Wigan..... Keeping Romance Alive.

Whether it was by innocent coincidence or mischievous design, Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement as manager of Manchester United last week deflected attention from last Saturday’s FA Cup final involving United’s “noisy neighbours” from the Blue half of Manchester. In fact the FA Cup final had been so little on my mind that it was only on the morning of the game that I realised that it was taking place that day. In years gone by there would have been no chance of my not realising that it was cup final day, but these days a combination of factors have made what was once such a significant date in the football calendar now little more than a footnote in the season.

Traditionally, and we football fans love our traditions, the FA Cup final took place after the conclusion of the league season. Moving the date so that a full Premier League programme was scheduled for the same weekend and moving the kick-off to 5.15 has marginalised the final and while in days of yore the fact that the final was one of a very limited number of games that were televised live, the fact that there are now just so many live games on television means it simply doesn’t have the impact that it once did for the neutral.

The first FA Cup final that I watched was in 1968 when West Bromwich Albion beat Everton. In the following years FA Cup final day had a particular routine. Television coverage began at ten o’clock, a full five hours of build up on both the BBC and ITV, who both showed the game. Pre-match analysis interspersed with cup final themed editions of It’s A Knockout, Mastermind and the like, I watched it all. The teams leaving their hotels, highlights of their games en route to Wembley, the cameras on the coach, flicking from one channel to another to catch the best bits, football fans of a certain age will all have their memories of it. Then the game itself, which I habitually watched on the BBC because then as now ITV really don’t do sport as well as the Beeb, no matter how hard they try, with the match programme (purchased in WH Smith) on my lap. Often the game itself didn’t match the build up; I saw a number of somewhat tame matches, but the novelty of live football on TV meant that that didn’t really matter.

The programme for the first FA Cup final that I watched.

As I got older, cup final day routine changed to meeting friends in a pub before watching the game itself at someone’s house, those being the days when the pubs closed at half past two so no chance of watching the game there.

Nowadays I rarely watch the cup final. The fact that the game itself is often disappointing and the fact that I have other things I ought to be doing mean that I’m more likely to content myself with the highlights later in the evening.

So, has the FA Cup lost its magic? Certainly the final has (for me at least), although despite the best efforts of the FA and some Premier League clubs, the earlier rounds still retain the qualities that make it the best domestic club competition in the world. Although the requirement to finish ties at the end of the first replay at the latest is understandable, the old days when two or three, or more replays were required to decide a winner were part of the romance of the competition which I for one miss. Memorably, Alvechurch and Oxford City needed six replays in 1971 and five were needed by Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday in 1979. Imagine the consternation that number of extra games would cause among Premier League managers today!

Danny Blanchflower memorably said, "The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." If there is one competition that epitomises glory it is the FA Cup (or should that be “The FA Cup with Budweiser” as it is now almost an offence not to include the sponsor’s name when talking about the FA Cup, another example of the way the game has changed that may be pragmatic but is nonetheless saddening).

The FA Cup

A bottle of beer

The history of the FA Cup is littered with glorious giantkillings; the names of clubs like Yeovil Town, Hereford United and Altrincham are as synonymous with competition as those of Manchester United or Arsenal. Sutton United beating cup holders Coventry City, Colchester United beating Leeds United, Wrexham beating Arsenal, the glory of those victories for those clubs outweighed anything else; the fact that we remember them so many years later shows how significant they were.

If Blanchflower were alive today, he might more cynically say that the fallacy is that the game is about winning; rather the game is about money. Winning the Premier League is worth £15 million; just staying in the division is worth £3 million. Manchester City’s cup run was worth £2.4 million, not an insignificant sum, but to put it in perspective that just about covers the gross pay of someone like Carlos Tevez for three and a half months. Little wonder then that some Premier League sides are happy to field under strength sides in the FA Cup and shed few tears on elimination when the riches of the Premier League, particularly if Champions League qualification can be gained, are so great.

There is still magic in the FA Cup in the early rounds. When the competition begins the cricket season is still in full swing and while the clubs who start in the Extra Preliminary Round know that they have no chance of ever getting to Wembley, there is still glory to be had in any win in the competition, particularly against a club from a higher standard. And then, as the competition progresses the dream for all non-League sides is the opportunity to play Football League, or better yet, Premier League opposition. For supporters of clubs in Leagues One and Two, there is the dream of a draw against Chelsea, or Arsenal, or Manchester United. The day that those dreams lose their lustre will be the day that the FA Cup dies.

If for no other reason than the fact that it maintained the FA Cup’s allure, it was wonderful to see Wigan Athletic beat Manchester City last Saturday. A non-League club as recently as 1978 and a Premier League side only since 2005[1], The Latics did their bit to ensure that Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement was not the only headline in the papers last weekend, despite the best efforts of Manchester United and the media, AF still could not quite upstage the FA (Cup)!

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[1] Wigan’s tenure in the Premier League came to an end three days after the cup final when they lost 4-1 at Arsenal and were relegated to the Championship.