Has the FA Cup lost it’s magic?

On Saturday, Manchester City secured their place in the FA Cup Final, defeating Brighton in a game watched by a disappointing 71,521 in a stadium that seats 90,000. While a low attendance in this game would hardly be seen as the end of the world, it has epitomised the drop in interest in the competition in recent seasons. In this seasons competition two of the top four clubs currently in the Premier League, Tottenham and Liverpool played considerably weakened teams against other Premier League opposition, and crashed out subsequently in the early rounds. Both of these sides have a rich history in the competition and would be aiming for silverware each season, more notably both sides are also still competing in the latter rounds of the prestigious UEFA Champions League.

The FA Cup is written in Football folklore, it was once the most watched domestic competition in the world and was truly a competition for fairytale storylines. In modern times it is often stated that the “magic” of the cup has disappeared but what does this mean?

The FA cup was formed in the 1871-72 season, and since its emergence, cup final day was always a special day in the English calendar. When fictional stories were written about football, winning the FA cup was often the pinnacle; the star power and interest that its exuded even led to cup final songs being recorded, and these managing to top the music charts.

The Premier League was formed in 1992 in association with Sky Sports in a deal which changed football forever. This deal separated the Premier League from the football league and the FA Cup has suffered ever since. Football being shown on pay tv meant that football was suddenly more accessible at home to the masses, and live league games were shown at a frequency never seen before.

The greatest impact on the game was obviously the extra commercial rewards for the Premier League clubs. In the 26 years since the Premiership began, the disparity between the money earned in the top division in England, in comparison to those in the divisions below, has continued to grow. To illustrate the worth of being in the Premiership at present you need only to consider how much Premier League clubs were paid last season for television rights alone. Each club earned over £38million from domestic television rights and over £40million from the overseas television rights and this is in addition to any facilities fees and prize money for a clubs final league position. The Premier League is financially far bigger pull than merely winning a cup filled with nostalgia, those clubs lucky enough to be in the Premier League are desperate to stay in it while the extra funds it generates have made the disparity between the clubs greater not only in commercial terms, but also in the quality of their players. With games between the clubs best XI’s less competitive than ever their are less shock results which reduces the FA Cup’s appeal.

Players have always talked of glory and having medals to remember their careers by when the time comes to hang up their boots. Outside of sentimentality however, football is now big business and with the huge sums of money involved in the modern game, clubs can’t afford to get relegated from the Premier League. In the past we have seen huge great clubs disappear from relevance notably Leeds United but also Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Norwich. These were all quite recently established top sides in the Premier League who once relegated initially, failed to ever establish themselves as a mainstay in the top division again. The drop out of the league can bankrupt teams. The risk for a bottom half of the league club, having their chances of remaining in the Premier League even slightly hindered by the effect of the FA cup on their players, can often be too big to take. For this reason we often see teams littered with reserve or younger players blooded in the FA cup, as while they still would love to strive for the fairy-tale by playing their strongest team in each tie, the low odds of winning the cup combined with the effect on the squad emotionally and physically is logically enough to prioritise league survival.

Both Portsmouth in 2010, and Wigan Athletic in 2013, upset the odds to reach the final of the FA Cup despite their struggles in the Premier League in the respective year. Wigan won the FA Cup in 2013 in a shocking victory over Manchester City, they were also relegated from the Premier League that same season, highlighting suggestions that the exertion of winning the cup affected their league form and led to relegation. While Portsmouth finished 8th in the league the season they were crowned champions in 2008, two years later they lost in the 2010 final to Chelsea and were also relegated that season. While the teams have secured their place in history and the players and fans alike, were able to celebrate the best days in many of their sporting lives, the reality is that both clubs have since been as low as the third tier of English football with neither any where near a return to the Premier League. This once again led to suggestions that their fight to remain in the Premier League was heavily hindered by their participation to the final of the FA Cup. These two examples in recent times illustrate the predicament for bottom half teams choosing to fully commit to the FA Cup.

In much he same way, any Championship sides who are involved in a promotion race may see the FA Cup as a distraction which will only hinder their chances of reaching the promised land of the Premier League. While they may take a few scalps in earlier rounds, these clubs may see their chances of winning the cup as very low, due to the level of the top Premier League clubs involved, and therefore choose to prioritise the league. The financial rewards for reaching the Premier League in comparison to winning the cup are too great to ignore.

Tottenham announced a world record profit last week for the past calendar year, a large portion of this revenue was due to the success they have enjoyed in the Champions League. Liverpool also made huge profit which again owed much to their appearance in and run to the Champions League Final. While clubs are able to receive huge sums from Champions League revenue, television rights and sponsorship, they are most certainly going to prioritize this competition over the FA Cup.

With the competitive and commercial reasons that I have listed as to why the FA Cup is not prioritised by many clubs in English football any longer, what can be done to change this?

One suggestion that is widely touted is to reward the winner of the FA Cup win with a Champions league qualification. While this would certainly lead to a more positive outlook from the top clubs that are desperate to qualify for the prestigious and financially rewarding competition, one must also realise that the standard of this competition could lead to embarrassment and the countries coefficient. Poor performance by lesser English clubs would subsequently decreasing the co-efficient, damaging the English leagues by reducing our amount of potential qualifiers in European competition.

