Why should we care about the FA Cup?

by Joe Shine

In recent years, football fans have been claiming that the FA Cup has lost its magic but the Cup is always managing to prove the doubters wrong.

Some may argue that the FA Cup is boring now due to it being dominated by the Premier League teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal.

However, Saturday 24th January 2015 will go down as one of the greatest days in FA Cup history.

A day, which showed the real magic that the FA Cup can produce as the lower-league teams came out triumphant amongst the Premier League giants. 

Bradford came back from 2-0 down to beat Chelsea 4-2, Middlesbrough calmly beat Manchester City 0-2 and Blackburn Rovers saw off Swansea 3-1.

This year’s fourth round saw the top three Premier League teams all get knocked out in ninety minutes for the first time since 1997 and only ten top-flight teams remain.

But it isn’t just this year that we have seen the magic of the FA Cup, it happens almost every year.

Just two years ago, Wigan Athletic shocked the nation when Ben Watson headed a late winner in the final against Manchester City despite getting relegated that season.

It is brilliant how unpredictable the FA Cup is, and it shows that anything can happen in a game of football.

When someone’s team gets kicked out of the FA Cup, we hear the same excuses: ‘it’s a rubbish cup anyway’, ‘we needed to concentrate on the league’ we have heard them all.

Deep down though, we all want our team to win the FA Cup, there is no better feeling than having your team win a cup; no matter who it is against.

So why do people play down the FA Cup? It starts with the managers of the Premier League teams.

In 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson withdrew his Manchester United side from the cup due to their so-called busy fixture list in order for them to take part in the World Club Championship.

Furthermore, just this year, Newcastle caretaker boss Joel Carver fielded a very weakened side against Leicester City in the third round and lost 1-0 despite having nothing to lose.

This does not set a good example at all and quite frankly is a bit insulting to England’s most prestigious domestic cup.

Budweiser is not renewing it’s sponsorship contract with the FA Cup as they claim that the FA is charging too much for it.

How are the public supposed to take the cup seriously if the managers don't? No wonder nobody is willing to sponsor it.

Despite it not being as unpredictable and magical as it was in the past, the FA Cup still offers a chance for the smaller teams to be in the limelight, and with BBC recently getting licensing rights, it has become even more possible to do this.

If we don’t all start taking the FA Cup more seriously then we risk losing it and that will be a very sad day for English football.