placed Arsenal gracing Wembley once again. I bet Tottenham can't wait to be back on home turf once more.

Hardly the year of the underdog.

[chorleyhere]

"ruined by the ref" nope - it was down to poor judgement by Herrera .

[ClaretTony]

I remember the days when the FA Cup did still have its magic

[ElectroClaret]

Lost its magic when we played Lincoln......

[Quickenthetempo]

Ref was fine, a bit lenient in the 2nd half towards United players after the red card and missed a blatant Rojo stamp. But United's tactics were to defend and foul Hazard.

[Acting Claret]

Semi finals at Wembley then having the final at 5.30 did it for me.

[gogogadgetlegs]

Bring back Freddie Starr for net inspections dressed as Hitler with his feather brush

[Wile E Coyote]

nothing magical in it at all, just because the latter stages contain the bigger boys, it has been ruined by apathy and half hearted turn outs along the way.
united once decided not to bother even bothering with it . there were dregs of the league and even non league outfits involved recently. it has no relevance whatsoever.

[Goody1975]

This is an example of what many semi finals were like in the 70's and 80's

It can never be dragged back and they will continue to meddle with it until it is well and truly killed off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKZzc2u_BEM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gogogadgetlegs]

Complete rubbish.

Teams will field lighter sides in the earlier rounds and stronger sides in the latter. That doesnt 'kill it off'. Its Football today and Football will go on.

On the plus side lesser players will get a run out.

[Goody1975]

Complete rubbish.

Teams will field lighter sides in the earlier rounds and stronger sides in the latter. That doesnt 'kill it off'. Its Football today and Football will go on.

On the plus side lesser players will get a run out.

We aren't discussing whether football will go on or not, it's whether the FA Cup has lost it's magic, it hasn't happened overnight, slowly but surely it has lost it's magic and it started with Man Utd going to Brazil and has continued it's slow decline since.

[cricketfieldclarets]

I remember the days when the FA Cup did still have its magic

It still does. For many at least.

My nephew, 6 at the time when I asked who would he like to watch most in the world. Thought he would say Barca vs Real or similar. No 'Burnley v Wigan'. Why? 'Because I want to see Burnley beat The FA Cup winners.'

Later that season he got his wish, and played on the pitch at Half Time when we won promotion.

When we lost to Lincoln this season it was as sad as I have seen him at a game. Loved his trip to Sunderland. Even his generation see the magic of the cup. Maybe the older generation have just got more cynical / apathetic about it as they have football in general.

[mikeS]

Have to agree with post 8. The switching of the semi-finals to wembley and then the final at wembley at 5:30. Better when the Semi's were 'local' to both clubs and the final kicked off at 3:00 on a Saturday.

[Quickenthetempo]

I still haven't got over the Lincoln defeat.

The magic hasn't gone at all. It's just money based, if the FA paid bigger prize money than the premier league then that would become a priority again.

[ClaretTony]

I'm not sure when the magic disappeared but it was step by step with the total devaluing of the competition. As mikes says, semis at Wembley and tea time finals don't help, neither did having league games on the same day as the final. But it had long gone then as a major and magical competition. Years ago it was considered bigger than winning the league, cup final day was something else. Now the game is fit into the schedule while finishing fourth in the league is more important.

[Spijed]

I had a look at the Lincoln city forum before their game with Arsenal, and many of their supporters felt it was more important to get promoted than win the FA Cup.

[Quickenthetempo]

I'm not sure when the magic disappeared but it was step by step with the total devaluing of the competition. As mikes says, semis at Wembley and tea time finals don't help, neither did having league games on the same day as the final. But it had long gone then as a major and magical competition. Years ago it was considered bigger than winning the league, cup final day was something else. Now the game is fit into the schedule while finishing fourth in the league is more important.

About the time Sky TV took over and brainwashed everyone into the premier league.

We can say semi's at Wembley and late kick off devalue it but the same fans watch Monday, Friday night and lunch time kick offs.

The FA simply haven't got the finance to match the premier league for advertising or prize money.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Exactly. The premier league didnt lose footballs magic by changing kick offs. They may have added nostalgia to 3pm saturday kick offs but people still go to and watch games regardless of time or day. Why else would we sell out on a sunday tv game

[welsbyswife]

I'm not sure when the magic disappeared but it was step by step with the total devaluing of the competition. As mikes says, semis at Wembley and tea time finals don't help, neither did having league games on the same day as the final. But it had long gone then as a major and magical competition. Years ago it was considered bigger than winning the league, cup final day was something else. Now the game is fit into the schedule while finishing fourth in the league is more important.

You could say that it's not just finishing 4th that is seen as more important but finishing 17th. I suspect I would be in the minority when I say that I would rather have won the FA cup and been relegated this season and that says all you need to know about what has happened to the FA cup. Sad state of affairs when finishing 17th is more important than winning something.

[Quickenthetempo]

7.7m viewers last night says there is still interest. Is the average less than 1m for a premier league game?

[ClaretTony]

7.7m viewers last night says there is still interest. Is the average less than 1m for a premier league game?

