Article 79 — The Magic of The FA Cup
FA Cup is the oldest cup competition in the world. It is a competition that is known for producing upset results either in a knockout round or in the final itself and for that reason, it is known as a cup for the romantics. It is a cup where anyone can truly beat anyone on their day.
My first memory of the FA Cup is in 1991, the semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal and then the final in that same year between Tottenham and Nottingham Forest. Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker impressed me the most. Gascoigne’s bombastic free-kick in the semi-final and then the ridiculous tackle that left him injured in the final come to my mind too.
There was no-one from that Arsenal team that impressed me. Nottingham Forest’s Stuart Pearce, “Psycho” was certainly someone I wouldn’t want against me, he was fierce as hell. The free-kick he scored was equally fearsome. Finally, there was a young Roy Keane in that Forest team too coached by the legendary Brian Clough. These were the first “live” English matches that I ever remember watching. After this final, Tottenham will forever hold a soft spot in my heart.
The FA Cup final was special. It was quite an occasion and I can only imagine what it must have felt for the supporters who got a ticket to the final. The old Wembley was a majestic stadium, in my eyes, the Mecca of football.
The playing surface was the best I have seen and became exemplary for pitches all over the world. The pitch was so well-taken care of that it looked like the players were playing on carpet. I remember as well the design on the pitch divided into rectangular patches of light and darker green.
Pre-game, the teams will be led out onto the pitch by their respective manager and a member of the British royal family would then greet the manager and be introduced by the captain to each player. This made playing in the FA Cup final, a very special occasion. After all, it’s not every day that one gets to meet royalty.
In the 90s, I was lucky to have witnessed my team, Manchester United win the cup three times, in 1994, 1996 and 1999. We appeared in one other final that we lost, 1995 to Everton which was an upset. I missed Sir Alex Ferguson’s career-defining FA Cup win in 1990 as I was still not a fan yet. Each final that we participated in, held a special memory in my mind. In 1994, we sealed the Double by comprehensively beating our bogey team that season, Chelsea, 4–0.
In 1995, we were ravaged by injuries and suspension for the final. We were already feeling low from losing the league on the last day but were favourites to win this final. We lost it 0–1 instead to Everton.
In 1996, we sealed the Double again, our double Double. It couldn’t be sweeter, winning it late on 1–0 against our bitter enemies, Liverpool. This final was also remembered for Liverpool turning up in cream Armani suits and earning the Spice Boys nickname.
In 1999, we won it comfortably 2–0 against Newcastle United to momentarily seal the third Double on the way to our historic Treble.
The other finals in the 90s were won by Liverpool in 1992, beating Sunderland, Arsenal beating Sheffield Wednesday after a replay in 1993, Chelsea in 1997 beating Middlesbrough famous for Roberto Di Matteo’s early strike, the fastest FA Cup final goal at that time and Arsenal in 1998, winning comfortably over Newcastle United to seal their Double.
In the 00s, there was some controversy surrounding Manchester United and their participation in the FA Cup. Due to their success in 1999, United qualified as reigning European champions to play in the newly created FIFA Club World Cup to be played in January 2000 in Brazil. United had to face a decision on whether to defend the FA Cup or represent England and Europe in the FIFA Club World Cup. United chose the latter and it turned out to be an ill-fated decision. England had hoped that with United’s participation, the FIFA World Cup organising committee might rule favourably in their favour to award the hosting rights for the 2006 World Cup to them. That backfired too as Germany was awarded the rights instead.
Coming back to the competition. United appeared in three finals, 2004 and 2005 and 2007. We beat Milwall easily 3–0 in 2004 but lost on penalties to Arsenal in 2005. I missed the final in 2005 but from what I have heard and read, we dominated that final but lost on the lottery of a penalty shootout. The final in 2007 in the newly renovated Wembley between us and Chelsea was awful. Neither team deserved to win but there had to be a winner and Chelsea scored it to win it. In the 2000s, except the first final of the new Millenium between Chelsea and Aston Villa, the rest were played in Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium as Wembley Stadium underwent renovation.
One of the most memorable finals of the 00s was Liverpool’s 2–1 win over Arsenal in 2001. I didn’t want either team to win because Liverpool is my enemy and at that time, Arsenal was also a bitter, bitter rival but there had to be a winner and it turned out to be Liverpool. The other final that was memorable was Liverpool’s penalty shootout win over West Ham United in 2006 after a 3–3 draw. For this final, I was clearly supporting West Ham but unfortunately, they came up short on penalties.
This decade belonged to Chelsea and Arsenal. Both teams won the final three times each. Chelsea beat Aston Villa 1–0 in 2000, beat us by the same scoreline in 2007 and beat Everton 2–1 in 2009. In 2009, Louis Saha’s strike for Everton broke Di Matteo’s record for the fastest FA Cup final goal. Arsenal beat Chelsea 2–0 in 2002 to seal their third Double overall, appeared in their third consecutive final a year after to beat Southampton 1–0 and then beat us on penalties in 2005.
