After a weekend of thrills and upsets in the second round of this season's FA
Cup, wasn't it great to see the return of the December draw for the third
round, a draw which many will claim is the most exciting because it offers
the mouth-watering prospects of a non-league team coming up against a top
Premiership side. Of course in my case, and I suspect the case of many other
Premiership fans, it is the most exciting draw because it is usually the only
one we are ever in!
Seriously though, it was very refreshing to get back to normality, after last
season's joke of a tournament, which saw a December third round, and was
robbed of it's defending champions. Of course this years final will not be
played at Wembley,(at least we don't think it will!) and the final will take
place before the end of the Premiership season, but at least Adam Crozier is
doing his level best to maintain the magic of the competition. Or is he?
In an attempt to win back the tradition and the sparkle of the FA Cup,
Crozzier has announced a plan, which he hopes, will guarantee the continued
success of the tournament.
Yes, Crozzier has pledged that from now on the winners of the much-coveted
trophy will receive a £1m prize to go with the trophy. Crozzier said, "We
want to return the FA Cup to the magical atmosphere that took over the world."
Now far be it from me to criticise an idea that has still to be tested, but
it appears to have two major flaws. Firstly, we thought that the "magical
atmosphere" was created by players performing with a passion for their club
and a desire to hold aloft the famous trophy. Not a passion for their bank
balance and a desire to hold aloft a pay cheque. Of course he is right,
players and more importantly clubs are more interested in money than trophies
these days, but if Crozzier believes that a cure for the money problems in
the game is to throw money at them then I fear he may be about to make a
mistake almost as big as the Swedish one he made a few weeks back! Secondly,
has anyone informed Mr Crozzier there are more than a few Premiership players
who wouldn't bother turning up at Wembley if the £1m were for themselves,
never mind the club? After all they could probably earn that in a half hour
photo shoot these days. I suppose we should at least praise Adam's wisdom in
not offering the £1m to the non-league club who stays in the competition the
longest. After all they don't need the money do they? And we don't want them
to get greedy, do we?
