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Time For Cups To Be Taken Seriously
Time For Cups To Be Taken Seriously
Wednesday, 21st Sep 2011 09:43

For the good of the game, Cup competitions need to be restored to their former status.

Perhaps the saddest thing about football today is that finishing 17th in the Permiership is seen as a greater acheivement that winning the FA Cup or Carling Cup, every season we see interviews with managers in the lower half of the table trying to justify putting out a weakened team in a cup competition by stating that their aim is to "Keep this football club in the Premier" and sadly financially at least that seems to be the most imporant thing nowadays.

But it really shouldnt be, you dont go on an open top bus tour to celebrate 17th, you dont see fans with T Shirts and even tattoos proclaiming 17th in the Premier 2010/11 and you dont see Dad's pointing out to there son the man who scored the goal that took us to 17th in 2005.

Sadly though to Club Chairman and managers that is what matters, as relegation means for most relegated clubs a period of financial strife followed by a slip towards disaster. A prime case is Birmingham, their supporters must have thought they were in their best season ever when they won the Carling Cup, a quick slide to relegation later and they are now in their darkest hour.

But the bigger picture is far depressing, Competition is what breeds interest in professional sport, even a decade or so ago it was possible for a smaller club to chase the Champions League spots, think Ipswich a decade or so ago, but now its changed, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City all have significantly more cash than any other team, Spurs have been hanging on to their coat tails for the last couple of years as have the likes of Villa, Newcastle & even Everton all clubs whose supporters consider them to be amongst the biggest in the land, however even those 4 are now dreaming if they think they have a hope of a top four finish without a plethora of Arab's riding into the club.

If those chasing teams havent a hope of glory then what about the other half of the Premier league, who to be blunt are now there just to make up the numbers and once you have taken the competition out of the equation crowds start to drop as supporters see no chance of glory.

We should know this more than anyone, most Saints fans I know seem to consider the last two seasons as their most enjoyable ever and for one reason, they were succesful, not in the same levels as winning the Premier, but the JPT and then promotion last year saw us actually with a chance of winning something tangible.

This is why it surprises me when even the lower teams in the Premier put out weakened sides in the cups, its a chance not only to put some excitement in their supporters lives and generate enthusiasm, but a chance to get into Europe, although the Europa league seems to be heading the same way as the domestic cups.

If football is to survive then it has to put more emphasis on the domestic Cups, put a Champions League place to the winners of the FA Cup, (with the runners up getting it if the winners are already qualified for it) you can bet your bottom dollar it would start to be taken more seriously then and soon restored to its former glories

Re vamp the Carling Cup, perhaps put a restriction on players only being able to play in the semi finals and beyon if they have played in a certain number of games in the earlier rounds, this would stop the likes of United playing reserve sides right up to the second leg of the semi etc. If you did this in the FA Cup as well it would soon bring back the competition, for the likes of Spurs, Villa & Newcastle etc plus the side sat 4th &  5th out of the rich big 5  in the Premier it would represent their only opportunity of Champions league, you wouldnt see too many reserve sides in early rounds then, the focus for these clubs would be on winning the FA Cup rather than 5th in the league & a Europa League place.

But all these measures would just be makeovers, at the end of the day the problem is the premier league itself and the way its made up, whilst the money for being bottom of the premier is so much more than being in the Championship there can never be competition, promotion from the Championship means for most Clubs a chance for a season of glory followed by financial problems as you try to get rid of your big wage earners at a cut price before their wages take you into administration, all this whilst your supporters who dont really understand the real financial ramifications, call for the managers and Chairmans head for selling players and not keeping them for another promotion bid, the same manager and Chairman who were heralded as Gods amongst men a year before are now public enemy number one for selling.     

Butenough of that for the time being, the first step towards recovery is making the cups important again, the Johnstone's Paint Trophy isnt the biggest competition in the World, but it was a great day out for 50,000 Saints fans, on that day did we care that it was a nothing cup ? no we enjoyed it for what it is, if I where a Birmingham fan and given the choice of 17th in the Premier and nothing else or relegation and the Carling Cup, I would take relegation and a trophy anyday, ask any Premier League Chairman and they would take money over glory.

