The first weekend of January brings the history and tradition of the third round of the FA Cup to the doorstep of football fans. However, this history and tradition seems to be waning.
When the competition is discussed in the media, stories of giant-killing and romance are usually recalled and put into the public gaze to support the notion of how special the cup is.
The FA Cup is an important competition but it no longer has the same appeal it once had. This can be seen by the distinct lack of stand-out ties that are remembered. Gone are the Arsenal versus Manchester United semi-final replays and the Ronnie Radford belters against Newcastle.
This is not to say there have not been unexpected results and underdog victories over the last few years, but they have not seemed to carry the same weight or magnitude as years gone by. There will be games that fans of clubs remember and will go down in their history, but the competition as a whole has taken a back seat to the almighty Premier League.
With Champions League qualification for the top four, there are arguably six or seven teams who every season who would rather focus on their league campaigns than give too much importance to the FA Cup. And because of the financial rewards for being in the Premier League, the bottom six usually would rather be eliminated early so as not to have the distraction.
The Championship then suffers similar for those chasing promotion to the ‘promised land’ which, with the close nature of the league recently, can be most of the top half of the table. And throughout the leagues promotion and relegation, stability and focus on league form have gained more weight.
As such the cup competition has suffered. Running all the way through the run-in to the end of the season, in some eyes it has actually become more of a distraction than the League Cup which is over by February.
This should not be the case. The Cup should retain its significance in the English calendar and the FA could certainly help in trying to redress the balance. As the Premier League spreads further across the globe and the 24/7 media focus reports every little bit of information from the clubs at the top, the importance of getting to and staying in the Premier League increases.
Perhaps though, this magic of the cup that has so often been allured to never existed. Perhaps, with hindsight and retelling of stories, games from the past have been given more significance than they ever actually had at the time they were played. Perhaps, in the current football climate people chiming for the old ways has lent romance to days gone by.
Any number of reasons and examples could be called upon to try and explain the current state of the FA Cup. All probably have some weight to them. What is made clear these days though, from many a manager at their midweek press conference, is that the cup will “not be taken as a priority so focus can remain on the league”. Where does this leave the FA Cup?
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