Traveling Fans

[JoetheRam]

I guess it all comes down to your idea of what football is about.

For me the league is Weatabix, the cup is Frosties. The league is the wife, the cup is the mistress.

I'll never understand Daveo's point of view about football being a business, because as a fan it isn't. I respect his opinion, but I don't understand it. Being a football supporter is burning money in exchange for hope and feeling and some sort of inexplicable pleasure. You don't really do it to help pay the players wages.

The chairmen and the agents see it as a business, but for the players, the managers and the fans the game is about glory. They don't give out trophies for turning a profit - at least not yet.

I guess it's an old fashioned view and slightly rose-tinted but The Cup offers the best chance for the "I was there" moments that life is about. I can tell you exactly where I was for the Gerrard's screamer, when Wigan won it... No idea where Derby even finished in the league in those years.

It's a clichè but it does have a certain romance to it. It's not a date with a super model in an expensive restaurant and sterile conversation, it's more fish and chips out of old newspaper on the pier with your first love.

Anyway i'm rambling...

Give me Radford, give me snorkel Parkas, give me tin foil FA Cups, give me Wembley steps, give me the Crazy Gang, give me Motson, give me Gazza's free kick, give me Ricky Villa, give me Trevor Sinclair...

[Angry Ram]

The FACup is now about the away day. We've been in the Championship for what seems like an eternity.. A visit to The Hawthorns, great.. Good pricing helped. I go to most away games and it is the same old faces really.. Yesterday there were many I have never seen before which is great.

Lets face it if the tie had been reversed we would have struggled to get 15k and WBA would have probably brought 5k.

I went yesterday, yes the football was part of it but I was not expecting us to win... It was about a day out with your mates. Only because I don't trust my club to take it seriously..

Listened to the radio yesterday going up to Brum and the media is banging in again about the 'magic' of the cup.. Same every year on 3rd round day. Then they pick only big games to televise.. West Ham v Man City WTF, see that week in week out.

The cup is dead, has been for years.. You only have to listen to people on here banging on about resting players, the league is more important, give the kids a chance.. Like it is some sort of choice, you have to choose one or the other.. If you pick a strong team in the cup, we will never get promotion.. Bollx.

Maybe it's just us old farts who still love it.. To me hoping Derby lose a game, any game, is wrong.. just wrong.. Who are these people who want us to go out of a competition just because a sports scientist says players are tired.. Some just swallow that up and wallow.. Some said Bent was tired and needed a rest after Wigan, play the kids.. He needs a rest. Hmmmm really. Did not do too bad yesterday. Where do we go next, one game a week is too much?? It will come because someone will tell us that at some point and some supporters will lap it up.. If we only played every other week, players would be 0.0009% more rested and they might play with better stats in the 96th minute. Bollx again. 

I was happy SM played a strong team yesterday but he will fold at some point just like he did when we played Reading a couple of years ago.. Most of the big club s out and a great chance of getting to a final.. No throw the towel in just in case someone might get an injury or feel tired. And we ended up with nothing anyway.. Guess what we ain't ever going to win the Premier League, we might just win a cup still... As someone said on another thread, who remembers when you 8th? Who will will remember a cup semi? What else have we got to live for! We are Derby, that is us, odd days of glory and what days they are... Rotherham, Man U (Watney Cup for the olduns), Man U at PP.. Crystal Palace at the BBG.. WBA in the play off final, I could go on but they are odd days apart from the 70s.. Football has changed and we will never be a power house again.. We need those odd days or what's the point?

Cup semi or final against promotion? A season in 'the promised land' or a trip to Wembley and that slim chance of glory... I want both !! 

I need a coffee.

[Alph]

44 minutes ago, David said:

Football is a business so it always will be about money, will never stop. West Ham v Man City on the BBC says it all.

Whilst you are in the PL the financial rewards through TV deals and sponsorships/advertising are huge.

