*Official* English Football Season 2011-12

[sledger]

How times change - when I was nobbut a lad in short pants t' FA Cup was t' biggest event in sport bar none

You sound like my father.

In all seriousness though, I can remember it had more prestige and excitement about it even when I was younger. I remember watching the FA Cup games in 98 and 99 and being really thrilled by the occasion (granted it may have been because I predominantly watched Arsenal at the time, rose tinted lenses and all that), but I can remember really enjoying the FA Cup up until a few years ago. But since then the shine has just come off, appearances of teams like Cardiff, Portsmouth, Stoke and Millwall in the final do little for the prestige of the competition and illustrate the fact that the priorities of the big teams lie elsewhere. Not to mention the fact that the Final itself is usually a terrible match (last good one as far as I can remember was the Wham/Liverpool 3-3 game).

I suppose we're a bit spoilt by the fact that these days we get to watch the Champions League every week, and irrespective of whether the Premiership is the best league in the world, it's very often these days a very entertaining watch. The gulf in quality between the teams in the Premiership and the lower leagues is so drastic these days that ties between clubs from different divisions are rarely as enjoyable as they perhaps were in years gone by.

 

[sledger]

Anyway, the real game today is Wigan vs Brom. Really hope Wigan can pull off the win.

 

[fredfertang]

You sound like my father.

In all seriousness though, I can remember it had more prestige and excitement about it even when I was younger. I remember watching the FA Cup games in 98 and 99 and being really thrilled by the occasion (granted it may have been because I predominantly watched Arsenal at the time, rose tinted lenses and all that), but I can remember really enjoying the FA Cup up until a few years ago. But since then the shine has just come off, appearances of teams like Cardiff, Portsmouth, Stoke and Millwall in the final do little for the prestige of the competition and illustrate the fact that the priorities of the big teams lie elsewhere. Not to mention the fact that the Final itself is usually a terrible match (last good one as far as I can remember was the Wham/Liverpool 3-3 game).

I suppose we're a bit spoilt by the fact that these days we get to watch the Champions League every week, and irrespective of whether the Premiership is the best league in the world, it's very often these days a very entertaining watch. The gulf in quality between the teams in the Premiership and the lower leagues is so drastic these days that ties between clubs from different divisions are rarely as enjoyable as they perhaps were in years gone by.

I started to lose interest in the 80s - the last final I watched because I wanted to, as opposed to a few I've had to watch, was the year Coventry won it

 

[Tom Halsey]

The FA Cup has certainly decreased in prestige since I've been watching. The 99 semi-final replay against Arsenal still sticks in my mind as one of the best games I've ever seen and it's difficult to imagine that sort of game happening today; both sides would be resting players for other competitions, particularly in our case given the fixture list we had at the time.

That said, various old school interviews I've seen with the likes of Brian Clough saying that the priority every year is the league over both Europe and the FA Cup make me find it difficult to believe that it's been more important than the league, for a considerable amount of time at least.

As an aside, it always interests me how when I was younger and before the FA Cup had lost some of its prestige, people always looked at upsets and viewed them as the "magic of the cup", and now they look at them as evidence of the top teams' apathy with the competition.

 

[sledger]

I think from a fan's perspective, the lack of prestige is down to the sheer volume of football related content available through satellite television, the internet and the variety of different devices and so on you can use to gain access to them. As I understand it, back in the day the FA Cup final was one of the very few times in the year that live football was ever broadcast outside of a major international competition. The chance that fans of all ages can tune in multiple times a week (and on occasion, whenever they want, if they use On Demand services) to watch matches involving the biggest/best teams/players in the country/Europe means that the appeal of individual spectacles is inevitably going to diminish. Particularly when the FA Cup final involves teams like Stoke, why would anyone get excited about that when they can change the channel over and watch Barcelona vs Valencia or something like that?

 

[sledger]

Wigan taking the game to Brom by the sounds of things, but unable to convert chances.

 

[sledger]

Wigan taking the game to Brom by the sounds of things, but unable to convert chances.

Ha yes! Now need to hope they get another one and can avoid a horrible last minute own goal or something.

 

[sledger]

Oh merde.

 

[Eds]

Anyone watching Bolton/Spurs? Muamba's collapsed - cardiac problems. Players rushed off, fans crying etc. Horrific scenes.

 

[Eds]

Supposedly fighting for his life. Match abandoned. Heart attack apparently.

****, ****, ****.

 

[grecian]

Yeah, it's really horrid

 

[sledger]

Doesn't sound good, hope he pulls through

 

[Majin]

This is really terrible. I truly hope he is alright, this reminds me of Marc-Vivien Foé which was another horrible day. I really hope this doesn't end the same way, the guy is only 23. God damn.

 

[Jarquis]

Thoughts with him. Please pull through Muamba

 

[cpr]

Article from the summer with Muamba


What a life the man has lead. Politcal refugee from the Congo, family murdered etc. Comes accross as such a down to earth and thankful person. Really hope he comes through OK

 

[sledger]

No news for quite some time now...not sure if that's a good or bad sign...

 

[Eds]

Sky News reporting he's in a stable condition.

 

[fredfertang]

I wouldn't have thought that the length of time he seems to have stopped breathing for augurs well, but hopefully I'm wrong

 

[grecian]

It appears from Sky sources, that he's in a stable condition.

That is a relief, I must admit my gut feeling was bad.

 

[Furball]

I think from a fan's perspective, the lack of prestige is down to the sheer volume of football related content available through satellite television, the internet and the variety of different devices and so on you can use to gain access to them. As I understand it, back in the day the FA Cup final was one of the very few times in the year that live football was ever broadcast outside of a major international competition. The chance that fans of all ages can tune in multiple times a week (and on occasion, whenever they want, if they use On Demand services) to watch matches involving the biggest/best teams/players in the country/Europe means that the appeal of individual spectacles is inevitably going to diminish. Particularly when the FA Cup final involves teams like Stoke, why would anyone get excited about that when they can change the channel over and watch Barcelona vs Valencia or something like that?

That's precisely it. For the same reason Serie A has a cult sratus amongst fans of a certain generation because it was the only league available to watch on council TV in the 90s.