Source: Daily_Mail
Tarnished: Magic of FA Cup final has been trampled on by Dance of the Moneybags
ShareA person who lacks a sense of history, it is often said, is condemned to remain a child for ever. So what are we to make of those people who have presided over the wilful destruction of the FA Cup? [LNB]When Manchester City and Stoke City emerge from the tunnel at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, the players of Manchester United will, in all probability, be rejoicing on the pitch at Ewood Park, having secured the point they need to claim the club's 19th championship. [LNB]United deserve the title. Of that there is no doubt. But whichever dolt decreed there should be League football on Cup final Saturday should be put in the stocks for a week. Or, such is the severity of the offence, be forced to watch West Ham United. [LNB]Sadly, only those of a certain age will recall what Cup final day meant. The generation weaned on football since the big bang of 1992, when the Barclays Premier League sloped arms with Sky television in the Dance of the Moneybags, can have little idea of how much this day meant to those who followed the game. [LNB] Classic moment: Sunderland's Jimmy Montgomery keeps out Leeds in 1973[LNB]Incidentally, wasn't the creation of the Premier League meant to improve the performance of the national team in major tournaments? [LNB]Whatever happened to the 'golden generation' of millionaires who crept out from behind those bags of gold coins? Has anybody spotted them recently? [LNB]My family knew more than most about the Cup final. In 1923, my maternal grandfather attended the first Wembley final and watched Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United 2-0. Thirty years later, my mother saw the Trotters lose 4-3 to Blackpool in the so-called 'Matthews Final'. Poor Old Stan Mortensen, who rattled in a hat-trick that day![LNB]Those were the days when TS Eliot, the great poet and critic, could write, in his Notes Towards The Definition of Culture, that a Cup final deserved to be recognised as one of 'the characteristic activities and interests of a people'. He also included Derby Day, the Henley Regatta, the Twelfth of August and, more intriguingly, beetroot in vinegar, Wensleydale cheese and the dart board. [LNB]In those days, the nation came together for a few hours to watch the match of the season. Now there is football on the box every hour of every day. [LNB]But then, the Cup final was the only domestic game that was televised live, and although the competition has lost much of its lustre in the past two decades, the final remained a stand-alone event. Until now. [LNB] Shock tactics: Lawrie Sanchez nods Wimbledon to an unforgettable 1-0 win in 1988[LNB]You have to wonder sometimes if the people who run the game truly have its interests at heart. Or whether they are merely cynics, the kind defined by Oscar Wilde as people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.[LNB]SATURDAY'S FIXTURES PREMIER LEAGUE (all 12.45pm):Blackburn v Manchester United;Blackpool v Bolton; Sunderland v Wolves; West Bromwich v Everton.[LNB]FA CUP FINAL (3pm): Man City v Stoke City.[LNB]LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL,FIRST LEG (12.45pm): Bournemouth vHuddersfield Town.[LNB]LEAGUE TWO PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL, FIRST LEG (5.45pm): Torquay v Shrewsbury. [LNB]Ritual is important in all things. And the rituals of Cup final Saturday, however daft, were part of the fabric of football. It wasn't only young lads who got up to watch the players have breakfast at their hotels before boarding the team bus to Wembley. Whole families camped in front of the telly to take it all in. It might be stretching a point to say that everybody paid attention but, like the Grand National or even a Coronation, it was a pageant. [LNB]On the bus journey, viewers would be treated to pen portraits of the players, complete with nicknames, unfunny stories and mutual ribbing. It was hardly Civilisation or Life On Earth. It wasn't even Crackerjack. But it was harmless fun, enjoyed by millions for whom the Cup final was a national event.[LNB]Yet this Saturday, when all minds should be on Wembley, and a final whose prospect appears to be more interesting than most, the destination of the Premier League title will probably be resolved. What a shambles. [LNB]We shouldn't be surprised. In 2000, when Manchester United were the holders, the FA packed them off to Brazil to take part in the World Club Championship instead. United's presence in the FIFA competition was supposed to bolster England's bid for the 2006 World Cup. When that bid failed, as it deserved to, everybody roared. Not that the FA cared two hoots.[LNB] Who writes his scripts? Stanley Matthews streaks down the wing to beat Bolton's Johnny Wheeler and put the ball across to Bill Perry to give Blackpool a 4-3 FA Cup final win and Matthews his first winners' medal[LNB]Year by year the magic of the Cup has been eroded. It is now possible for one team to be playing for a place in the semi-final on the same weekend as other teams are still stuck in rounds four and five. No wonder the grounds are two-thirds empty. When the pipers of TV call the tune, all must dance. But the game we grew up with is diminished.[LNB]HOW HAS IT COME TO THIS?Wembley hosts the Champions Leaguefinal on May 28 and UEFA rules state nogame be played there for two weeks before.[LNB]An extra international friendly earlier inthe season means the Premier Leaguefixture list has become congested.[LNB]Police and travel demands mean not allthe Premier League games could beplayed on the Sunday. There are, however, no matches in London. [LNB]As for the final itself, it is a shadow of what it was. Abide With Me, the great hymn that used to precede the game, is honoured more in the breach than the observance, as fans prefer to bawl their own tuneless songs. [LNB]At the end, the winners are encouraged to bounce up and down on a victory dais, while rockets explode and loud music fills the stadium. There is no dignity, or style appropriate to the occasion. It has become a ceremony for those with no sense of history. For children, in other words. [LNB]There's nothing anybody can do to arrest this slide. The people in the game players and managers, no less than administrators and telly-wallahs have little regard for the past. In the scramble for money, the noblest traditions of a great game count for nothing. [LNB]The Cup final? It has become just another game.[LNB]Stoke will win it, by the way, which should make many people happy beyond the Potteries. But the occasion so many people loved so much for so long is a thing of the past, and that can only be a matter for regret and shame.[LNB] A final insult: United could win the league minutes before City and Stoke contest FA CupSo, what do the heroes of Wembley think as the FA Cup final is overshadowed?Manchester United could be celebrating 19th title as great rivals City play in FA Cup final[LNB] Explore more:Places: London, United Kingdom, Brazil
