Belated I know but been busy and away and I still felt like adding my two pennorth to this weekends football where both the Premiership and the FA Cup were won. Many have already had their say on this matter and its seems to be a rather unanimous vote for this being wrong. Talk of the FA Cup being undermined is fair enough and plenty of examples are cited as to why that may be with the the decision that Manchester United should represent the country in FIFAs club tournament in South America instead of defending the FA Cup in 2000 being often mentioned as starting the rot.
No final replays and semi finals at Wembley are also popular excuses and there is probably something in these claims although I struggle to see the connection regarding replays. The Man United decision was a farce and it would have been better all round if they had fielded a youth team for the third round whilst on their jaunt and to rub salt into the wound we never got the benefit of the exercise helping us win friends for a World Cup bid. It's not just the semi finals that get held at Wembley that I think detract from the final itself as the play offs do as well and like the semis used to be they should all be held on neutral grounds somewhere between the two competing clubs. To play at Wembley was supposed to be the ultimate honour for an England footballer who would get the chance only if his team made a major final or he represented England. I know that Youth Internationals took place there as well but this surely adds to the encouragement of imagining what it would be like to plat there more regularly in front of a full stadium. Now if you finish sixth in Division 2 and get through the play off semi final then you too can have a big day out at the home of football. This is no longer an option however as the FA seek to recover the costs of building the stadium.
The FA Cup was always the last match of the domestic season and the whole day was dedicated to the occasion with, depending on whose turn it was to broadcast, a Question of Sport special or Saint & Greavsie stretching their routine out over several hours. This year that has not happened as the Champions League final is to be held there and UEFA insist on the pitch having a fortnights holiday beforehand. Allowing for the fixture congestion as a one off it may have been acceptable to hold the FA Cup early but why the hell were other league matches scheduled for that day and not all played on the Sunday at least.
This is becoming a vicious circle as the fans can see where he importance of the trophy lies in their clubs ambitions and turn up accordingly. In the earlier rounds the "Romance of the Cup" is still there for lower league teams but for the excitement of every Crawley fan to go to Old Trafford how many Manchester United fans would be getting a thrill from watching their reserves barely turn up against the (then) non league minnows. As these lower ranked teams start to fall by the wayside as the tournament progresses that romance tends to fade as well as the teams to be found in the last few rounds see it more as a distraction. Fourth place in the league is now viewed as more important as it brings Champions League entry and lower down teams are getting worried about relegation. Likewise the better Championship sides who may have had a good run will be putting more energy into getting promotion as the disparity between those two leagues in terms of money is such that the Premiership is all consuming. One way that this could be readdressed would be to award the fourth Champions League spot not to the third loser in the league but to a team that has won some silverware and lifted the FA Cup. As it stands the FA Cup offers little more reward than the League Cup and the disdain that has apparently undergone has been commented on frequently enough.
Saying that I quite like seeing some of the top sides play their younger squad members as it helps give them experience and as a viewer it is nice to see some of these kids making their way in the game and trying to spot who might go onto bigger and better things.
No final replays and semi finals at Wembley are also popular excuses and there is probably something in these claims although I struggle to see the connection regarding replays. The Man United decision was a farce and it would have been better all round if they had fielded a youth team for the third round whilst on their jaunt and to rub salt into the wound we never got the benefit of the exercise helping us win friends for a World Cup bid. It's not just the semi finals that get held at Wembley that I think detract from the final itself as the play offs do as well and like the semis used to be they should all be held on neutral grounds somewhere between the two competing clubs. To play at Wembley was supposed to be the ultimate honour for an England footballer who would get the chance only if his team made a major final or he represented England. I know that Youth Internationals took place there as well but this surely adds to the encouragement of imagining what it would be like to plat there more regularly in front of a full stadium. Now if you finish sixth in Division 2 and get through the play off semi final then you too can have a big day out at the home of football. This is no longer an option however as the FA seek to recover the costs of building the stadium.
The FA Cup was always the last match of the domestic season and the whole day was dedicated to the occasion with, depending on whose turn it was to broadcast, a Question of Sport special or Saint & Greavsie stretching their routine out over several hours. This year that has not happened as the Champions League final is to be held there and UEFA insist on the pitch having a fortnights holiday beforehand. Allowing for the fixture congestion as a one off it may have been acceptable to hold the FA Cup early but why the hell were other league matches scheduled for that day and not all played on the Sunday at least.
This is becoming a vicious circle as the fans can see where he importance of the trophy lies in their clubs ambitions and turn up accordingly. In the earlier rounds the "Romance of the Cup" is still there for lower league teams but for the excitement of every Crawley fan to go to Old Trafford how many Manchester United fans would be getting a thrill from watching their reserves barely turn up against the (then) non league minnows. As these lower ranked teams start to fall by the wayside as the tournament progresses that romance tends to fade as well as the teams to be found in the last few rounds see it more as a distraction. Fourth place in the league is now viewed as more important as it brings Champions League entry and lower down teams are getting worried about relegation. Likewise the better Championship sides who may have had a good run will be putting more energy into getting promotion as the disparity between those two leagues in terms of money is such that the Premiership is all consuming. One way that this could be readdressed would be to award the fourth Champions League spot not to the third loser in the league but to a team that has won some silverware and lifted the FA Cup. As it stands the FA Cup offers little more reward than the League Cup and the disdain that has apparently undergone has been commented on frequently enough.
Saying that I quite like seeing some of the top sides play their younger squad members as it helps give them experience and as a viewer it is nice to see some of these kids making their way in the game and trying to spot who might go onto bigger and better things.
No comments:
Post a Comment