Sport

CUP ROMANCE? PREM TEAMS WILL BE SPENDING THURSDAY NIGHTS IN

By Hannah Bargery ⋅ March 12, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

The magic of the FA Cup provided plenty of back page headlines over the weekend. The extremely rare sight of a penalty and sending off in favour of the opposition at Old Trafford sent a lucky Portsmouth side through to the semi finals. Whereas at Oakwell the majority of Chelsea’s players didn’t bother turning up giving Barnsley a well-deserved win. But this isn’t going to be a moan about the ‘state of the FA cup’ or ‘sides not taking it seriously’ or any other tired argument ‘Lawro’ and Hansen like to bicker over at this time of year. While the ‘romance’ of the cup may be back for some fans, the developments over the weekend have left fans supporting a side in the race for Europe feeling dumped and jilted after the number of UEFA cup spots were dramatically reduced.

Last season, the teams that finished 5^th, 6^th and 7^th all secured European football for the following season due to sides that had qualified for the Champions league winning the Carling Cup and FA Cup. This season Spurs have won the Carling Cup so one place has gone and now that Chelsea and Man Utd have both been knocked out of the FA Cup (the only two sides left in the competition that would have relinquished their UEFA Cup spot due to them qualifying for the Champions league) another UEFA Cup place has been lost. So now the only European place to be secured through the league this season will go to the runners-up in the chase for 4^th place.

Although it may sound a bit mean-spirited to moan about the fact that someone like Barnsley could be playing in Europe next season, how can it be fair that a side who plays just a handful of games in a cup competition receive a place in Europe over sides like Everton, Aston Villa or Blackburn who have played consistently well for 38 games in the Premier League?

To further add insult to injury, the rule has always been that if the winner of the FA cup is a side which already has a Champions League place, the UEFA cup place then goes to the runners-up in the cup. Ridiculous! Why should getting to a final and losing be rewarded with such a highly sought after consolation prize?

The media seems to believe that we should all be getting behind English sides in Europe and willing them to do well. So if we’re all so patriotic then shouldn’t we want to see a side that has a chance of progressing through the UEFA cup ie. a side that has finished 6^th or 7^th rather than a side who got to the cup final and lost only for the winners to surrender their UEFA cup spot in favour of playing in the Champions league.

Clearly, this is a rule that needs to be changed by the FA. Then again, when was the last time the FA ever made a sensible and fair judgement that aided anyone other than the sides at the top of the league? What a UEFarse!