FA Cup winners this year will receive £1.8m, peanuts. You couldn't even afford a Nick Blackman with that.

You can earn that much with one group stage win in the Champions League. Each club can earn up to 12m euros just from the group stages.

Clubs do not survive on glory, until the FA Cup becomes more lucrative to clubs it will continue to be an insignificant competition in football today.

If you were a chairman or owner then i'd have no argument.

But to me I'd rather be spending time having long weekends in Serbia begining with watching Derby on the Thursday. Or a magical home tie vs Inter/ AC Milan, Sevilla, Schalke, etc etc. Not to mention the trip to Wembley to see Derby lift a trophy. 

I understand why managers don't prioritise it. I understand the starting line ups. But not the fans not caring.

Promotion would be amazing. But life in the PL isn't that good unless you're winning a few. We'd take no comfort from competing with the best if we're winning 7 out of 38 games with a - 25 GD. We only care about Derby not who the opponent is unless we win. None of us want to see Eden Hazard at his best against Derby. 

But magical European nights make memories. Imagine you and the missus off to Croatia for a week and taking in a competitive match. Or coming down to PP to the night match v Valencia where we do to them what Swansea did (Stoke too?) Or AC Milan when Portsmouth had them. Maybe even make it to the final like Fulham. Imagine that! 

I understand this is all easier in the PL with a bigger squad. I know promotion is a priority.

I just don't get the attitude to the Cup. As fans we don't have to concentrate on the League. We should be wanting to win every game and I think it's sad to see fans call the Cup a distraction. 

[Day]

22 minutes ago, JoetheRam said:

I guess it all comes down to your idea of what football is about.

For me the league is Weatabix, the cup is Frosties. The league is the wife, the cup is the mistress.

I'll never understand Daveo's point of view about football being a business, because as a fan it isn't. I respect his opinion, but I don't understand it. Being a football supporter is burning money in exchange for hope and feeling and some sort of inexplicable pleasure. You don't really do it to help pay the players wages.

The chairmen and the agents see it as a business, but for the players, the managers and the fans the game is about glory. They don't give out trophies for turning a profit - at least not yet.

I guess it's an old fashioned view and slightly rose-tinted but The Cup offers the best chance for the "I was there" moments that life is about. I can tell you exactly where I was for the Gerrard's screamer, when Wigan won it... No idea where Derby even finished in the league in those years.

It's a clichè but it does have a certain romance to it. It's not a date with a super model in an expensive restaurant and sterile conversation, it's more fish and chips out of old newspaper on the pier with your first love.

Anyway i'm rambling...

Give me Radford, give me snorkel Parkas, give me tin foil FA Cups, give me Wembley steps, give me the Crazy Gang, give me Motson, give me Gazza's free kick, give me Ricky Villa, give me Trevor Sinclair...

I want glory, I want the glory that comes from long hard season beating the best of the best.

97/98 finishing 9th in the Premier League. Only 8 clubs better than us in the country over a season, this is glory. 

Smashing Arsenal 3-0 at home, beating Spurs, Liverpool big big clubs. Great days week in week out.

Glory to me is not a cup competition, luck of the draw, facing clubs playing weakened sides due to the lack of financial rewards. 

The season the FA advised Man United not to compete in the FA Cup killed the competition, chasing the World Cup bid for the financial rewards.

Wenger playing kids as securing a CL spot is more lucrative to the club, beating Arsenal in the cup meant very little, smashing the champions that season 3-0 in the league was everything. 

[Sparkle]

24 minutes ago, Angry Ram said:

The FACup is now about the away day. We've been in the Championship for what seems like an eternity.. A visit to The Hawthorns, great.. Good pricing helped. I go to most away games and it is the same old faces really.. Yesterday there were many I have never seen before which is great.

Lets face it if the tie had been reversed we would have struggled to get 15k and WBA would have probably brought 5k.

