Has The Romance of The FA Cup Gone?
We have seen major changes in a vast array of sports over the last 20 years, with big money pouring into the hands of the major players. This has led many to believe that Football has seen the last of the big FA Cup shocks, the likes of lowly Hereford United knocking out the mighty Newcastle, or the Wimbledon “crazy gang” lifting the prestigious Cup at the expense of Liverpool.
Are there no outside bets in football now? Is the game really dominated by the big boys?
The FA Cup is the world’s oldest football competition and the only tournament where both professional and semi-professional clubs mix (league and non-league). The old tournament still attracts a world audience of hundreds of millions on “Cup Final Day”, but are the great shocks gone for good, or can they still happen?
The fact that now a days some of the outside bets you night have fancied 10 years ago, may well in be quoted at up to 100/1 says a lot. It seems that the only real shocks are seen amongst the top two divisions, and even then they are few and far between. That is not to say that a non-league team can’t have a “Cup run”, but they are often shorter lived than they were in the past. Money does talk and the larger clubs are able to put out second teams that would run away with many of the lower division titles.
It now takes some research and a whole lot of luck to spot the next big upset, and it is often best to stick to the smaller clubs for upsets amongst themselves, with life a little more unpredictable in the lower leagues. There are many “Cup Teams” in the UK including, Newcastle, Tottenham and Bolton, but it is very often the massive clubs such as Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool who are left to share the spoils.
The romance of the FA Cup may be dented a little, and while the massive outside bets are now few and far between, “Cup Final Day” is still something very special, whoever you are!