- Is this Spurs' most significant signing of the summer?
- Why football fans should be happy for Manchester City
- Manchester United succeed due to one man's insatiable determination
- Will Liverpool fans buy into the hype?
- Sunderland game show why it is difficult to respect refs
- Who will pick up the pieces at Newcastle as Keegan proves the bigger man
- Will Mark Hughes have his hands tied at Manchester City?
- Arsenal to swoop? Spurs pledge, Man City loan move, Villa revelation, Liverpool star in snub & civil war at Newcastle United
- Man City boss Mark Hughes sounds a cautious note
- Chelsea star to take his time over return
FanCasts
Sit back, relax and listen to our FREE Football Podcasts. Subscribe 4 FREE to get your teams show each week.
Blogs
Intelligent, articulate, opinion. Read, rate and comment!
Banter
Create your own discussion and debate - Sign up and get involved!
Latest FanCasts
Top Articles
From the Terraces
Where has the magic of the FA Cup gone and why do clubs now hold the competition with such contempt?
Posted by: Fanos Kyriacou, Fri 4th Jan 2008
Tagged:
Sheffield United, Championship, England, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, Derby County, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, Reading, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Ham, Wigan, Charlton, Leicester City, Southampton, Watford, Wolverhampton, Millwall
FFC columnist Fanos Kyriacou wonders in light of Dave Kitson's recent comments, where has the magic of the FA Cup gone?
Being a Spurs fan for over twenty years my greatest memory is being at Wembley and seeing Gary Mabbutt walk the steps and lift the FA Cup in 1991, my second greatest memory is winning the league cup in 1999 (although the big sloppy kiss planted on me at full time by a certain rotund friend of mine is something that may haunt me forever).
So when I heard someone ask the question - if Spurs won the FA Cup this season and finished tenth in the league would you be happy it riled me. The reason this touched a nerve with me is that surely a question like that is a no-brainer. Of course I'd be happy. In fact I'd be absolutely bloody delirious with joy.
The trend for managers to field weakened sides in domestic cup competitions has always been a huge bone of contention with me. Now I can just about understand why those clubs competing in Europe's ‘premier' competition, the ridiculous Champions League (that's a whole other rant right there) might rest a few players in the league cup to perhaps allow some of their fringe players to gain some invaluable experience, indeed Arsene Wenger has done this and it has proved very successful for Arsenal. What I cannot fathom however is how teams such as Bolton, who haven't won a major domestic trophy since winning the FA Cup in 1953, unless of course you count their glorious capture of the 1989 Sherpa Van Trophy, can justify putting out a weaker side in the league cup or the FA cup. Surely this is cheating the fans who must crave seeing their team win something. Now I'm not just picking on Bolton, there are many clubs in the Premier League who would prefer to finish 13th or 14th rather than win a cup and I find that deeply upsetting..
Now we have Reading's Dave Kitson saying that he would rather have a rest than play in Saturday's FA Cup clash at Tottenham. He has been quoted as saying "we are not going to win the FA Cup and I do not care less about it to be honest". Personally I think it is an absolute disgrace. What is the point in playing football if you don't even believe in your abilities to win football matches, or don't have the bottle to try and overcome the odds and win a trophy? If he has that view on the FA Cup, Reading might as well drop out of the Premier League too as they have even less chance of winning the title than they do the FA Cup. Kitson is 28 years old and as far as I know has never won anything of note in his career. He hasn't got long left in terms of playing top flight football and he is saying he doesn't care about winning a cup. I would then urge him to give up playing the game now as he might as well go back to playing park football.
If I was a Reading Supporter I would be feeling quite disillusioned about my team and what they were trying to achieve. If Spurs were ever to belittle this great cup competition like this and concentrate solely on Premiership status, happy to finish 14th every season without trying to pick up some silverware I would honestly give up my season ticket and cease to be a proper supporter of the club.
Perhaps I am a bit naïve and a soppy old romantic when it comes to football, but I genuinely believe in the game being about glory. The great Bill Nicholson once said that "it's better to fall aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we at Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory".
Yes football has changed and the stakes are higher but fundamentally the game is about winning trophies. While most of the teams in the Premier League know they don't have a chance of winning the title, everyone has an equal chance of winning a cup and when these knockout competitions begin they should be relishing the opportunity of getting to Wembley.
There is no glory in finishing in the top four unless you are first and there surely cannot be one genuine fan out there that would prefer their team to finish fourth and gain entry into the Champions League rather than play in an FA Cup final at Wembley and see their captain triumphantly lift the famous trophy aloft. I for one would be elated to see Ledley King emulate the legendary Gary Mabbutt and walk up those Wembley steps to do this even if we finished 16th in the table.
It always amazes me that
It always amazes me that people dont hold the FA Cup in anywhere near the level it deserves these days. In times past it was an honour to have at the end of a season that any club would be proud of so why not now ?