I went yesterday, yes the football was part of it but I was not expecting us to win... It was about a day out with your mates. Only because I don't trust my club to take it seriously..

Listened to the radio yesterday going up to Brum and the media is banging in again about the 'magic' of the cup.. Same every year on 3rd round day. Then they pick only big games to televise.. West Ham v Man City WTF, see that week in week out.

The cup is dead, has been for years.. You only have to listen to people on here banging on about resting players, the league is more important, give the kids a chance.. Like it is some sort of choice, you have to choose one or the other.. If you pick a strong team in the cup, we will never get promotion.. Bollx.

Maybe it's just us old farts who still love it.. To me hoping Derby lose a game, any game, is wrong.. just wrong.. Who are these people who want us to go out of a competition just because a sports scientist says players are tired.. Some just swallow that up and wallow.. Some said Bent was tired and needed a rest after Wigan, play the kids.. He needs a rest. Hmmmm really. Did not do too bad yesterday. Where do we go next, one game a week is too much?? It will come because someone will tell us that at some point and some supporters will lap it up.. If we only played every other week, players would be 0.0009% more rested and they might play with better stats in the 96th minute. Bollx again. 

I was happy SM played a strong team yesterday but he will fold at some point just like he did when we played Reading a couple of years ago.. Most of the big club s out and a great chance of getting to a final.. No throw the towel in just in case someone might get an injury or feel tired. And we ended up with nothing anyway.. Guess what we ain't ever going to win the Premier League, we might just win a cup still... As someone said on another thread, who remembers when you 8th? Who will will remember a cup semi? What else have we got to live for! We are Derby, that is us, odd days of glory and what days they are... Rotherham, Man U (Watney Cup for the olduns), Man U at PP.. Crystal Palace at the BBG.. WBA in the play off final, I could go on but they are odd days apart from the 70s.. Football has changed and we will never be a power house again.. We need those odd days or what's the point?

Cup semi or final against promotion? A season in 'the promised land' or a trip to Wembley and that slim chance of glory... I want both !! 

I need a coffee.

I too am an old fart angry - I was there and it was great and it meant a lot to the players which was nice and yes I want it all. We

[Tony Le Mesmer]

23 minutes ago, Alpha said:

If you were a chairman or owner then i'd have no argument.

But to me I'd rather be spending time having long weekends in Serbia begining with watching Derby on the Thursday. Or a magical home tie vs Inter/ AC Milan, Sevilla, Schalke, etc etc. Not to mention the trip to Wembley to see Derby lift a trophy. 

I understand why managers don't prioritise it. I understand the starting line ups. But not the fans not caring.

Promotion would be amazing. But life in the PL isn't that good unless you're winning a few. We'd take no comfort from competing with the best if we're winning 7 out of 38 games with a - 25 GD. We only care about Derby not who the opponent is unless we win. None of us want to see Eden Hazard at his best against Derby. 

But magical European nights make memories. Imagine you and the missus off to Croatia for a week and taking in a competitive match. Or coming down to PP to the night match v Valencia where we do to them what Swansea did (Stoke too?) Or AC Milan when Portsmouth had them. Maybe even make it to the final like Fulham. Imagine that! 

I understand this is all easier in the PL with a bigger squad. I know promotion is a priority.

I just don't get the attitude to the Cup. As fans we don't have to concentrate on the League. We should be wanting to win every game and I think it's sad to see fans call the Cup a distraction. 

Yes but nowadays a lot of Prem clubs have the same 'not really interested' attitude to the Europa League as they do for the FA Cup.

Even clubs at the bottom of the Prem played consistently weakened sides in the Europa League just so they could concentrate on not getting relegated whilst at the top, those teams up there do the same so it doesn't effect their league performances.

Bolton went to Portugal when they were in Europe and played a weakened side in a game they needed to win, think it was under Megson but I remember it as i bet on it. Martin O'Neill did the same at Villa when they went to somewhere in Russia or Ukraine not so long ago. That game in particular there was some serious flak flying round after that.

