IN THE PAST, today was the biggest in English football’s calendar; FA Cup final Saturday.
The build-up on the TV would start early, newspapers would be full of hype throughout the week and the winners would be lauded in front of a global audience.
Today? Not so much.
Premier League heavyweights Manchester City will take on a Wigan Athletic side who are preoccupied with a relegation dogfight.
No longer is the game the last of the season, meaning it’s a distraction to the Latics as the battle for the top-flight status.
And the tradition of playing the game in splendid isolation at 3pm has also now been discarded. No, there’s a Premier League tie today at lunchtime, a full billing tomorrow and the cup final kick-off has been pushed back to after 5pm for the first time, meaning Wigan fans racing for the last train home from London Hueston will miss the end of the game.
But… it is still the FA Cup and the winning captain will get to climb the famous Wembley steps to hold aloft the famous old trophy.
But will you be watching?
Stick a tenner on Wigan to make it interesting and then go for a pint,watch the match and wonder why the f@%k did I put a tenner on Wigan.
For all of you excited about the FA Cup. ESPN has coverage of the build up to the game. It’s on since 8am. Over nine hours of build up yay.
I may watch 9 seconds of that!
With the exception of Martin Keown, ESPN’s pundits have got very little to say. Trying to fill nearly 12 hours is a bit ambitious considering they were actually talking about the colour of the players boots at one stage! I think I’ll stick with Keano and Chiles on UTV.
I would love to win an FA Cup. I’ll be watching it
I know whos gonna win. If there’s nothing else on and the weather is bad I suppose I will watch it. But I’ve got stuff on my sky box to get through too…. Decisions.
I don’t care if Wigan are only there to make up the numbers today,it’s still the FA cup final and I’ll be watching like every other year
Come on the Latics!!
Michael….where’s the gents?
Anyone interested in watching the setanta sports cup instead! #Westbrits