Fan Letters: "The FA Cup has been mistreated by football's power brokers!"

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RR reader Steve Gilchrist feels that the fabled competition has fallen victim to the elites that run football, and their money-driven values. Got something to say? Email us! RokerReport@yahoo.co.uk


Dear Roker Report,

I've read a lot this week about how the FA Cup has 'lost its magic', 'withered on the vine', and 'is dying a slow death'.

My view is that the FA Cup is the canary in the coal mine; the sacrificial offering warning us about the whole of football.

Our game has been stolen, sold at a dodgy auction, and is being run by a bunch of chancers out only to line their own pockets. The FA Cup, rather than 'withering' or 'dying', has been stabbed, gutted and murdered by those same chancers.

As football as we know it fades inevitably into history to become the 'Western Division of the European Conference of the World Soccer League' (no nasty relegation and available exclusively on satellite TV), let me illustrate my point.

It's a Saturday night in February 1973 and I'm sitting in The Blue Bell playing three card brag.

Some lads come in who've been to the cup match that day where we'd drawn, and all the talk was of how we could beat these, and they were going to the ground to queue overnight for replay tickets.

Now, I'm not that daft. I like my sleep, so I went the next morning, queued up, bought a ticket, and so attended. Two days later, I was standing in the Fulwell End with my mates for the greatest match I ever saw.

My point isn't nostalgia, it's this: tickets were available the next day, they cost about the same as two pints, and they were readily available to those who would queue (the real fans).

Also, the replay was three days after the first tie; there was a replay, you could stand together with whoever you wanted, and most of all, a club from the bottom half of the Second Division could beat the clubs finishing fourth, fifth and second in the previous season's First Division, and that wasn't a fluke because Southampton did similar three years later.

None of those things would be possible today- not a single one, and not because of sporting reasons but because of decisions made in closed rooms by people whose motivation is greed.

They've gradually eaten away at the soul of football with the FA Cup being on the bleeding edge.

It's not the FA Cup I mourn, it's football as a whole, a working man's game that's been stolen.

Steve Gilchrist

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Steve. Thank you for your letter.

I don't think anyone could argue against the idea that the suits, the TV executives, and the foreign investors have devalued the FA Cup as they strive to alter the game as we know it, and possibly for good.

The fact that the game has been gradually taken away from its roots and tailored increasingly towards well-heeled and deep-pocketed 'tourist fans' as a result of soaring ticket prices, exorbitant merchandise costs and inhospitable kick off times is a sign of the times, unfortunately.

Can it be changed? I don't think it can, because the genie is out of the bottle and there's probably no way to stuff it back in.

As Sunderland fans, all we can do is roll with it, see what the future brings, and hope that we don't get left behind as the gravy train continues to hurtle along at breakneck speed. It is worrying, but it's simply the way the game is going.

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Dear Roker Report,

Is Tom Cannon not a bit pricey?

Probably, but not by Premier League standards, where £13 million is nothing, really.

I don't know why people are so bothered by what it costs, as the club have been very sensible in recent years and they wouldn't needlessly risk our future by overspending.

The people at the helm have a full grasp on what to do and when to do it.

Big signings now could get us promoted, by which point £13 million will look like a bargain.

Ian Hughes

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Ian. Thank you for getting in touch.

Tom Cannon is a very interesting potential signing, because he's clearly a very talented striker with a good record at this level. That said, the figures being bandied around do seem on the steep side by Sunderland standards, even if that cost would be offset were he to score the goals that fired us to promotion.

Personally, I'd be very surprised if he's a Sunderland player by the end of the transfer window.

I suspect the club will have other targets in mind and will eventually move on rather than get embroiled in a bidding war for Cannon. I do think we could use another striker, and it'll be interesting to see if we bring one in before the window closes.

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