Hull got embarrassed in their flagship debut European season because they didn't take it seriously. Losing to Belgium giants Lokeren err right.

Football is weird. Just can't work it out but if you put making money over all chance of success then I think you're not far off how the game operates. At least at the very top level.

Bolton had an amazing season getting into Europe and then when they got there they played weakened sides because they wanted to stay in the Premier League. Romance v Money.

Some of these clubs spend all season trying to get as high as they can in the league to grab a European spot and when they get one they're not interested !

Freaks the lot of them.

Why would Derby be any different?

Would be out of this world though for Derby to get into Europe.

[Day]

11 minutes ago, Alpha said:

If you were a chairman or owner then i'd have no argument.

But to me I'd rather be spending time having long weekends in Serbia begining with watching Derby on the Thursday. Or a magical home tie vs Inter/ AC Milan, Sevilla, Schalke, etc etc. Not to mention the trip to Wembley to see Derby lift a trophy. 

I understand why managers don't prioritise it. I understand the starting line ups. But not the fans not caring.

Promotion would be amazing. But life in the PL isn't that good unless you're winning a few. We'd take no comfort from competing with the best if we're winning 7 out of 38 games with a - 25 GD. We only care about Derby not who the opponent is unless we win. None of us want to see Eden Hazard at his best against Derby. 

But magical European nights make memories. Imagine you and the missus off to Croatia for a week and taking in a competitive match. Or coming down to PP to the night match v Valencia where we do to them what Swansea did (Stoke too?) Or AC Milan when Portsmouth had them. Maybe even make it to the final like Fulham. Imagine that! 

I understand this is all easier in the PL with a bigger squad. I know promotion is a priority.

I just don't get the attitude to the Cup. As fans we don't have to concentrate on the League. We should be wanting to win every game and I think it's sad to see fans call the Cup a distraction. 

Those European trips away come from being in the Premier League, yes you can qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League by winning the cup but what chance do you stand with a Championship side?

Lift the Championship trophy, watch your team develop with the financial rewards the Premier League offers. 

Qualify for Europe by beating the best of the best week in week out, not the luck of the draw playing weakened sides not taking the competition seriously.

Go to Milan on a Thursday night where you can watch your team compete, chase that Leicester City dream not the Wigan dream.

I never want to see Derby lose even in a friendly, I just see the bigger picture and to me glory comes from August to May. 

[eddie]

7 minutes ago, David said:

I want glory, I want the glory that comes from long hard season beating the best of the best.

97/98 finishing 9th in the Premier League. Only 8 clubs better than us in the country over a season, this is glory. 

Smashing Arsenal 3-0 at home, beating Spurs, Liverpool big big clubs. Great days week in week out.

Glory to me is not a cup competition, luck of the draw, facing clubs playing weakened sides due to the lack of financial rewards. 

The season the FA advised Man United not to compete in the FA Cup killed the competition, chasing the World Cup bid for the financial rewards.

Wenger playing kids as securing a CL spot is more lucrative to the club, beating Arsenal in the cup meant very little, smashing the champions that season 3-0 in the league was everything. 

Sad.

I don't think I've ever disagreed with a sensible post more than I do with this. I understand every word of what you are saying, but yet I disagree with just about every single one.

[LazloW]

I also find it odd when fans focus on the money side of the game (whether its about the extra income for the Premier League or how much 'we've' spent on a player, how much 'we've' got for a player, will we / won't we get into FFP difficulties (and endless speculation about this when nobody really knows the situation)). Leave all that to the board.  All I really care about is watching Derby win games of football (and play well doing it).  Getting promotion so that might have the opportunity to spend £30m on somebody really does very little for me.  Its all a bit soulless.

 

 

[Angry Ram]

5 minutes ago, eddie said:

Sad.

I don't think I've ever disagreed with a sensible post more than I do with this. I understand every word of what you are saying, but yet I disagree with just about every single one.

Spot on... This is why football I still dying.

[Sparkle]

Clubs should be honest with their fans - if they are not going to particularly try to play their best fit team then say so and don't make them have to pay to watch

[Day]

1 minute ago, LazloW said:

I also find it odd when fans focus on the money side of the game (whether its about the extra income for the Premier League or how much 'we've' spent on a player, how much 'we've' got for a player, will we / won't we get into FFP difficulties (and endless speculation about this when nobody really knows the situation)). Leave all that to the board.  All I really care about is watching Derby win games of football (and play well doing it).  Getting promotion so that might have the opportunity to spend £30m on somebody really does very little for me.  Its all a bit soulless.

Despite what I have said in this topic I totally agree with this, the fascination of transfer fees and FFP, fans downloading football clubs accounts squabbling over profits and losses I will never understand.

How much it cost us to replace Pearson with McClaren doesnt interest me in the slightest.

I want to see Derby play entertaining winning football, I want to see us competing against the best in the country week in week out.

To do this unfortunately we need money, I care very little how much a Benteke will cost each week, but I understand that by staying in the Premier League will allow us to fund players like these which will bring better quality football to Pride Park.

I'm tired of playing the likes of Rotherham. 

[jagerbob]

12 hours ago, Tony Le Mesmer said:

Over 5000 Imps at Ipswich today.

What I fail to comprehend is that in two weeks time when they play Dover at Sincil Bank, there will be 3000 there.

Where do these extra 2000 and odd go when THAT game is played?

Doesn't make any sense.

If i was a Lincoln fan I'd go. If I wasn't a Lincoln fan but it was at home then I might go. If I wasn't a Lincoln fan and the game is away then why would I bother travelling all that way to watch a team i don't support because if I did support them then i'd be at the Dover game the following week?!!

It's like the Wembley finals. I've lived in Chesterfield for a few years now and a bit back they got to the JPT final at Wembley and there were tens of thousands of Spireites there! Where have they come from?!

Sure i live in the town, am a huge football fan and want to see local sides doing well but if I spent money and a whole day off going down to Wembley to watch a team I never go and watch when they play on my doorstep then I need to ask myself some pretty serious questions.

have you ever heard the term halffan?

A wembley final or an away day at old trafford leads to all kinds of people wanting to go, who otherwise wouldnt give a monkeys.

Surely you know people like that.

[Day]

36 minutes ago, eddie said:

Sad.

I don't think I've ever disagreed with a sensible post more than I do with this. I understand every word of what you are saying, but yet I disagree with just about every single one.

It is sad I agree, the game has changed over the years and this is where we are now at. Sure some my age and younger will disagree but many will agree.

I'm sure you can remember when you was younger how it felt to see Derby County, champions of England, watching your team week in week out beating the best in the country. Watching us play in Europe.

I want a taste of that, I want to be on a forum in 40 years time talking about Derby Country greats. 

I'm delaying having kids so I can tell my grandkids tales of Derby County being the best in the country, 97/98 is the best I can offer and it was great but we wasn't the best in the country. 

You grew up in a time where the FA Cup was an important competition, the twin towers of Wembley, a Cup that still eludes you of any memories of winning so I understand where you and many older fans are coming from.

I'm from an age where the FA Cup has become a distraction from the main goal. 

Don't get me wrong, I will continue to support Derby in every competition we compete in, even a pre season competition in Portugal, I just prioritise Derby County being the best in the country and to do that we need to be in the Premier League.

Leicester City have only made me thirsty for League success.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

38 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

Clubs should be honest with their fans - if they are not going to particularly try to play their best fit team then say so and don't make them have to pay to watch

This is a good point. I am aware it happens a lot but I seem to recall Mick McCarthy going up to Man U or somewhere like that for a night game and about half an hour before the game revealing a completely different side to the one that was expected with kids in there and fringe players.