An example of this was when a Europa League qualification was given to recently relegated Wigan following them winning the FA Cup. The club pulled off a fairy tale victory but were relegated after their poor performance all season. They were not equipped to play in a high standard Europa League and registered a single victory in the competition crashing out bottom of a poor group. The Champions League is a level above the Europa league which suggests that were a place in this competition to be given to the winner, teams may struggle to do themselves or their country’s league justice.

With many teams choosing not to prioritise the FA Cup over the other competitions that they are involved each season, for a plethora of different reasons as suggested above, it was only a matter of time before the fans would follow suit. One may point to Saturdays low attendance as being an isolated incident which is influenced by Manchester City being involved in, or having won, all 4 competitions they entered this season. When investigated on a larger scale however the fact is that attendances are dropping in terms of how full stadiums are for FA Cup games each season. This can be attributed to a lack of interest in the competition, but also the increase in live televised games has led to many fans preferring to watch from home when taking into account the cost difference in attending such games. For all the reasons listed it must be suggested that something needs to be done to change the outlook of this historic competition if it is to return to it’s former place at the pinnacle of domestic competition. With the growth of the European game and escalating commercial opportunities of the Premier league however, the chance of its comeback appear bleak.

Is a lack of leadership costing Tottenham when it matters most?

On Sunday afternoon, Tottenham continued to plummet in their race to achieve Champions League qualification, losing 2-1 to a late winner from league leaders Liverpool.  While there is no disgrace in losing away to a team as talented as Liverpool, Tottenham were once again their own worst enemy, gifting Liverpool a winner after a superb second half fightback in which they had the chances to have won the game. Spurs captain Hugo Lloris made a terrible mistake in the final minute to hand Liverpool victory in scenes which are becoming all too familiar from the French captain.

The individual errors and late implosion in big games is not a new trait for Tottenham sides. Tottenham have become renowned for ‘bottling it’, following multiple poor results in semi-finals and poor end of season form leading to them failing to achieve when it matters. Just what is it that makes Tottenham lose their cool on the biggest stage, and in the most pressurised games?

People may point fingers at the manager, the lack of depth, player quality or the lack of spending but when investigating a team’s ability to win big games and succeed in a title race, many experts would tell you that a team needs leaders. The leader of this Spurs team under the tutelage of Mauricio Pochettino is Hugo Lloris. The mild-mannered Frenchman is not your stereotypical vocal leader on the pitch, he falls under the bracket of captains who like to lead by example.

An interesting graphic appeared as the BBC Match of the Day team analysed Sunday’s game; the graphic displayed that since August 2016 the Tottenham goalkeeper has been directly at fault for 8 goals. Goalkeepers are often likened to cats in that they have sharp reflexes, but one begins to wonder whether Lloris is perhaps more like a cat in that he has enjoyed a proverbial 9 lives as Spurs captain, and even perhaps in keeping his place in the team. For a goalkeeper of Lloris reputation the amount of errors is staggering, worse still 6 of these goals have been against top 6 clubs. With the loyalty that Pochettino has shown to his players, it may be that Lloris will be given his final life until the end of the season, but questions must be asked as to how long Tottenham should persevere with the French captain as they continually fail to make the last step in truly challenging for major honours.

Pochettino often refers to mentality in his interviews and focusses on the lack of winning mentality in his young team as a major reason as to why they are not title contenders. With Hugo Lloris making mistakes against Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City on more than one occasion and also PSV in the Champions League in recent times alone, should questions not be asked as to whether the team is actually reflecting the mentality of their captain in failing in the pressurised games? For a captain that relies on his performance to lead by example, rather than a warrior spirit, to be performing so poorly on the big stage and directly causing his team to fail often begs the question as to whether his leadership hinders the team. They will not be fully trusting in their captain in the key moments which is when a captain is relied upon to step up and lead.

The use of a goalkeeper as a captain is a debate which has split opinion for many years but to have a relatively quiet goalkeeper as a captain is certainly unusual. The great figures of Peter Schmeichel and Oliver Kahn enjoyed spells as captain of their respective clubs; what they lacked by not being in the thick of the action in the centre of the pitch they more than made up for with their vocal instructions and passion. Both were imposing figures who demanded respect and exuded confidence into their troops, Lloris on the other hand relies on his experience and calm exterior to keep his players not panic and leads by example with his performance. Hugo Lloris has certainly shown himself to be a successful captain lifting the World Cup with France, and performances such as that recently away to Borussia Dortmund and in the last gasp penalty save against Arsenal illustrate that when at the peak of his powers, Lloris is outstanding.

In recent years however, Lloris has struggled with consistency. Thought to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world in the not too distant past, it must be said that he has dropped below the level needed to be a part of such company in the current game. More alarmingly, the Spurs captain has made big mistakes in many of the most important games in recent seasons, suggesting that his example as a captain is becoming a negative one and that the team may struggle to break the bottling label under his lead

Tottenham possess the England captain Harry Kane in their ranks. This is a player who is consistently at the top of his game and performs fantastically on the biggest stages. He exudes confidence and is becoming more vocal as he gains experience in addition to being a player who has a huge affinity for the club having progressed through the youth ranks. If Tottenham are to begin to win trophies and live up to their undoubted potential, something needs to change in their mentality. It may be time that Tottenham let Lloris focus on his own performance and begin a fresh journey under the leadership of their talisman Harry Kane.