Hopes of a Cup revival

As Arsenal fans prepare for their FA Cup Final with Chelsea tomorrow, how many will really be thinking about next Wednesday's Premiership decider against Manchester United?

Cardiff might occupy their immediate thoughts but their hearts are probably already at Old Trafford where the Gunners will clinch the title if they avoid defeat.

That is the nature of the FA Cup these days - or so the critics would have you believe. Earlier this season Newcastle manager Bobby Robson described the excitement of the FA Cup as "skin-tingling" and stated defiantly it is "still the best cup competition in the world by far".

He may be right but the fact he felt the need to defend the competition tells you everything about its current standing in football.

The same weekend as Robson made his remarks, only 17,624 fans watched Middlesbrough's 2-0 fourth round win over the country's biggest footballing draw, Manchester United.

The empty seats, highlighted by television, made the point more succinctly than Robson could. With Champions League and Premiership football providing a near seven-day footballing feast, the critics argue the FA Cup is no more than a side dish.

The possible reasons for its decline are well documented. They include United's decision to pull out of the 2000 FA Cup to play in the World Club Championship, the fact clubs no longer include all Cup games in their season-ticket packages, changing kick-off times and its position in football's calendar. But the most telling confession came from the Football Association and its chief executive Adam Crozier who made reforming the FA Cup one of his priorities.

That was just over two years ago. So how is the patient progressing?

"I don't swallow all this FA Cup has lost its magic stuff," said the FA's commercial director Paul Barber. "What bugs me about it is that it comes from journalists looking for an angle. If you ask football people they will tell you they love the competition. We have had no problem selling our new sponsors the FA Cup.

"I was in Dubai this week for a football business conference and in the first hour four people asked me about the FA Cup. One was Asian, one was from the Middle East, one was German and one was English. That showed me how it still had massive appeal and tomorrow people from 200 countries will be watching it on television.

"It's an awesome institution. Last year I stood in the tunnel after Arsenal had lost the Final to Liverpool and I remember the look on the Arsenal players' faces. Anyone who says the FA Cup doesn't matter should have seen how devastated they were. It's totally unpredictable and that is its magic."

Barber's argument is backed up by the statistics. In 1999-2000 total attendances for the FA Cup, including the Final, were 1,622,410. The following season they rose to 1,723,252. With tomorrow's game being a 72,500 sellout, the total for this season will be 1,729,678.

Apart from a few blips that is a trend borne out with average attendancesin each of the rounds. Live TV audiences are also up.

Last season, when live FA Cup games were shown on ITV1 and Sky Sports, the average on all rounds up to the semi-final was 5.7 million per game. This season on the BBC and Sky it is 6.2m.

The big test comes with tomorrow's Final. The match has lost 4m viewers in the past two seasons and last year's was watched by just over 5m. The BBC and the FA are determined to get back to the 10m mark, which was the BBC's average before ITV took over the contract in 1997.

But the BBC's audience-grabbing scheduling has caused problems for the fans who go to watch the FA Cup live. While Arsenal's semi-final against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford, which was shown on Sky, kicked off at 4pm, the BBC game between Chelsea and Fulham at Villa Park began three hours later.

The traffic chaos which followed that tie in Birmingham led to severe criticism from the two clubs and their fans. But Barber says Fulham rejected the idea of playing the match at Highbury because their fans would not get a fair share of tickets and then moaned about it afterwards.

He adds that everything was done to minimise disruption for supporters travelling back to London from Villa Park that Sunday night.

"I find it hard to stomach being criticised for things we are not in control of," said Barber.

No doubt there will be more criticism after Arsenal and Chelsea fans have endured the journey back to London from Cardiff. Again Barber says the FA has done everything it can to ensure the day goes as smoothly as possible and has issued travel advice for fans, which is published above.

But he added: "We are not promising problem-free traffic and travel.

"Anyone who has travelled on the motorway or on a train at the weekend knows the sort of problems with roadworks and delays.

"We are trying to get more than 70,000 people onto trains and out through a narrow road onto a motorway at the same time. It is a massive logistical challenge. All we can do is talk to the agencies involved and make sure everyone is pulling in the same direction."

From next season the next set of FA Cup reforms will kick in. With AXA's sponsorship ending tomorrow the FA Cup will no longer have a title sponsor. It will be part of the new FA partners scheme, a £200m deal where five companies back all the FA's teams and services.

The FA is also planning to move the Cup Final to its rightful place as the finale to the domestic season.

Perhaps then, with the Premiership sorted out, fans will be able to concentrate on the game.

Arsenal v Chelsea
FA Cup Final tomorrow, 3pm
Sky Sports 2, starting at noon
BBC1, starting at 12.10pm
Highlights at 11pm BBC1

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