Scorn of ‘Big Two’ signals the FA Cup’s sad demise
Feb 14 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
It would be interesting to hear whether Sbragia regrets his stance on the Cup now that Sunderland’s position in the Premier League is looking so much healthier. His curious attitude to the Cup consisted of not only sending out a team made up of largely second string players, but also encouraging some of his senior men on four yellow cards to actively get themselves suspended to coincide with the competition.
With their Premier League place in peril, Sbragia could argue that his stance was merely common sense. It was depressing, nonetheless.
It reduces North East interest in the competition to Gareth Southgate’s creaking Middlesbrough, who face the hardest task of all to preserve their top-flight status yet stick to their belief that the competition is more than an inconvenience.
The world’s premier knockout competition seems to have been fighting an uphill battle for credibility since the advent of the Premier League – a fight made even more difficult by the untold riches on offer to the clubs who make the European elite.
The large squads of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have dominated to the point of tedium in recent seasons, hoarding enough good players to see them through the early rounds before they can unleash their big guns when the competition gets serious in the spring.
Their progress is likely to be even more serene this season, as a whole host of clubs have effectively stepped aside to devote their attentions to the business of retaining their place on the Premier League gravy train.
That is a serious setback for a competition that appeared to be regaining some of its lustre with Portsmouth’s surprise victory last season.
With so many clubs still fighting for their lives at the bottom of the Premier League, few are devoting the resources and attention to the Cup that Portsmouth did. Stephen Warnock’s assertion this week that the Cup means “nothing” to a Blackburn side wrapped up in the battle for survival at the bottom of the table is depressingly familiar. That was 12 months on from Dave Kitson, then of Reading, saying that he didn’t give “two sh*ts” about the competition. With clubs looking to the bottom line as recession continues to sweep the country, having access to the riches of the Premier League will only increase in importance.
It might not put medals or trophies in the cabinet, but collecting top-flight cash is so important that not even one week can be spared on such trifling matters as the FA Cup. Even the promise of a place in Europe is unlikely to entice mid-ranking Premier League clubs to take the Cup seriously – Bolton’s sacrificing their place in the Uefa Cup last season at the altar of top-flight survival a perfect illustration of where priorities now lie. It is a sad state-of-affairs, but in the wake of the Premier League inking a recession-busting TV contract last week, it is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
