FA Cup still clinging on to its fast-fading magic

AH the magic of the FA Cup, eh? The disappointing sight of so many thousands of empty seats up and down the country, on what was once guaranteed to be one of football’s most exciting weekends of the season, suggests that the guardians of the oldest knockout competition on the planet aren’t particularly competent.

Nevertheless, despite the FA Cup’s ever-waning lustre, mercifully it invariably manages to retain some residue of the romance of old, as an annual testament to the lemming-like response, when it comes to England’s much beloved tradition of honouring the underdog. Don’t get me wrong, I spent my Saturday evening being regaled by radio tales of the 72 coachloads of fans travelling to Wearside, when apparently 1,500 is a big crowd for a Barrow home game and the trans-Pennines travails of the York City team coach and their fans, some of whom endured such a tortuous trip that they eventually made it to Stoke, just in time for the final whistle!

Yet with genuine upsets so few and far between nowadays, I guess we cling to these anecdotal titbits as the last vestiges of FA Cup enchantment. At least Leeds ensured that it wasn’t an entirely upset-free weekend.