Its funny that all those clubs who have won the trophy still ensure that it is listed amongst their honours and also in particular those who have acheived the double or even treble dare I say it seem to bring it up when the moment suits. No FA cup = no domestic double or treble for most if you work it out so less bragging rights! Leaving all that aside its a competition which is in the tradition of our game and one where from grass roots to the top of the league all teams are involved and long may it remain important to real fans and for that joy of winning the best domestic cup competition in the world !
It's an insult basically to
It's an insult basically to knock the oldest cup competition in the world with such contempt! "we are not going to win the FA Cup and I do not care less about it to be honest"
Well I wonder what all the players in lower level teams think, given it's their day of glory coming up against the big boys and even pulling off the shock win we all like to see occasionally.
Kitson, i think it's time you gave the game away as your playing it for all the wrong reasons! because be it FA Cup, Carling Cup, UEAF Cup or CL they all count for something! Obviously not to you but then you don't give your supporters much hope really and if I supported Reading I would refuse to go to another Reading game till he left. Hereford, Yeovil or even Enfield didn't throw in the towel that easy!
Nothing like negative attitude to get your team motivated for a cup win!
you have to appreciate where
you have to appreciate where a Reading fan is coming from. Just to play Arsenal and Man U every season IS their FA cup final. to miss out on that would be worse than losing an FA cup match both sportingly and financially. A club like Tottenham does have a chance, albiet a slim one, of actually winning the FA cup, Reading dont.
Even though only the big 4 have won the FA cup in the last what is it 10 years, I think there are at least 6 other teams who have a reasonable chance of winning it. I mean west ham, Southampton and Millwall have actually all come very very close to winning it recently, only to be denied by late goals from the big 4.
But outside that top 10 clubs, I dont see how anyone else can realistically win it. Despite that I still cant fathom how any player can actually ever want to lose a match. where is kitson's pride and professionalism? they have to try and if they fail then so be it, but to give up before a ball is kicked is criminal.
THE LAST non top 4 winners
THE LAST non top 4 winners were Everton in 1995 (13 years) and before that Spurs in 1991! Its about time someone else won it I think.
The fact is it used to be,
The fact is it used to be, the most consistent team won the title and the luckiest team won the cup. Sometimes the two converge. These days, the lucky teams get to the semi finals, play against the teams with an enormous squad of quality who have been able to chock and change all season and get out played as expected and the same teams end up in the final. The magic has gone becasue there is now an inevitability about the outcome. I think Liverpool fans would rather get fourth place guarenteed than win the Cup right now. The champions League (and the money it generates) has killed ALL cup competitions League Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Cup included.
Would you be happy if Spurs
Would you be happy if Spurs won the cup and were relegated?
Thought not.
Given Reading's flimsy performances to-date and the scale of the abyss into which their confidence has fallen, I suspect Dave Kitson has also reached the same conclusion.
You have to go back to 1987
You have to go back to 1987 (Coventry) for a non big 6 or 7 club winning the Cup. 21 bloody years!
Im sure Middlesbourogh fans
Im sure Middlesbourogh fans would have been mighty pleased to have won the 1997 FA Cup against Chelsea as they DID get relegated that year!
As an Arsenal fan , it's
As an Arsenal fan , it's unusual for me to agree with most of what Tottenham fans moan about. However, I could not agree with you more. Since I was a boy, I have watched the FA Cup and marvelled at the magic that it creates. Non-league teams meeting top opposition, funding their club for months to come, great games between great teams that twist and turn. Unfortunately so many people now want to rest players and concentrate on the league.
Arsene Wenger has done it many times but I do believe that he would never send a team out to lose but simply makes a calculated risk in order to rest players. How Dave Kitson cannot take the FA Cup seriously is beyond me. These players need to be taken back to the streets where kids play football dreaming of Wembley. The FA Cup final is televised in most nations across the world and I remember foreign players in the 90's muting the FA Cup final as motivation to come to England.
It is a fact of life that money now governs football and the league is so much more valuable. Managers will look after the interests of the club but it is a sad day when players don't care either.
THE LAST non top 4 winners
THE LAST non top 4 winners were Everton in 1995 (13 years) and before that Spurs in 1991!
This is Exactly Why the FA Cup has Lost it's Value.
Finishing 4th in the League is something to be Proud of !
The same could not be said about finishing 4th / 3rd / 2nd in the FA Cup or League Cup - Counts for Nothing !
The Monopoly Largely Built Up by "Sky" of Utd / Arsenal / Chelsea and Liverpool needs to be Dismantled by Rule Changes / Transfer Limits etc !
The Premier League and the FA Cup are Dying a Death to Fans outside these 4 clubs !
I want to see a Competition Again instead of 4 Leagues within the Premier League.
Champions League 4 Teams.
Uefa Cup 6 Teams ?
Mid / Lower Table Mediocrity 5 Teams.
Relegation Battlers 5 Teams.
What's the Point in Bothering with this Closed Shop ?
