At FA Cup, fans will be in their hearts

Norwich City versus Manchester United in the FA Cup. The romance of an unfancied side pitting their wits against one of the giants of the game, in the most famous and storied domestic cup competition in the footballing world. Except this isn’t the first of the quarter-finals this weekend but 1959, and the Canaries, from England’s Third Division, somehow overcome Matt Busby’s all-conquering Red Devils 3-0 in front of 38,000 incredulous fans at Carrow Road. Norwich’s 1959 run to the semi-finals changed the whole way the Club and the city saw itself.

That’s the ‘Magic of the Cup’ right there — the dream of a communal experience at Wembley. Even though they lost 6-0 to Manchester City in last season’s final, most Watford fans will tell you the journey to get there, right up to the 26th minute when David Silva scored, was absolutely worth it.

So the prospect of this year’s Emirates FA Cup being played out behind closed doors is arguably more saddening than watching the Premier League with no fans. And someone who knows exactly what an FA Cup final means is Mike Summerbee, who won with Manchester City in 1969.

“That day was very special,” remembers the Blues’ Club Ambassador, whose cross to Neil Adams led to the only goal of the game. “I was brought up in football, I remembered the famous Stanley Matthews final in 1953, so to walk out into this electric atmosphere was something genuinely amazing. I really felt like the fans and our team were in it together.”

Summerbee is confident that when Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City travel to Newcastle tomorrow, they will do so with the frame of mind that there’s a trophy to win, with fans in their hearts rather than their eye lines.