FA Cup / Joe Dyer / 08 January 2008 /

Joe Dyer sticks up the world's oldest football tournament...

The gloom-mongers love to write off the FA Cup and when the third round rudely interrupts the monotony of the Premier League schedule they are at their loudest.

But I like the old thing, so let's mount a defence of it.

The most glaring of FA Cup positives is that it offers a welcome change from league action.

Followers of Premier League football - and I'm told there are a few - are now almost immune to surprise through the grinding predictability of it all. The season does not even start and we know that only four (though in truth three) teams have got a sniff of winning.

Now, everyone knows the 'Big Four' have won the FA Cup for the last 12 years but they've also won the Premier League for the exact same period of time and when the final day comes around the real drama is inevitably at the 'wrong' end of the table. That the same teams keep winning the Cup has more to do with a league and (especially European football) system that rewards the big boys, giving them an unhealthy financial advantage over the rest.

But while we may know who is going to win the Cup, there is still bags of drama and excitement to be had as it continues its course towards the big day at Wembley. As the teams gradually whittle themsleves down to two, fans of all those other clubs, from 'big boys' outside the Big Four like Villa, Spurs, Everton and Newcastle down to the little 'uns can at least hope/dream/delude themselves that this could be the year they lift the trophy or at least enjoy a day out at the final.

Ask West Ham fans how much that day in Cardiff meant to them, how close they thought they had come to winning and what it felt like to be on the verge of real celebration and you'll be in no doubt. Similarly fans of Luton, who produced one of the performances of the round at home to Liverpool last Sunday, will not forget that tie for a good few years yet. Days and nights like those secure support for a long while and help glue the game together at all levels below the clubs at the very top.

One accusation that is predictably levelled at the Cup is that fans don't want to watch it, as evidenced by a dip in attendance at every Premier League club who hosted a match last weekend. That may be so but this too has more to do with the greediness of the elite clubs who charge massive season ticket costs which do not include Cup games. If you'd forked out £800 for an annual seat it's unlikely you'd spend an extra £30 for the privilege of sitting elsewhere.

Finally, my colleague Jamie Pacheco may detest the talk of 'banana skins' and David v Goliath' battles but that is surely the fault of a tired and unimaginative media. You can hate the competition's format for bringing large and small together (though if you did I'd think you were a very strange individual) but it's not the Cup's fault that the same hoary old catchphrases are used time and time again.

So, yes, the Cup does bring all the little and not-quite-so-little Davids (as well as the Goliaths) out for a few weekends but let's salute that because - importantly - it allows a spot of Wembley dreaming which is essential sustenance for any real football fan.

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