Sad to see the demise of the FA Cup

[cousindupree]

Football is now all about the Premier league and Champions league. The FA Cup is struggling to remain in favour with footie fans.
Poor media coverage, low attendances, 48k for the prem game and 28k yesterday! And all round general apathy including this board. Seems many have swallowed the Premier hype hook line and sinker.

[colourboy]

a lot of people said back in 92/93 that the new premier league will ruin football.

and to an extent it has.

[Ron Jeremy]

Only for some club's, most club's who have shit attendence's for the FA Cup have shit attendence's for the PL as well

[redstripe]

for the old fellas like me who saw us beaten twice in the semis by the arse the fa cup still holds the same magic as it did back then and i for one would love to see us go that one step further and have a go at winning it.That is my dream and would make up for all those unhappy memories of the 70s so please dont belittle the cup as it is still the best domestic competition in the world.

[jason]

Sorry, but the FA cup is still magical. See if you are saying the same if we win it.

[meirsquare]

CupFever....magic !!!

[nicholasjalcock]

Yes, I agree. The attendaces are clearly down. This is probably due to the cost of Prem matches. But, this is sad because it gives a chance of Accrington Stanley beating Chelsea.
The F.A. Cup is an opening to Europe.

But, I saw Stoke play in two F.A. Cup semi-finals against Arsenal. Let's hope TP opens this door?

[eranu]

For me the winners of the FA Cup should be given the fourth place Champions League position. Only then will Wenger, Benitez et al take it seriously.

[meirsquare]

Cup Fever....Magic !!!!

[Eastyorkspotter]

Think the "demise" of the cup is down to two things really:-

1) Supporters are asked to shell out lots of money to support their club as it is, season tickets and away travel etc. Unfortunately with the economics as they are currently, it is a big ask for everyone to maintain the same effort to support their team in the early rounds of the FA Cup and League Cup. Hats off to Stoke for Cat B prices against Arsenal, same prices for the replay against Citeh????

2) The larger clubs who are competing in Europe at the top end of the table are always likely to field weakened teams, as the sceduling of the Cup is always around the European dates. Which has a catch 22 effect with the first point for a lot of Supporters.

Imagine if we were one of the lucky teams and had lost Ethers just before a Big midweek date against one of Europes biggest teams........

Oh S***, We have havent we

[wardrobe monster]

There's too many of the games now shown live on the telly. I think ITV have shown 5 over the weekend. I think it belittles the competiton. The FA are guilty of chasing the money from TV coverage.

As said above, I think the 4th champions league place should go to the cup winners, and the uefa place to the runners-up.

[stokelad84]

Winning the FA cup = £3million + TV revenue.

Staying in the Premier League = £30million + increased sponserships/season tickets/merchandise

Im no accountant, but if I had was in charge of the money at a club I know which I would prefer

[kev1060]

Tis a great shame, but we'll never have a better chance than this season to get to al least another semi final.

[kitkatkev]

I remember brian clough saying too much footy on tv he was right

[Winge]

They could make the FA Cup more appealing by fixing the ticket prices for each round + making the match have to be decided on the day instead of replays .... simples