That is why football is in such a mess and if we are not careful we will go the same way as they have in Scotland and their football is in a sorry state, not to mention their international team from the knock on effect, we need to learn from their experiences and learn fast !         

Photo: Action Images



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johnthesaint added 11:46 - Sep 21
Good article!

As long as the minndblowing money is available in the PL to players and clubs it will always favour the league cups.
Rather than award the £90 odd million bounty for promoted clubs to the PL, why not at least half that and pass the balance to the Championship and lower leagues to share the spoils when they are promoted?
The magic seems to have disappeared from the league cups. I remember FA cup final days back in the 70's & 80's where it was such a big deal to be going to Wembley for club and fans. The build up on telly was all part of the big day.
Now the semi's are played at Wembley which takes the edge off the final itself.

Arab type club owners are in it for one thing only and that sure isn't pride and status of getting to Wembley with a bunch of happy fans in tow!
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Saintpaul120 added 12:49 - Sep 21
Terrific article Nick - agree wholeheartedly with your observations. Nuff said!
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bstokesaint added 12:53 - Sep 21
Yeah, a good article Nick and for me it emcompasses every that is in the rotten in the game for me. Let's face it the Arabs like the status of owning a club, but are not in touch with the game's history.

If the PL didn't have as much power as it does then it would be nice to see a CL spot go to the FA Cup. Let's face it that's all the top players care about these days. Even the world cup doesn't have the same status of the CL. I remember having a debate with some friends I was travelling with back in 2000 and saying I was a patriotic country-before-club-man, but these days I don't even watch England play. It's all SFC for me and the league and FA Cups are my new world cups. The JPT final at Wembley and the FA Cup semi final against Watford at Villa Park (one of two correct semi final venues) were some of my best football memories, along with the FA Cup 5th round win against Bolton when Barry Horne scored 'that goal'. It's about time clubs gave these cups a little more respect, especially for the fans' sake.
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simmo400 added 13:08 - Sep 21
Must agree with your comments Nick, all very good stuff but arnt Saints guilty also of this weakened team philosophy ? Dont we play a weaker team in the Carling Cup ? The BIG teams due the same, give their fringe players a run out as we do. Im sure if we did reach the Semi Final all our 1st team players would be playing and righly so. So dont moan too much Nick as we are guilly also, but maybe to a lesser extent.
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ThereIn76 added 13:29 - Sep 21
Good piece Nick. Didn't Platini suggest recently that a CL place shoudl be given to the FA Cup winners? If that happened, the way in which it was treated by clubs and fans would be transformed.
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FriskySaint added 13:39 - Sep 21
Yes indeed, a good point well made.

Is Plethora really the collective noun for Arabs though?
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SaintDavo added 14:39 - Sep 21
It does not happen too often but I find myself agreeing with Nick :)

I undertsand Man United fielding weaker sides as proved last night they are still more than capable of beaing everyone. However, i cant understand for example Warnock at QPR saying he was happy to get knocked out by Rochdale...in my opinion i would want our manager sacked if he made a statement like that. surely you are in football to try and win things and the league cup is the most realistic chance so why not give it your best shot. And yes the JPT was a fantastic day out as was the ZDS final. We could all be glory hunters but i am very happy to take whatever saints throw at me because they are and always will be my team :) Yes NA may rest some key players but I think he puts a side out that he thinks can still win the game, so fair play to him...good luck tonight !!!
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geezershoong added 15:06 - Sep 21
As long as the Prem teams are in there, couldn't give a stuff, in fact they don't seem to until they manage to fluke with fringe players & get to the semis. The prize money is £100,000. A pee in the ocean compared to other cups.
Yeh, it's a backdoor to thge UEFA cup. That's a non-comp as well for me.
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patred added 19:13 - Sep 21
well thought out and well written. Supporters of every club will applaud you.
But sadly the FA and Premier League club officials, even the referees will be calling for you to be beheaded on live TV, Sky of course!
That's what it's all about now.. TV money
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squidofdespair added 19:32 - Sep 21
correct term is a "pack of camel jockies"
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