A few years ago the FA Cup seemed to be losing its allure, but its popularity is coming back and it looks set to flourish.

A decade or so ago years of sustained marketing by SKY TV and such had convinced many that the Premier League was the only competition that mattered, add to that a generation who had grown up being force fed that notion and you had an FA Cup competition that was slowly being squeezed to death.

But things are starting to change and the reason is that suddenly there are no enough places in Europe to go round.

When Saints got relegated in 2005 there were only four teams who had the money and infrastructure to challenge for the Champions League, of course there were the odd challengers like Newcastle, Everton and Spurs, but they were whippersnappers and rarely broke the mould and they were content to play in the Europa League

But things have changed, the emergence of Manchester City there are five big clubs and one of them each year has to miss out on the glory of the Champions League, recently it has been Liverpool, but last year it was Manchester United and that struck fear through the corridors of the big clubs.

This year has seen Saints mount a Champions League qualification challenge and suddenly the likes of Man Ute, Arsenal & Liverpool are very worried, especially with only one Europa League place up for grabs in league placings.

This is all leading to the FA Cup being considered a real route into Europe and that mans that at least one, possibly several clubs are taking it very seriously, Manchester United certainly are, without European competition this season for the first time since the early 90's they cannot afford to miss out again next season, the top four is still far from sue for them, even the top five and Louis Van Gaal is suddenly very worried hence he is taking the competition very seriously, it might just save his job come the summer if things go pear shaped in the League.

But it isn't just the so called big clubs, Saints and others also see it as a natural progression into building themselves up into a successful club, finishing top 10 every year but getting nowhere near Europe breeds apathy and makes it difficult to sign the next level of player needed to genuinely compete, the Championship is littered with club who for years were steady 10-12th place finishers but eventually were relegated because they just couldn't sustain it.

Football ed to be about competing for trophies, back in 1976 ask any Saints fan whether they would have preferred Promotion to the FA Cup win and you would have got an almost 100% response,.

Hopefully the benefits of winning the cup are now being seen again, the supporters of Saints Stoke, Swansea etc want excitement, they want European campaigns and the Cup now is the best way to achieve it.

Photo: Action Images

ClickInsect added 11:52 - Jan 24 It's fair to say that Portsmouth winning the competition ruined it for a generation, it probably needs a Saints win to return it to being a trophy worthy of winning. It could be lucky enough to be the new JPT! In all seriousness though, the Europa is absolutely ruinous. It requires a champions league number of senior pros, gives you no time on the training pitch because you are constantly travelling or doing recovery & you don't even get the extra revenue to pay for it all. It happens every single season, look at Everton this year. I'd like to win the FA CUP and then play the 21s in the Europa, not even have the seniors travel.

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ItchenNorth added 13:04 - Jan 24 God help us if we have to enter the Europa. It's Champions League or not interested for me. Winning the FA Cup is still massive for a club like Saints though. Silverware is silverware!
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