MARTIN KEOWN: DON’T MESS AROUND WITH IT!

IN this commercialised world, it sometimes feels as if those at the top of the game want to turn everything good about football into a product. Please, not the FA Cup! This is a real romantic’s competition, one steeped in football history that unearths such deep emotion among the fans. Don’t go messing around with that. I only got into the game through watching the FA Cup. Seeing Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 in the 1974 final inspired me as a kid. I knew straight away I wanted to lift that trophy, and I was lucky enough to do it three times. To even think about moving fixtures to midweek is ridiculous. One of the great joys of the FA Cup is seeing thousands of fans travelling across the country to pack out away stands. And for lower league clubs, especially, it can be a chance to rub shoulders with the big boys and celebrate a great day out. That just won’t happen if ties are held in midweek. It would further cheapen a competition that has taken enough hits already from people seeking to marginalise it. I was delighted when the final was switched back to its rightful place as the last game of the season and I see no reason to change its current format. People talk about removing replays but they are so important for the revenue of smaller clubs. Last week I covered West Bromwich Albion’s penalty shootout win over Peterborough in a replay watched by 5.6 million people. Three days earlier and 1.5m watched Chelsea draw 1-1 with Manchester United in the Premier League. So don’t tell me people are not interested in the FA Cup. I appreciate fixture congestion is a problem but the big clubs — who these changes are designed to benefit — have the money and the squads to cope. This is a cup for everybody to enjoy, not just the elite.