Who Killed The Magic Of The FA Cup for Southampton Thursday, 6th Feb 2025 09:17 When I started watching football, the FA Cup was bigger than the League in many respects, the gates would be bigger than for a League game and a day out at Wembley was reachable for most clubs, but slowly year by year that has dissipated. My first ever FA Cup game was my first ever game at the Dell, in January 1972 Manchester United arrived for a 3rd round game, there was a virtually full house for the game and both sides played their full first team, for United that included George Best, Bobby Charlton & Denis Law & for Saints Mike Channon, Terry Pain & Ron Davies were all on show, there was no resting players.
Back then there were replays and no penalties, so after the 1-1 draw at the Dell, the teams met again a few days later at Old Trafford, that was a 4-1 defeat for Ted Bates side, but if it was still tied at 90 minutes, then it would have been extra time and if still tied then it would have gone to another replay and potentially as many replays as were needed. Certainly as we entered the 1990's the magic of the FA Cup was still there, in the 3rd round of 1990, Saints travelled to Tottenham Hotspur with 9,000 supporters to witness a 3-1 win and we had high hopes of a good cup run and reaching Wembley, this was not to be and we departed the competition at Anfield 3-0, but we had a sold out away allocation of 5,000. This was the norm for FA Cup game, far more fans travelled to away ties than would go for a league game and back then with grounds rarely full and large away ends that would be allocated rather than away sections, it was not uncommon for 10,000 away fans or more to travel, in 1976 we had 12,000 up at West Brom.
But the writing was already on the wall, we had just failed to notice it, as far back as 1984 when we reached the semi finals, games were being moved to a Friday night and a Sunday for TV, that year we went to Blackburn on a Friday night taking around 4,000 fans and Sheffield Wednesday on a Sunday taking about 12,000. The advent of the Premier League and the redevelopment of stadiums was perhaps the next nails appearing in the coffin, there was still the opportunity for large crowds and away followings, but it was more sanitised some teams would give you more allocations than others, technically teams were entitled to 25% of the ground, but it was rarely implemented due to all seater stadiums and the reduced sizes of away ends etc. The magic was still there in 2002/03 when we reached the final, but again the signs were there, the visit of Spurs in the 3rd round in January 2003, saw both clubs field full sides, but the attendance of 25,589 was more than 5,000 fewer than had seen the two clubs play in the Premier League only 3 days earlier.
So why the lesser crowd, after all Saints had won 1-0 in the League and were flying in 6th place, the answer was probably that the kick off was 5.30pm on a Saturday evening. In round 4 we drew Millwall and there were strict ticketing regulations to stop Millwall fans getting in home sections, but there were still 23, 809 present.
But by now fans were beginning to realise that the chances of anyone winning the FA Cup who wasn't one of the then "Big 4" was actually slim, in 1987 we had seen Coventry City win it and the following year Wimbledon, both were top flight clubs, but very much underdogs, but in the next 20 years the underdog would rarely triumph, Everton in 1995 were a Premier League club, but a struggling one, but apart from that the only other teams that would win it were the Big 4 of Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea & Arsenal with Spurs having a solitary win in 1991. Since then the competition has slowly but surely diminished, there has been the odd upset, Pompey in 2008, Wigan in 2013 and Leicester City in 2021, but aside from that since that Everton win in 1995, they are the only 3 exceptions to the rule in 30 years, with the addition of Manchester City 26 of the 30 winners have come out of just 5 clubs.
So supporters have now woken up to the fact that the FA Cup no longer offers the opportunity of glory, the League Cup shows a similar pattern, it will only get worse, with a so called Big 7 now and only limited European places available, the two cup competitions offer the insurance of qualifying for Europe if you have a bad season in the League. So slowly but surely the Magic of the FA Cup has had the life squeezed out of it by a combination of issues, modern stadium, domination by the big clubs, TV spreading what was a Saturday fixture over 4 days sometimes, semi finals at Wembley diluting the magic of an actual final, teams playing weakened sides and finally ticket prices. Southampton used to make the early rounds of the FA cup cheap prices, deals for season ticket holders making it £10 or roundabouts and cheap tickets for kids boosting crowds. In 2018 for the 3rd round we hosted Watford and 25,195 were present, Saints were having a bad season and would only stay up on the final day, the fans were rebelling, but still a big crowd turned out, why ? cheap tickets encouraged not only the regulars to go, but the fans who rarely attended, including families who baulked at spending the best part of £100 to take a family of 4 to a Premier League game, but could go to FA Cup games cheaply. 3 years ago we werent doing that well either, yet 30, 512 saw us beat League one Coventry, boosted by 5,000 away fans in the next round 28,343 saw an evening televised win over West Ham and 29,000 the defeat to Manchester City.
Two years ago we were heading to relegation, yet 20, 665 came for the visit of Blackpool at St Mary's, at that time supporter confidence in the club and it's then manager Nathan Jones was at an all time low, yet still the fans came. In the next round League 2 Grimsby arrived for yet another cup tie changed to a Monday night, 27, 584 turned out. Last season 22, 627 were in attendance in the 3rd round for Walsall, so why only a year later did we host Swansea City in front of 12,000 and likely a crowd not much bigger Burnley on Saturday. Yes the aforementioned reasons have all contributed to this, but why such a big gap in the space of only a year.. Sport Republic and the Southampton FC board should take note, the fans feel they are being not just taken for granted, but exploited, they feel the club put a few thousand pounds in front of the supporters, yes they have built fanzones etc, to encourage fans, but they have failed to recognise more important factors.
Firstly closing the Kingsland Stand, the most densely populated area of the normal Saints supporters, was firstly decimated when the away section was moved and those still there had their minds made up when they were not allowed to buy their own seats and told that they could buy a seat elsewhere, mainly ones in areas of the stadium with poorer views than their usual seat. Then there are the ticket prices, as mentioned earlier it is not just about the regular fan and here it is even worse because our support has been amazing in the League, yet has deserted in droves for the FA Cup, bear in mind that for the League cup tie with Stoke over 16,000 were in attendance for an evening game. The reason here is perception, as I have said, the fans perceive that they are being ripped off by the club, that they have turned up week in week out home and away, yet no one in the club recognises this, that they don't just close their usual stand, but overcharge them to watch a lower division club.
They don't see fanzones as something that "Adds to the matchday experience" they see it as the club trying to squeeze more money out of the fans, supporters who are like most in this country are feeling the pinch in increased prices for everything. So yes the club does have a little bit of an excuse, but not in the way they have implemented it, the buck here has to stop at the CEO Phil Parsons, he is in charge of the club on a day to day basis, not Sport Republic, they don't set the ticket prices, that is way below their involvement, it is down to the board and that means Parsons & his co executives. It is too late now for this season, but lessons here need to be learned, not just in the FA Cup but going forward. I want to sit in a stadium that is full or at least somewhere near being so, when it is 2/3's empty I look at the reasons why and that is quite clear where the problem lies. The FA Cup is losing it's magic for a number of reasons, to see the last nail in it's coffin being hammered in for Saints fans by a faceless executive in the Southampton boardroom is shameful. All Photos Via Reuters Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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