Grant: Imports aware of FA Cup tradition

21 February 2011 10:00
West Ham manager Avram Grant insists that he has no need to impress upon his foreign players just how important the FA Cup is to English football as he looks to book a quarter-final meeting with Stoke by beating Burnley at Upton Park. Grant has enjoyed success in the competition since he came to England to six years ago. He reached the last eight with Chelsea in 2008 before somehow reaching the final with financially-beleaguered Portsmouth last season. With the Hammers currently struggling to fight off the threat of relegation, Grant could be forgiven for fielding a weakened team in Monday night's game against the npower Championship side. But the Israeli is a big fan of the competition and intends to send out a strong XI. "After we got to the semi-final last year I got calls from everyone in the world - everybody follows the FA Cup, more than any cup in the world," he said. "In other countries, cup competitions are not so important but here it is connected to tradition and everybody wants to be at Wembley. When I was at Portsmouth last year the players who came from other countries were even more excited just to be in the semi-final. "They were so excited to go to Wembley. Wembley is the temple of football."

Source: PA