It's ****ing annoying isn't it?! We just pissed away a chance to actually have something meaningful again this season. If we play a 'full strength' eleven and get beat, then such is life but to frig around with half a team of players who between them have amassed such a tiny amount of playing time is just foolish. Oh well, we can all bask in the glory of a top ten finish if that transpires. We must learn our lesson for the FA Cup and at least give that one more of a shot.
It's just diluting the game to ridiculous levels. For me personally, when I look back at over 40 years of following football, the majority of games that have provide the most tension,drama, excitement & really rattled the emotions have been cup ties. Whether it's the joy of watching us batter an opponent we weren't expected to beat out of sight, or a last gasp turnaround when losing looked inevitable, or a tense,close game decided at the death by a moment of drama or brilliance (or even good fortune) or simply games that had a ludicrous amount of incident for one 90 minute period.
Cup matches give you that. It's why TV channels never have a shortage of footage of such events when the FA Cup or the World Cup come around. It's why certain players & certain moments have passed into folklore despite their overall careers & the clubs they played for being by & large unremarkable. It's particularly true for fans of clubs that haven't had periods of league dominance to enjoy. Cups give you the chance of a day in the sun. For clubs,for players,for fans. It's why people who weren't even born at the time know who Ronnie Radford is. It's why FA Cup Final day really was the showpiece of the season when I was growing up. When I played football on Sunday mornings on Braunstone Park as a kid, when I scored I wasn't getting the title decider in the last match of the season in my imagination. I wasn't scoring the winner in the European Cup final in Rome or Milan or Paris. I was belting one into the top corner at Wembley in May sunshine in the ****ing FA Cup Final in front of 100,000 & millions on the telly.
I wasn't a great player. I knew I never would be...but neither was Bobby Stokes,neither was Roger Osborne,neither was Ian Porterfield,neither was Dave Webb,neither was Alan Taylor,neither was Keith Houchen.But they all got to know that feeling for real & they've all been remembered for it. I ****ing love the cups & when I hear smart arsed ****s referring to "the **** All Cup" it makes my piss boil. Same goes for that dickhead Manure fan interviewed the year they didn't even bother to compete in it as they preferred to go to South America for the World Marketing Championships & flog some ****ing t-shirts. "well...it's Mickey Mouse isn't it, the FA Cup?" ****ing twat wasn't saying that a few years ago when it became the only thing they could win I'll bet.
My only hope is that the changes in technology & an impending financial crisis put paid to the next TV rights deal being even bigger & restore some sanity. Small hope but I cling to it.
& btw...I don't care if I sound like an old man wallowing in a bygone age. It WAS better. No question.
