It was bad enough that year, 11 seasons ago, when Manchester United were allowed to pull out to play in the World Club Championship but this may well be the worst year ever for the poor old FA Cup.Not even a semi-final at Wembley between Manchester United and Manchester City is enough to get the juices flowing. An argument has developed about playing the game in London, along with the other tie between two other Northern teams in Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers.
This on top of the lack of status that the final will have this year on May 14, with Premier League games being played before it that Saturday.
Now we learn that the current sponsors E.ON are withdrawing, leaving the FA desperately trying to find new backers for next season. The early indications are that nobody wants to be associated with a lame duck, certainly not at £10 million a season in the current climate.
It seems the Cup is expiring before our eyes. The competition that used to give impetus to the second half of the season with the third round on the first weekend of January is now so diluted and overshadowed that it is in danger of having less appeal even than the Carling Cup. Even mid-table Championship clubs with half a chance of the play-offs send out weakened teams.
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All sorts of remedies are being mooted, mostly desperate. They include the scrapping of replays, changing kick-off times (as if there isn't enough of that already) and even seeding, the worst idea of the lot. It would remove the very ethos of fate's fickle finger, one of the chief ingredients of what was once one of the greatest knock-out tournaments in the world.
What can be done, then? There might actually be a lesson to learn from the Carling Cup. Once resembling a dodo, it actually made a virtue of what looked to be its weakness - that the big clubs starting using it as vehicle for younger players.
Now the enjoyment can be in seeing the stars of the future. Allied to cheaper ticket prices, it makes an attractive spectacle for families who might not otherwise be able to afford to go to a big stadium or game.
Then there is the final date. The Carling Cup has its niche at the end of February and becomes the first trophy of the season. That has made it attractive to more clubs who have worked out that it eases pressure to deliver other silverware. Jose Mourinho cannily showed that when at Chelsea as he sought to instill a winning mentality at the club.
This year's FA Cup third round was a gloomy experience of low attendances, due to an expensive surfeit this season of Christmas and New Year football.
The best remedy all round would be for the two-week winter break that so many big clubs, and the national team managers, clamour for at the start of January. That way, when the second half of the season then kicks off with the third round, there is new impetus for clubs and fans who have had time to recover financially from forking out for so much Christmas football.
We should then forget about all the gimmicky ideas and simply encourage clubs to agree on cheaper ticket prices - at the moment the away clubs can veto discounts - and compress the competition.
Currently we have a month between quarter and semi-finals, then another month until the final. If we played the final in April, it would remove it from the crowded end-of-season schedule.
And with that, quite apart from it being more attractive to sponsors who would see the Cup given more prominence again, it would return event status to the game both for clubs and fans beyond those of just the two teams involved.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/03/31/fa-cup-changes-wembley-football/
Florent Malouda Francesco Totti Frank Lampard Frank Ribery Frederic Kanoute
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