The other winner in this decade was Portsmouth in 2008 beating Cardiff City 1–0 in the final. The FA Cup of 2007–08 truly lived up to its reputation as a giant-killing cup. In the 5th Round, Liverpool was stunned 1–2 by Barnsley at Anfield while Arsenal was hammered by us 4–0 at Old Trafford. In the 6th Round, it was our turn to get upset, losing 0–1 to Portsmouth at Old Trafford in a freak match while Barnsley carried out another giant-killing act by knocking out Chelsea 1–0 at Oakwell. That ended the participation of the Big 4 in the competition. From our perspective, that defeat to Portsmouth was a freak result. The Portsmouth goal lived a charmed life and we lost both our goalkeepers. We were forced to field Rio Ferdinand in goal and lost 1–0 to a penalty converted by Sulley Muntari with twelve minutes to go.
The importance of the FA Cup receded from the late 00s onwards. Qualification for the Champions League took on extra importance as it meant extra cash for the qualifying club. In turn, big clubs tended to field weaker teams in the early rounds. At times, due to the quality in their squad depth, they got away with it and in other times, they didn’t. There was also a disconnect between the foreign managers that were coming into the game and the FA Cup. Elsewhere in Europe, the domestic cup is not seen as a very important cup competition unless the team reaches the semi-final or final. Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez was one of the main proponents of this change in focus. To a lesser extent, Jose Mourinho at Chelsea too would be guilty of the same.
My focus towards the FA Cup started drifting away from the FA Cup in the 00s. I wasn’t watching if my team was not in the final or if I had no underdog to support that I felt had a chance of causing an upset. In the 2010s, that got worse as the FA Cup finals had a later kickoff, kicking off just past 12 midnight here instead of the regular 10 pm kickoff.
In the 2010s, United only appeared in two finals, winning a thrilling final in 2016 2–1 over Crystal Palace and losing 0–1 to Chelsea in 2018. We were punished for one clumsy foul by Phil Jones on Eden Hazard. Leading to the final, Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho had a great track record in cup finals while Chelsea’s Antonio Conte was on the opposite spectrum when it came to participating in cups. The form book was torn up in typical FA Cup fashion as Chelsea soaked up our attacks to win.
Chelsea and Arsenal were again the dominant teams in the FA Cup in the 2010s. Chelsea beat Porstmouth 1–0 in 2010 and clinched their only Double, beat Liverpool 2–1 in 2012 and then beat us 1–0 in 2018. Arsenal beat Hull City 3–2 in 2014, thrashed Aston Villa 4–0 in 2015 and then upset the odds to beat the newly crowned league champions, Chelsea 2–1 in 2017 to set a new tournament record of 13 FA Cups.
Manchester City on the back of new found riches appeared in three finals. They beat Stoke City in 2011 1–0 after beating us in a tempestuous semi-final to deny us a shot at winning another Double. It was their first major trophy in 35 years.
Their next triumph came in 2019 when they wiped Watford on the floor 6–0 to equal the largest FA Cup final winning margin and seal an unprecedented domestic Treble for City. The one memorable final of the 2010s was played in 2013. Manchester City was involved and they played against Wigan Athletic. On paper, it was a no-contest but the magic of the FA Cup sparkled some of its dust on this match. Wigan beat City 1–0 for the greatest FA Cup final upset for a quarter of a century. It was Wigan’s first-ever, FA Cup final appearance and victory but they would go on to get relegated that season.
The FA Cup took more of a backseat in the 2010s as the English Premier League became richer. Staying in the league took on far greater importance as it meant a very healthy financial boost for the clubs that remained in the league. As a result, more teams started fielding weakened teams in the competition. The giant-killing acts too were reduced as the gap between the big teams in the English Premier League and the rest grew larger.
I have got a couple of pet peeves that have developed in the previous decade. First, I feel the Cup semi-finals should be played on neutral ground like it was in the past at Old Trafford, Villa Park or Hillsborough or any other ground. Wembley stadium should be strictly reserved for the final only. The other would be the kickoff time for the final. For Asian fans, a 3 pm UK time kickoff is favourable to watch as it would be early enough for us to watch and not spoil our sleep. For a match at a 5.15 pm UK time kickoff, the match would kick-off past midnight and if your team is not involved in the final, the chances of you staying up to watch the final would be slim.
Another contention I have is that the new Wembley lacks the atmosphere and feel that the old one had. The pitch feels heavy and lumpy as well for the players. Everything that was iconic about Wembley is now consigned to the memory banks.
I do remember watching highlights of old FA Cup finals in the 1970s and 80s. This was where I was introduced to players like Frank Stapleton, Kevin Moran, Ray Wilkins, Bryan Robson, Norman Whiteside, Steve Coppell for United. Tom Docherty and Ron Atkinson were our managers at different times of course. Outside of United, the names Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa pop up for Tottenham and Wimbledon’s giant-killing act of beating Liverpool in the Cup final, Dave Beasant saving a penalty in that game.
Below is a collection of FA Cup finals from 1960–2016:
