Once upon a time it was the holy grail. Millions of young boys have
coveted it. Grown men have cried over it. Professional footballers have fought themselves to a standstill for it. Club histories have been built on it. Legendary exploits have been made by it. The sight of your team emerging at Wembley for the final of the FA Cup on a sunny Saturday in May has been the highlight of so many childhoods.
The history of Arsenal and the history of "The Cup" are inextricably interwoven. From Eddie Hapgood to Patrick Vieira, Arsenal captains have fought for and won the Cup. In 1952, a 10 man Arsenal in the days before substitutes, fought a rearguard action but lost in the final to Newcastle. The event inspired one of the great, heroic football quotations. Interviewed after the match, Arsenal Captain Joe Mercer memorably remarked: " I thought that the highlight of my career was to play for England. I was wrong. It was to be Captain of Arsenal today. "
The ardour of Arsenal's love affair with the FA Cup can be measured by Cup matches against Stoke City. Stoke were the opponents in both the 1971 and 1972 semi finals. In the former, Arsenal were losing 2-0 at half time. The double seemed to be a distant dream. In the second half, Arsenal fought back and levelled the scores with a last minute penalty, the granite-jawed Storey beating the great Gordon Banks from the penalty spot. Arsenal won the replay and went on to complete a remarkable League and Cup double in May 1971. In the 1972 semi-final, goalkeeper Bob Wilson was effectively sacrificed for the Cup, suffering a career-ending knee injury. Centre-forward Radford deputised in the days before goalkeeper substitutes. Again, Arsenal battled to victory after a replay.
Fast forward to the 4th round of the FA Cup in January 2010. Stoke v Arsenal. Mr Wenger fielded a weakened side on the pretext that the Premier League and Champions League were his priority. How exactly fielding the best 11 at Stoke for 90 mins imperilled these noble ambitions noone has ever made clear. The outcome was inevitable - a pathetic surrender to a mediocre but empassioned Stoke. Any other Manager might have been sacked for this appalling defeat. Wenger heralded it as a prudent saving of his resources for bigger things - neither of which Arsenal had a realistic hope of winning and neither of which did they in fact win.
Soon afterwards, I encountered Wenger's Assistant, Pat Rice at a dinner to commemorate the famous Fairs Cup win of April 1970 (a competition that Wenger might disdainfully regard as worthy of his junior team) and shared my thoughts with him. Mr Rice's own reputation was made by the FA Cup. He played in 4 FA Cup finals for the club, in 3 of them as Captain. When asked how Arsenal could justify fielding a weakened team at Stoke, he retorted that the FA Cup mattered far less than finishing 4th in the league. The argument is that making the big bucks that flow in from Champions League qualification is "vital" and that the FA Cup jeopardises that aim. I asked him what people would remember in 50 years' time, winning the Cup or finishing 4th ? He was not pleased with me.
The answer is that Arsenal have fallen out of love with the Cup. They ignore the traditions of a competition that has marked key periods in the Club's history. Money alone is not to blame. Indeed, it is ironic that the far wealthier Chelsea field their strongest side for the Cup and were rightly rewarded in 2010 with their first "double". I place the blame for this myopic attitude with Mr Wenger himself. He has lost sight of the fact that promising young teams need to learn to win major Cup competitions before winning league titles. This is as true now as it was with the young guns of George Graham in 1987.
Fielding a weakened team in any Cup competition is a contradiction of top flight sport. Arsenal should be docked league points for doing it. Then we might actually start winning the Cup again and would that not be a platform for even greater things ?
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