Bearing in mind fans have forked out for tickets, travel, maybe overnight accommodation and having to wangle time off work I think being told in advance that the manager is going to change things considerably would be of great benefit to fans in deciding whether to bother or not.

I'm not saying reveal the exact line up the day before but just let fans know that normal team selection is likely to be greatly affected.

I think this is fair.

Of course you will get some fans saying that if you are a true fan then you should make the effort to get up there and support the team regardless. There is an element of this I agree with but by the same token if the club and fans know that significant changes are going to be made then the club really should do their bit and subsidise ticket prices quite heftily IMO.

There is still a long way to go before most clubs would even consider parting with the tiniest of rectal gas from their own backside let alone offering fans some help with the cost of things though.

[Angry Ram]

18 minutes ago, Tony Le Mesmer said:

This is a good point. I am aware it happens a lot but I seem to recall Mick McCarthy going up to Man U or somewhere like that for a night game and about half an hour before the game revealing a completely different side to the one that was expected with kids in there and fringe players.

Bearing in mind fans have forked out for tickets, travel, maybe overnight accommodation and having to wangle time off work I think being told in advance that the manager is going to change things considerably would be of great benefit to fans in deciding whether to bother or not.

I'm not saying reveal the exact line up the day before but just let fans know that normal team selection is likely to be greatly affected.

I think this is fair.

Of course you will get some fans saying that if you are a true fan then you should make the effort to get up there and support the team regardless. There is an element of this I agree with but by the same token if the club and fans know that significant changes are going to be made then the club really should do their bit and subsidise ticket prices quite heftily IMO.

There is still a long way to go before most clubs would even consider parting with the tiniest of rectal gas from their own backside let alone offering fans some help with the cost of things though.

Most would have purchased their tickets, travel arrangements more than a day before.  What's the point in that? They would have to make a statement preseason for it to be of any use. Clubs won't do that as people simply won't go.. 

We are all still on the you have to choose route. Why can't clubs just play their strongest teams ? It's all smoke and mirrors and people lap it up.. Take the Premier League over Xmas, everyone bleating that Chelsea has been dealt all the fixture cards.. Impossible to compete with them with an extra days rest.. Doom and more doom.. Never mentioned again after Spurs beat them, media BS. It's all a myth. Players get injured, not just in cup games.

We have a tough away game on Friday against Leeds. I am more than happy going into that off the back of a victory away at a Premier League team, rather then a defeat playing squad players. One or two changes are fine if players are struggling, I get that.. Bournemouth made 11 and a limp excuse from Howe. They should be banned from next seasons competition and fined for bringing the game into disrepute.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

21 minutes ago, Angry Ram said:

Most would have purchased their tickets, travel arrangements more than a day before.  What's the point in that? They would have to make a statement preseason for it to be of any use. Clubs won't do that as people simply won't go.. 

We are all still on the you have to choose route. Why can't clubs just play their strongest teams ? It's all smoke and mirrors and people lap it up.. Take the Premier League over Xmas, everyone bleating that Chelsea has been dealt all the fixture cards.. Impossible to compete with them with an extra days rest.. Doom and more doom.. Never mentioned again after Spurs beat them, media BS. It's all a myth. Players get injured, not just in cup games.

We have a tough away game on Friday against Leeds. I am more than happy going into that off the back of a victory away at a Premier League team, rather then a defeat playing squad players. One or two changes are fine if players are struggling, I get that.. Bournemouth made 11 and a limp excuse from Howe. They should be banned from next seasons competition and fined for bringing the game into disrepute.

I agree Angry.

Part of me has just lost a bit of respect for Jürgen Klopp having just seen the team he has selected for the Plymouth game.

I want to see him play a full strength squad and come out and say, "this is the FA Cup. What else do you want me to do?"

