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Is TV the reason Manchester United always draw a Premier League side in FA Cup?
... and why Liverpool FC always get an Oldham or a Macclesfield
MANCHESTER United fans waited for the FA Cup fifth-round draw with weary cynicism. A home draw is often seen as a positive in cup football, but many hardcore fans yearned for an away tie at a club they’ve never been to before.
A trip to Huddersfield Town or Millwall, with a big ticket allocation and a cracking atmosphere which fulfils all the clichés about the romance of the cup.
But these games don’t happen any more. United recently have been drawn against Premier League opponents, usually at home.
Some senior Old Trafford figures are baffled. They think the Football Association want a big tie in each round to ensure there’s an exciting fixture to keep television companies ESPN and ITV happy. They think that’s why United get top-flight opponents, while Liverpool meet Oldham Athletic and Mansfield Town.
A United game attracts far higher viewing figures than every other club. The average in-match audience for the Fulham game was 709,000, while Chelsea v Brentford was 529,000.
So you can see why every single United FA Cup match since 2005 has been broadcast live, 37 of them on the bounce which, understandably, has infuriated some smaller clubs who miss out on television money which would make a big difference to their coffers.
Macclesfield Town wondered why their fourth-round game against Wigan Athletic wasn’t broadcast last weekend, a non-league club against a Premier League team. The counter argument is that it was a game between two north-west clubs who were non-league sides for the majority of their existence, that a reserve Wigan team is hardly a great sell to advertisers or the casual armchair fan.
So United get the televised vote, time and time again. TV companies know that showing United guarantees a big audience, even if some of the major names, such as van Persie last Saturday, do not play. Squad rotation for such games is a wider reflection of the way the tournament is viewed these days but the fact is that any United starting XI will feature more internationals than not.
And so it proved once more this year, with a home draw against Reading following the home draw against Fulham and an away game at West Ham.
The seven goals in the first 34 minutes of December’s league game against Reading was the most exciting first half of this season, but Reading at home doesn’t raise the slightest bit of excitement. United should win and the sixth round will be treated with the same weariness as the fifth and fourth, with fatalists expecting a visit from a Wigan side more concerned with staying up than in the cup.
United’s last FA Cup final appearance was the 2007 snooze-fest against Chelsea. A lad on the row in front was so drunk that he slept through the whole game. At first, it was easy to curse the waste of money and a ticket. But maybe he had it right.
Since the start of that 2006-7 season, United have played 26 FA Cup ties. Twenty of those opponents have been from the Premier League. In their last 26 games, Arsenal have drawn 14 top-flight teams, Liverpool 11, Manchester City and Chelsea 10 each.
United keep being paired with the same teams too, drawing Liverpool, Manchester City, Spurs, Reading, Southampton, Fulham, Portsmouth, Arsenal and Villa twice. It’s freakish.
Fans don’t want an easy, weaker opponent, but some variety to break the numbing predictability of draws which should be anything but. The last United FA Cup game not to be televised was against non-league Exeter City in 2005. Far from being a cakewalk, it finished 0-0 at Old Trafford. A third round tie at third division Bournemouth in 1984 saw a rookie manager called Harry Redknapp lead his side to a 2-0 triumph against United, while way back in 1953, non league Walthamstow Avenue got a 1-1 draw in Manchester in the fourth round.
Or maybe it’s payback. In 1990, en-route to Ferguson’s first trophy at Old Trafford, United were drawn away in every round of the FA Cup at the Uniteds of Hereford, Newcastle and Sheffield, before playing Oldham and Crystal Palace at Maine Road and Wembley. Excuse me for getting all misty eyed at memories of such cup runs.
... and why Liverpool FC always get an Oldham or a Macclesfield
MANCHESTER United fans waited for the FA Cup fifth-round draw with weary cynicism. A home draw is often seen as a positive in cup football, but many hardcore fans yearned for an away tie at a club they’ve never been to before.
A trip to Huddersfield Town or Millwall, with a big ticket allocation and a cracking atmosphere which fulfils all the clichés about the romance of the cup.
But these games don’t happen any more. United recently have been drawn against Premier League opponents, usually at home.
Some senior Old Trafford figures are baffled. They think the Football Association want a big tie in each round to ensure there’s an exciting fixture to keep television companies ESPN and ITV happy. They think that’s why United get top-flight opponents, while Liverpool meet Oldham Athletic and Mansfield Town.
A United game attracts far higher viewing figures than every other club. The average in-match audience for the Fulham game was 709,000, while Chelsea v Brentford was 529,000.
So you can see why every single United FA Cup match since 2005 has been broadcast live, 37 of them on the bounce which, understandably, has infuriated some smaller clubs who miss out on television money which would make a big difference to their coffers.
Macclesfield Town wondered why their fourth-round game against Wigan Athletic wasn’t broadcast last weekend, a non-league club against a Premier League team. The counter argument is that it was a game between two north-west clubs who were non-league sides for the majority of their existence, that a reserve Wigan team is hardly a great sell to advertisers or the casual armchair fan.
So United get the televised vote, time and time again. TV companies know that showing United guarantees a big audience, even if some of the major names, such as van Persie last Saturday, do not play. Squad rotation for such games is a wider reflection of the way the tournament is viewed these days but the fact is that any United starting XI will feature more internationals than not.
And so it proved once more this year, with a home draw against Reading following the home draw against Fulham and an away game at West Ham.
The seven goals in the first 34 minutes of December’s league game against Reading was the most exciting first half of this season, but Reading at home doesn’t raise the slightest bit of excitement. United should win and the sixth round will be treated with the same weariness as the fifth and fourth, with fatalists expecting a visit from a Wigan side more concerned with staying up than in the cup.
United’s last FA Cup final appearance was the 2007 snooze-fest against Chelsea. A lad on the row in front was so drunk that he slept through the whole game. At first, it was easy to curse the waste of money and a ticket. But maybe he had it right.
Since the start of that 2006-7 season, United have played 26 FA Cup ties. Twenty of those opponents have been from the Premier League. In their last 26 games, Arsenal have drawn 14 top-flight teams, Liverpool 11, Manchester City and Chelsea 10 each.
United keep being paired with the same teams too, drawing Liverpool, Manchester City, Spurs, Reading, Southampton, Fulham, Portsmouth, Arsenal and Villa twice. It’s freakish.
Fans don’t want an easy, weaker opponent, but some variety to break the numbing predictability of draws which should be anything but. The last United FA Cup game not to be televised was against non-league Exeter City in 2005. Far from being a cakewalk, it finished 0-0 at Old Trafford. A third round tie at third division Bournemouth in 1984 saw a rookie manager called Harry Redknapp lead his side to a 2-0 triumph against United, while way back in 1953, non league Walthamstow Avenue got a 1-1 draw in Manchester in the fourth round.
Or maybe it’s payback. In 1990, en-route to Ferguson’s first trophy at Old Trafford, United were drawn away in every round of the FA Cup at the Uniteds of Hereford, Newcastle and Sheffield, before playing Oldham and Crystal Palace at Maine Road and Wembley. Excuse me for getting all misty eyed at memories of such cup runs.
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