The Magic Of The FA Cup / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 05 January 2009 / 2 Comments

Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco talks Joseph Heller, Greek prostitutes and Steve Coppell to explain why there are no right or wrong perspectives when it comes to the FA Cup.

In my favourite book, the anti-war novel Catch 22, the hero Yossarian tries to get out of the American airforce by claiming that he's mad and therefore unfit to fly a plane. There is of course a catch though, Catch 22, as the resident shrink keeps telling him. You can only be discharged from duty if you are found to be be mad; and if you realise the dangers of flying life-threatening missions and decide to claim that you are mad in order to avoid them, then you must be sane in order to be claiming that you are mad. And if you are still sane rather than mad, then you must carry on flying missions. Simple eh?

I've always been intrigued by those pictures that psychiatrists give to their patients which contain abstract images. The patient is then asked to "say what you see" and the psychiatrist then delivers a verdict on the patient's personality or mental state based on their answers. The crux of it is that there are no right or wrong answers, just different interpretations. A bit like abstract art itself, the old-age question of the half full/half-empty glass or the merits of X-Factor (personally I think it's rubbish).

One topic that will have created much debate up and down the country over the last couple of days is the FA Cup and rather like the examples mentioned above, it's all a question of perspective.

One of the most colourful characters in the history of film is that of Iilya in the greek classic "Never On Sunday", played by the charismatic Melina Mercouri. Iilya is a prostitute who is adored by the entire male population of Pireus, the harbour area of Athens, and as the title of the film suggests, never works on Sundays. She is permanently optimistic and refuses to acknowledge there is anything other than good, honesty and love in the world to the extent that she changes the plots of Greek tragedies to rid them of misfortune, evil and the inevitable "tragic" endings.

You could say that in footballing terms she represents the traditional English football purist for whom the FA Cup is the oldest and most democratic cup competition in the world, who relishes the David v Goliath ties and takes great pleasure from the instances where the single, deadly pebble proves enough to fall the evil giant, who is found to be vulnerable after all. It's football at it's most fairest and most basic, where reputations and standings have no place, and where every dog has a chance to have his day.

All views that are very unlikely to be shared by the likes of Reading's Steve Coppell, who for the third year running unashamedly fielded a reserve side to face Cardiff away from home and predictably saw his team crash out. Coppell represents the no-nonsense, pragmatic manager whose message as regards the FA Cup seems to be: "my team are chasing promotion to the Premiership and the last thing I need are extra fixtures (including the possibility of replays) in a competition that we can't win where I could risk injuries, suspensions and fatigue to players who make up an already thin squad - quite frankly it's Premiership football that pays the bills and you can keep your precious FA Cup."

If you're a lower league player it's a chance to put yourself in the shop window; four years ago DJ Campbell's impressive performances for Yeading in a remarkable FA Cup run instigated a move from the obscurity of the Ryman Premier League to League One outfit Brentford and later on, a further move up to the dizzy heights of the Premiership no less, when he joined Birmingham City.

As it happens, DJ's records were found to contain a few scratches, he didn't quite cut the mustard in the top tier of English football and he now plays his football with Leicester City. But I doubt the Campbell residence runs the risk of being re-mortgaged this winter amid the credit crunch after a few years of top-flight wages. And at least DJ can say that he actually got to play in the Premiership...

And on the subject of money, it is once again a question of perspective. If you're a "bean counter" at Portsmouth (assuming they overcome Bristol City in a third-round replay), the prospect of a non-televised home tie against Swansea or Histon in the next round has little appeal when your club is fighting for its Premiership life - they're [4.0] to go down on Betfair.

But if your job description states that between the hours of 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday (or "mornings" in student terminology) you should be balancing the books at Blythe Spartans, a win at odds of 15.0 in a televised home match against Blackburn (which would lead to another huge pay day courtesy of half the gate receipts at the Stadium Of Light in the next round) is unsurprisingly a big deal for you.

And finally, what of my own perspective of the FA Cup? To paraphrase Nessa from Gavin and Stacy: "I won't lie to you. I'm not a fan". But let's save that discussion for another day and try and make some money out of it: after all that's why you're reading betting.betfair.com! If Sir Alex Ferguson could win another Champions League, not to mention repeat last year's Double, few would argue that he's the greatest British manager ever. Liverpool have a genuine chance of winning the Premiership for the first time and need to focus on that; Benitez may not be around at Liverpool for that much longer and has already won both the Champions League and the FA Cup in his time at Anfield.

The Champions League remains the trophy that Roman Abramovich most craves, specially having come so close last year and I'm assuming Scolari's brief is along the lines of winning that at all costs. And a couple of stops on the District Line followed by a northbound voyage on the Piccadilly Line up at The Emirates, Arsenal have to fight off a very real threat to their Top 4 Premiership finish posed by a certain Aston Villa.

Fans of the Gunners may be craving a competition win of any description after three trophyless years but it would be Arsene Wenger who would be cannon fodder in the Board Room should they miss out on Champions League football next season. Back "The Field" at [2.62] to win a competition they're genuinely looking to win rather than the Big 4 who between now and May will have bigger fish to fry.