Losing Interest In The FA Cup

5 minutes before the FA Cup third round draw. The best moment of the season, with all the possibilities open - a match against your nearest rivals, a cash winning tie against a “top four club” or even a non-league team, someone you had never seen at Selhurst Park. Alas, this is Palace – the FA cup isn’t our friend.
We were number 13, unlucky for some, and so it proved. A long way into the draw, and our ball had still not been drawn. There were potential ties against Manchester United, Chelsea and the equally massive Staines Town (or Millwall – who?). Furthermore, the longer the draw went on, the more and more chance we had of IT happening. What’s it you may ask – Palace vs Brighton, not long ago voted the 10th fiercest derby in England. Having not played them in over 3 years this could be the chance in front of a sellout Selhurst crowd to put the arch enemy to the sword once and for all. But no, it just wasn’t to be and an away game to Sheffield Wednesday awaits, with our dire run of cup action continuing.
Last season it was Leicester away followed by Watford away. The season before that was once more Watford away. What shit.
Not since the dark days of Trevor Francis have we managed a cup run and even that was thwarted by Dermot Gallagher, who has since thankfully retired from refereeing. A victory away to Liverpool has to go down as one of the FA Cup shocks of the decade, especially with the eagles down to ten men for much of that match. A fifth round tie against Leeds not so massive anymore United followed, but a goal from Tommy Black was adjudged not to have crossed the line, despite being several yards over it. Fucking refs.
Despite our recent misfortune in the cup, we do have a lot of history. In fact, some would say Palace played in the greatest ever FA Cup game. Super Al (Pardew) got the winner as we stunned Liverpool to win 4 – 3 in the 1990 Cup semi final. This was before my time, but it was also at a time when the FA Cup was regarded as a very important competition with teams not opting to sit it out for a year as United famously did in the 1999/2000. Add in the fact the Liverpool were actually quite good back then and it was a remarkable victory.
The final itself was somewhat of a momentous occasion, with Man United needing a replay to secure victory over the unlucky Eagles. It’s common knowledge that Fergie would have been sacked had he not won that game, and who knows what might have happened to United had Palace won the FA Cup in 1990.
“The magic of the cup” “the best cup competition in the world”, all phrases you hear associated with the FA Cup, but with a tie like Sheffield Wednesday away, it’s difficult to get excited. Once in a blue moon a lesser team will win – take Pompey a couple of years back. However time and time again these manufactured, bought sides get to the semis and the final, as you would expect with the amount of money they’ve spent. Gone are the days when Palace, baring a miracle, can progress into the latter stages of the competition, and unless we get Brighton, Millwall or one of the big boys, I don’t really give a shit anymore. A fix, too right!