Last weekend 16 football clubs competed for a place in the quarter finals of the FA Cup. 10 English and Welsh counties were represented, from Tyne & Wear to Hampshire, Yorkshire to Swansea.
None of them were from the West Midlands.
In January Villa manager Paul Lambert, when asked if Premier League managers would prefer to avoid the FA cup, said “If they were being honest, they probably would. Cup competitions, if you can get through, then absolutely I want to get through. I don’t want to not get through but your main one is the league.”
Wow. Talk about cranking up the excitement for the magic of the cup, Paul.
At least Lambert doesn’t actively want Villa to lose FA Cup games, but he’s clearly not bothered about winning them either. What he wants is to come through each tie without any injuries or suspensions, or a dreaded replay. The actual result is of secondary importance in Villa’s FA Cup matches, because they like to concentrate on the league. This ruthless focus on the league has allowed Villa to secure 15th and 16th positions in the league in the last two seasons.
The way we were
I would argue that the date of the FA Cup third round should be circled in thick red pen on the calendar of any football fan, let alone the manager of a club with a tradition such as Villa. The only chance any Villa fan has of experiencing something akin to victory nowadays, of feeling the thrill of fantasy realised, of joyously sobbing out the memories of decades and lifetimes wasted following literal, self-confessed, no-hopers, is if the team makes some sort of effort to win a cup.
Villa last won the FA Cup in 1957, failed to score a goal in their next cup final appearance 43 years later in 2000, and since then have successfully got themselves knocked out at the first attempt seven times in 14 seasons.
Of course, it takes more than Villa getting eliminated to completely wipe out West Midlands interest. None of the others have reached the final since 1987, when Coventry beat Spurs 3-2 in one of the last great FA Cup finals, and before that no West Midlands club had reached the final since 1968, when my 15 year old father saw West Brom beat Everton 1-0.
That was the 5th time a West Midlands club had played in the final since he was born, and the fourth victory. Four victories for West Midlands clubs in the first 16 years of my Dad’s life! I’ve only seen one ever, 27 years ago.
Between 1931 and 1968, West Midlands clubs were finalists ten times in 37 years and winners six times. Roughly calculating an average, every three or four seasons saw a West Midlands club in the final and once every six years they won. In the 20 seasons between 1949 and 1968 they won the cup at a rate of once every 4 seasons.
In the 46 seasons since 1968 only two FA Cup finalists have been from the West Midlands and only one winner.
In the 1950s, while Wolves were finishing in the top 3 of the league every season, with West Brom not far behind, West Brom, Villa and Wolves themselves all won FA Cups, and Birmingham lost in the final. When Wolves won the FA Cup in 1960, they lost out on the league title by one point and got to the UEFA Cup Winners Cup Quarter Final.
All of this is a roundabout way of demonstrating that once upon a time, dreams of winning the FA Cup frequently became reality for hundreds of thousands of Midlands fans, and even when they didn’t actually get their hands on the trophy, they were at least still hopeful well into springtime every season. In recent decades, we’ve barely got rid of the Christmas decorations before all six Midlands clubs are exiting the cup. When Blues went out in round 4 this season, it was the 58th time that one of the top 5 Midlands clubs had gone out in January this century.
The fate of the lesser FA Cup finalists
Rightly, Lambert is afraid of relegation. But is an FA Cup run really incompatible with league survival? When looking at the FA Cup finalists of the Premier League era, do we see a link between those that have reached the final and those that got relegated?
Of course not. Plenty of teams from outside the elite handful of clubs have got to the final without being relegated. In the Premier League era alone: Villa themselves once, Sheffield Wednesday, Everton (twice), Newcastle (twice), Southampton, West Ham, Cardiff, Millwall, Portsmouth, Stoke.
Of the 64 teams to have been relegated from the Premier League, 55 of them were eliminated before the quarter final stage of the cup. FA Cup runs don’t get you relegated, being rubbish at football gets you relegated.
Of the teams to reach the final since 1993, only 3 have been relegated – Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Wigan. However, both Middlesbrough and Portsmouth were deducted points during their cup final seasons. Middlesbrough, who got to the FA and League Cup finals in 1997, would have stayed up without their points deduction. These points were deducted in January and made Middlesbrough susceptible to relegation. Yet, Bryan Robson, former FA Cup winning captain and general English footballing hero, knew the magic of the cup and he chased his dreams. He chased them all the way to Wembley, twice, and gave the Middlesbrough fans one hell of a season.
As did Wigan manager, Roberto Martinez, when the club won their first ever trophy and were relegated last season. Life goes on for Wigan – they still get to play every week, sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. Their fans cheer every goal in the Championship in much the same way as they did in the Premier League, and no doubt a victory over Preston or Derby feels much the same as one over West Brom or Southampton when you’re reliving it in the pub on Saturday night. What they have over Villa though, is priceless. They are the holders of the FA Cup, and for 80 years or more Wigan fans will still feel that little shot of electricity race through their veins when they think of Ben Watson’s injury time cup winner.
Braveheart
In 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Villa lost their next league game after being knocked out of the cup. This season they won their next game, but took one point from the next five games. Getting knocked out of the cup has no positive impact on a league season.
You’re a Scot, Paul, so the next time you find yourself in the FA Cup third round, why not shake off the fears of what a decent cup might do to your league season, paint your face blue and make the following pre-match speech…
“I am Paul Lambert. And I see a whole army of my players in front of me, here in defiance of mundanity! You have come to fight as ambitious men. And ambitious men you are! What will you do with that ambition? Will you fight?”
“What about relegation?” ”No! We will be eliminated – and stay up!”
“Yes! Progress and you may be relegated. Lose and you may stay up, at least awhile. And sitting in the Sky Sports studio many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the 16th place finishes from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell your enemies that they may (but probably won’t) relegate us but they will never take our ambition!”