When the FA Cup really was of interest, a match between Swansea and Oxford would have been one of those third division games which takes place between sides already knocked out in the first round.
Sadly the magical days of Sunderland beating the then mighty Leeds United, Bob Stokoe running onto the pitch wearing a trilby and mac, and Ronnie Radford scoring from 30 yards for Hereford against Newcastle on a sloping muddy field before being mobbed by 1,000's of celebrating children running on the pitch, are long gone.
The FA Cup today is boring. Even the
There are actually no shocks any more because noone cares. The FA Cup now has as much prestige as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Oh and when it comes to the matches the youngsters in the 'giant' team often try harder, and are more skilled, than the plodders in the potential giant slayer.
Sentiment in betting is a bad thing, and the bookies try to play on this in their equally nauseous hype on the Cup. If you are going to have a flutter stick with logic. A team in a higher league is better than a team in a lower one because that is how the league system works. Therefore I confidently predict that this weekend -
- Man Utd will beat Derby
- Arsenal will beat Burnley
- Spurs will beat Colchester
- Bournemouth will beat Portsmouth
- West Brom will beat Peterborough
- Everton will beat Carlisle
- and Chelsea will beat the last romantic FA Cup Winners
Wimbledon, sorry, Milton Keynes Dons.
Oh and if you you think I am the only cynical one just read what was written about the Fourth Round in the best football paper going, the peerless Racing and Football Outlook. Their, perhaps wisely, anonymous journalist described most FA Cup ties as, "ending up as romantic as a puke-interrupted knee-trembler behind the KFC bins."
I've still put on my acca of course and now I'm off to Tipperary where I will thankfully miss it all.
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