The FA Cup is supposed to take centre stage this weekend, but few people believe the oldest football competition in the world is much of a draw any more - particularly in the wake of Manchester City’s epic showdown with Liverpool in the Premier League.
Even Joleon Lescott, who played in three finals with Everton and Manchester City, rather churlishly remarked on Sky in the aftermath of the game that it was a “shame” the Premier League had to take a break this weekend.
In the era of instant gratification and box-set binges, that sentiment was echoed by Miguel Delaney of The Independent, who says it is “a pity” that the FA Cup begins in earnest this weekend.
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“Because, really, you want to immediately know what happens next [in the Premier League]. You want the next episode. You want to see how both [clubs] respond. That’s how box office this is.”
After the sturm und drang of City against Liverpool on Thursday night, the sight of Tranmere entertaining Tottenham 24 hours later will struggle to attract the same level of interest.
In the build-up, even Spurs’ Argentine boss Mauricio Pochettino made it clear where his priorities lie. “If my ambition in Tottenham is only to win the Carabao Cup or FA Cup, with all the respect, I think my ambition does not match the ambition of a club like Tottenham,” he said.
The Daily Mail is in no doubt about what he means. “Spurs have not won a trophy since the League Cup triumph in 2008, but the South American is adamant his success will not be determined by winning domestic knockout competitions.”
They might be from the same country but Pochettino has very different views to Spurs cup heroes Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa, who played in a different age.
But “there is no point getting upset about it”, says Paul Wilson in The Guardian. “We live in the television era now and the FA Cup is no one’s idea of a big deal anyway.”
He added: “No more sepia-toned longing for the land of lost content – the FA Cup is not what it used to be and that is all there is to it. You will hear a lot about magic and romance this weekend, but it will mostly be the TV rights holders trying to inject some semblance of life into a clearly stiffening corpse.”
But by spreading the ties across four days the messy schedule even erodes the FA Cup’s status as the starting line for the second half of the season.
“Without a day to celebrate the fact that everyone is supposed to be playing the same game, we have all lost out a little,” says Wilson.