They don't show Premier League games on free to air TV - that's why last night's was high

[ClaretTony]

You could say that it's not just finishing 4th that is seen as more important but finishing 17th. I suspect I would be in the minority when I say that I would rather have won the FA cup and been relegated this season and that says all you need to know about what has happened to the FA cup. Sad state of affairs when finishing 17th is more important than winning something.

You are spot on, and even Sean Dyche said as much making it clear our only priority was the Premier League.

[cricketfieldclarets]

They don't show Premier League games on free to air TV - that's why last night's was high

There are over 6 million Sky Sports Subscribers though.

If nobody cared about The FA Cup, 7 million households wouldn't have watched a Monday night quarter final. Free to air or not.

[ClaretTony]

They would - only game on, lack of top flight games all weekend and free to air with little competition.

Another big change that devalued the cup came in the early 80s when BBC & ITV started showing live First Division games. Prior to that the only domestic game shown live was the FA Cup Final which then was THE biggest Day on the football calendar. Shows how old you need to be to actually remember when it was magical, especially with final day.

[Inchy]

I watched it last night because it was on the BBC. I don't have Sky so wouldn't have watched it if it was on sky

[timshorts]

I didn't watch it as a don't give a sh1t about either side.

I'd quite happily drive past Chelsea v Man United in the premier league (and possibly have done) on my way to watch, say, MK Dons v Chesterfield (twice), or Worthing United v Ashford Town or Crawley Town v Stoke or Maldon Town v Boston United in the FA Cup. You know all those sides (except Stoke maybe, or Chesterfield when Dyche was playing for them) will get knocked out well before the big time, but that isn't really the point. There's always a possibility that something exciting might happen - in those particular cases they included watching an ineligible player that meant the game was re-played, seeing a young Dele Ali before he got good at diving (he was still a diver, but hadn't really practiced enough to perfect it like he has now), my son standing next to a celebrity (Nick Hancock) and not having a clue who he was, and finding a place in Essex that was nice (yes, really!).

[Silkyskills1]

Whilst we are on about tradition the 'draw' being made on a Monday lunchtime around 12.20 was all part of what made the FA Cup special. I believe it now has 'celebrity status' with some grinning 'no marks' adding it on to their already inane offerings. Cup Final Day was special, like Christmas Day nothing else mattered. You took sides just for that day with a club you had little time for; the game was invariably average at best and all the old clichés were trotted out like 'a big pitch's, 'tired legs' and for the older ones amongst us ' the Wembley hoodo'. It didn't matter though because by 5 pm someone had won it and was jigging around the pitch; the other team collected their medals disconsolately as though their whole world had ended.
It hadn't but the football season had and we all knew that it would be the best part of 3 months before we all gathered again with the same positive hopes and wishes for a new season.........which started for all 92 clubs at the same time on the same day.

[Ashingtonclaret46]

Whilst we are on about tradition the 'draw' being made on a Monday lunchtime around 12.20 was all part of what made the FA Cup special. I believe it now has 'celebrity status' with some grinning 'no marks' adding it on to their already inane offerings. Cup Final Day was special, like Christmas Day nothing else mattered. You took sides just for that day with a club you had little time for; the game was invariably average at best and all the old clichés were trotted out like 'a big pitch's, 'tired legs' and for the older ones amongst us ' the Wembley hoodo'. It didn't matter though because by 5 pm someone had won it and was jigging around the pitch; the other team collected their medals disconsolately as though their whole world had ended.
It hadn't but the football season had and we all knew that it would be the best part of 3 months before we all gathered again with the same positive hopes and wishes for a new season.........which started for all 92 clubs at the same time on the same day.

Blimey, silky, nostalgia unlimited! You forgot to mention that footballers were footballers and didn't go down clutching their face when somebody had given them a dead leg!

[cricketfieldclarets]

They would - only game on, lack of top flight games all weekend and free to air with little competition.

Another big change that devalued the cup came in the early 80s when BBC & ITV started showing live First Division games. Prior to that the only domestic game shown live was the FA Cup Final which then was THE biggest Day on the football calendar. Shows how old you need to be to actually remember when it was magical, especially with final day.

So 7 million people who don't care about would watch it? That doesnt even remotely make sense.

[edlass]

Its magical to those teams who get through to the third round who wouldn't normally. I love the early rounds on the BBC at the small grounds. Salford v Notts county was a good one. I like hearing about the builder scoring at the kop end or seeing Arsene Wenger being interviewed in the caretaker room/reserve goalkeepers bedroom at Sutton.

I think I preferred it when we were the little team. One of my favorite memories was Derby away when Andy Cooke scored the winner.

When Lincoln scored it was the first time in a long time that I have left before the final whistle. I wasn't just jealous that they were through and we weren't, I was jealous that they were the little underdogs and had achieved so much. That's our role! When I saw all those bright blue Vanerama tops run onto the pitch and celebrate it was too much for me!

How new is playing an under strength side for the FA cup?

If 7m people watched the Chelsea/Utd match because there was nothing on, how many people would tune into the once a year FA cup final? Do the records cover ratings for those times?

[jrgbfc]

Certainly don't agree with certain things the FA have done with the cup, such as playing the semis at Wembley and moving the final to a 5.30 KO, but can honestly say the Lincoln game is the most gutted I've been after a game for a long time.