No excuse for top clubs’ FA ‘Cupsets’

Mar 16 2008 by Ken Oxley, Sunday Sun

LAST weekend, something happened that hadn’t occurred for 100 years.

Not an eclipse, other than of my hopes and dreams. Not a bizarre or obscure commemoration, although, heaven knows, there are enough of those. This was to do with the FA Cup.

It was quite a weekend for the mythical “neutral observer” as Manchester United, Chelsea — oh, joy of joys — and Middlesbrough were dumped unceremoniously out of the competition by the so-called underdogs.

It’s the first time for a century that there has only been one top flight team in the last four of the FA Cup and a non-Premiership side guaranteed a place in the final.

Will it be giant-killing Barnsley, the team the Boro would have faced if they had bothered to turn up when Cardiff came calling?

It’s all very well for Gareth Southgate to say how disappointed he is but, as a Boro fan, I am sick to death of these overpaid prima donnas saving their worst performances for when the stadium is full and the match on free-to-air national telly.

These guys earn in a week what the majority of season ticket holders earn in six months if not more. No wonder people are turning their attention to the Championship and Divisions One and Two, where it seems football still bears some relationship to the game we remember from a while back.

Talking of the Championship, if our top three North teams don’t pull their socks up, that’s where they’ll be playing next season. At the time of writing Newcastle are the worst performing team in all four divisions this year.

And spare a thought for Roy Keane, who threw his toys out of the pram when a player turned up late for training again.

With the money they are on, you’d think they could ask their butlers to wake them up in time, wouldn’t you?

YOU can hear Alan on Magic 1170 on MW and DAB Digital radio throughout Teesside, County Durham and North Yorkshire, 6am to 10am Monday to Friday. You can also email him at alan.ross@magicradio.com