Why aren't we up for the Cup?

Jan 8 2008 By Pat Murphy

Steve Bruce is an unashamed traditionalist but his concern about the future of the FA Cup shouldn't be dismissed as the ramblings of an old buffer.

After Bruce's Wigan Athletic side won 3-0 at Sunderland on Saturday, he reflected on the shocking attendance of 20,821, fully 19,000 down on Sunderland's lowest Premier League gate of the season. 'I never thought we'd see that in the Cup," he said. "Third-round day used to be fantastic. For me, it's one of the highlights of your career'.

Now, staying in the Premier League is the preference to FA Cup glory. That's why the third round saw Premier League managers make a total of 84 changes in their starting line-ups from the previous league fixtures. Keeping the players fresh for the return of the hoopla this Saturday is the priority.

Reading were the worst offenders, making eight changes. There's a sort of poetic justice that their draw at Tottenham Hotspur means they'll have to play an extra game, testing out the resilience of their precious players.

Steve Coppell, Reading's manager, can normally be relied on for insightful observations but it was sad to hear him state that he faced '17 FA Cup finals in the league till the end of the season'. The financial rewards for staying in the Premier League are now so enormous that everything else seems to be sacrificed for that aim.

So the managers moan about the fatigue the players are feeling at this stage of a hard season. If their chairmen could summon up some altruistic vision and vote for a reduction in the amount of clubs playing in the top flight, there'd be fewer fixtures. Yet it's hard to sympathise with players when they have to play two fixtures a week, backed up by modern fitness and dietary advice. And we're always told that playing in a match is preferable to the daily slog of training.

Aston Villa's team on Saturday for their defeat by Manchester United was a welcome contrast to antipathy from certain elite areas. They made just one change from their last league game. Martin O'Neill is a huge fan of the FA Cup and the fact that he's got nowhere near the promised land in that competition, either as player or manager, rankles.

O'Neill was never going to undervalue the FA Cup, unlike Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Bolton Wanderers and Reading last Saturday. But the 33,630 crowd at Villa Park was around 8,000 below the season's league average. Have the fans sussed out what many players and managers are saying about the FA Cup?

The 32 matches at the weekend were watched by an average of 16,023 spectators, about 1,600 fewer than last year's third round. Only five matches were watched by more than 25,000 fans.

Of course, the romance of the FA Cup is still there. Chasetown's ebullient manager, Charlie Blakemore, summed it up after the home defeat by Cardiff City: "Grass roots, this is what it's all about. I'll have the memories for the rest of my life,' he said.

Yet only 2,420 people could squeeze into the Scholars Ground, after the club commendably refused to play the tie elsewhere.

It didn't matter. Luton Town will feel the same way. They could attract only 10,226 for their home draw with Liverpool, yet the replay at Anfield next week will help a club who went into administration last November.

Perhaps the trophy's appeal now lies with those smaller clubs, those who happily buy into all the excitable build-up fanned by all sections of the media. You only had to see the glee engendered among 4,000 Cambridge United fans when they went ahead against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. They lost eventually but it would have taken a stony heart not to have enjoyed their pleasure.

It's 20 years now since the FA Cup was won by a club outside the sextet of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton [when Wimbledon's 'Crazy Gang' beat Liverpool 1-0 with a goal from Lawrie Sanchez.].

The odds on a triumph by the likes of Wimbledon, or Coventry who had won 12 months earlier, get longer every year. Money is now more relevant than inspirational coaching and players who go to the well heroically, playing above themselves, round after round.

It's sad, but so is much of modern football. The only consolation I can find from the third round is that supporters of Premier League clubs have seen through the hype and won't be conned anymore.

They know that they'll probably not be watching their best available team, so won't fork out for second-rate fodder. And if their club catches a cold, tough.

The fans are re-affirming the right to stay away and when they turn up, at considerable expense, they're perfectly entitled to barrack millionaires who are either too tired or indifferent to give of their best.

The consumer is fighting back in football and not before time. But I do wish it wasn't at the expense of the FA Cup.

• Blues drop a clanger as Spink heads north
  Nigel Spink is the fourth member of Birmingham City's managerial and coaching staff to leave for Wigan Athletic, where Steve Bruce is building his back-up team.

Soon there'll be a fifth when their excellent press officer, Andy Maxey, takes a familiar path up the M6. There'll be no problems cadging a lift to work if any of the quintet discovers a puncture one morning.

Spink, an increasingly impressive goalkeeping coach in his seven years with the Blues, regrets leaving new manager Alex McLeish - 'I rate Alex and his first-team coaches very highly and I believe he'll be great for the club' - but his departure was a no-brainer.

"Blues had me as consultant goalkeeping coach, but I had no contract, no security for me and my family," he explained. "Steve offered me a two-year contract, with the commitment to take me with him wherever he goes if he eventually leaves Wigan. I needed that at my age and Steve's great to work for.

"Most goalkeeping coaches in the Premier League are on contracts, some of them into six figures. I'm disappointed that my work at the club wasn't recognised by those who could have given me greater security.'

At the age of 49, Spink has experience in this specific coaching field with Northampton Town and Swindon Town before joining the Blues, as well as learning the experience of addressing groups of players from his time as manager at Forest Green Rovers.

His dearest wish is that eventually Colin Doyle makes the No 1 slot his own at St Andrew's. 'We took him on as an Academy scholar and he cost Blues nothing," he said. "He'll be a top goalkeeper and I'll follow his career with interest'.

It's a rarity that one man gives such sterling service to both clubs in Birmingham. Nigel Spink deserves to be remembered for more than just his heroic deeds as a replacement for Jimmy Rimmer in the 1982 European Cup Final, won memorably by Aston Villa. Sadly, Wigan's gain is Birmingham's loss . . .