Another thing is the underestimation of lower league sides. This annoys the crap out of me. Liverpool played kids in a cup tie at Exeter last season and scraped a 2-2 draw. Have they not learned anything? On the radio Plymouth are being portrayed as the archetypal lower league brutes and cloggers.

Pundits who have never watched the game beyond Championship level making assumptions that all lower league sides cannot play football and are 11 Vinnie Joneses.

Idiots. Should be sacked.

There are some good footballing sides in the lower leagues, some superb players and promising managers yet every year we get this and every year some of them knock out higher teams that STILL after all these years think they can rock up and cruise to a result.

That's probably why the magic of the cup lives on, because of arrogant managers and footballers.

[KBB]

The thing is they are dammned if they do and dammned if they don't.

some people on here still blame wassall for thornes injury against Ipswich in a "needless game"

if the big sides play a full strength side and their best player gets an injury you can bet your life there would be a que of people waiting to moan about him not resting/rotating players.

[MuespachRam]

2 hours ago, eddie said:

Sad.

I don't think I've ever disagreed with a sensible post more than I do with this. I understand every word of what you are saying, but yet I disagree with just about every single one.

Exactly Edward...and this thought process is sadly exactly what has killed the game. 

It's bad enough that amazing managers like Arsene Wenger think that finishing 4th in the league is "like a trophy" but to say that finishing 9th was "glory" is so so sad. 

Yes of course I want us to get promoted but if I was offered a straight choice for next season between having to play Liverpool, United and Chelsea and going out in the 4th round this year or Burton, Wigan and Ipswich and getting to the Cuo Final I wouldn't even hesitate even for a milli second before I was booking my flight for the final  

I listened to the game alone whilst driving down a massive 10 lane highway yesterday and as Ince banged in that free kick i was bouncing in the drivers seat singing.....She wore, she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon in the month of May....that is the "magic of the cup".

 

[Day]

51 minutes ago, Tony Le Mesmer said:

I agree Angry.

Part of me has just lost a bit of respect for Jürgen Klopp having just seen the team he has selected for the Plymouth game.

I want to see him play a full strength squad and come out and say, "this is the FA Cup. What else do you want me to do?"

Another thing is the underestimation of lower league sides. This annoys the crap out of me. Liverpool played kids in a cup tie at Exeter last season and scraped a 2-2 draw. Have they not learned anything? On the radio Plymouth are being portrayed as the archetypal lower league brutes and cloggers.

Pundits who have never watched the game beyond Championship level making assumptions that all lower league sides cannot play football and are 11 Vinnie Joneses.

Idiots. Should be sacked.

There are some good footballing sides in the lower leagues, some superb players and promising managers yet every year we get this and every year some of them knock out higher teams that STILL after all these years think they can rock up and cruise to a result.

That's probably why the magic of the cup lives on, because of arrogant managers and footballers.

This is where the football the business side comes in, managers are judged on league performances, why? Because that's where the money is, nobody owns a football club for the fun of it. Make the FA Cup more lucrative and clubs will value it much more. 

The FA Cup sponsorship deal is £30m for 3 seasons, plus TV deals on top. The winner gets just £1.8m. As I mentioned earlier you can get that with one win in the CL group stage.

The FA claim the rest of the money goes to grassroots, grassroots claim they barely see anything. The money is most likely soaked up in self proclaimed non footballing experts wages that employ the likes of Sam Allardyce, St George's Park and Wembley debt. Semi finals at Wembley why? More £££ for the FA big wigs.

Bournemouth was given £70.4m last season in Premier League prize money/TV deal and they finished 16th! Is it any wonder Howe is concentrating on the league.

Easy to sit here and dismiss players fitness levels being an issue yet both La Liga and Bundesliga have winter breaks, Bayern Munich as an example play no games between 21st December and 10th January meanwhile Liverpool have 5 games.

Players aren't robots, give us a winter break and better financial incentives for the FA Cup and we'll see a more competitive Cup again.