Snow and crowds; falling around us

'5,335, seriously'. That was the reaction of many including myself to the shockingly low attendance at the FA Cup Third Round tie between Wigan Athletic and Hull City. On a 3rd round Saturday that lacked the sparkle of any potential upsets this attendance figure was surely one of the most worrying and perplexing stories in this football season. Some said it was a general downturn in the popularity of the FA Cup as a spectacle, especially in the earlier rounds. That is right to some extent, it doesn't help when Premier League sides put out weakened XI's even against reasonable Championship sides but personally I feel it is a club-to-club problem. Taking the whole weekend into account, attendances where lower due to the cold temperatures and the cup being a week earlier this year and nearer to those Boxing Day and New Year sales but that can't be the explanation to the silent DW Stadium. For example, Aston Villa's home tie against Blackburn Rovers, a similarly all-Premiership tie not involving the top 4, brought in 25,433 punters. When you compare those two homes sides, Villa and Wigan, there's one huge difference between them and it's history and this is where the problem for Wigan lies.

Having only been in the Premier League a few seasons and with no major trophy to there name. Wigan as a town has a greater sporting history in rugby league with the Warriors being the most successful British league side. It's just the same situation as my home town of Sheffield but vice versa. Sheffield Eagles will never be able to gain the same reputation and prestige from the locals because the Steel City is a football city. Returning to the 'magic' of the Cup arguement, personally my respect for the FA Cup has come from my dad when the Cup was just as important as the league which united with my opinion on the historic value of a club shows somewhat in the number of people who turned up to the games last weekend.

The question now is how do clubs and the FA combat this and boost the reputation of the greatest cup competition in the world against the brands of the Premier League, Champions League and the stronger European leagues. The clubs have their hands tie behind their backs, reducing ticket prices isn't something they want to be doing at the moment and anything they do will cost money through advertising and other initiatives. For me the buck lies with the FA. First things first, no change of the competition's format is required, if they want to experiment with such things then that's what the League Cup is for. At the moment the FA Cup Winners are given a place in the following season's Europa League/UEFA Cup. But why not give them the fourth Champions League spot. Sadly this probably won't happen, the big four will probably kick up too much of a fuss about it, but if it happened you probably wouldn't see Premier League teams giving fringe players a run out, the pressure would mount for the top four as each of them would need to win the competition to be safe for next season. But with the format the same and every chance that on the day a high spirited League One side could come along and send the house of cards crashing down. As I said before, the big four won't like it, but the last time I looked the Football League had 92 clubs in it, the other 88 would love it.

But the chances of this happening are sadly not exsistent, not whilst we have a board in charge of the FA they make a mockery of any game at Wembley by staying in their posh lounges with their entourages at the beginning of the 2nd half, all to see as ITV broadcast pictures of an empty block of seats behind Messers Capello, Ferguson and Wenger. Yes this is a rant and I could quite easily go into ITV's lack of advertising on its upcoming FA Cup games but I'll hold that for another day.

To conclude, changes are going to have to be made to rejuvenate the FA Cup. They won't be easy and there will be tantrums but it would be for the good of English football and a lack of change will definately leave the FA Cup in peril in the long term, and in turn England's 2018 World Cup bid (another topic for another day). It's the not the competition that's wrong, it's the people running it. The Old Trafford classic on Sunday showed how the FA Cup should be, two sides poles apart in ability scrapping it out and the best team on the day taking the spoils. I admit as a Sheffield United fan I'm not the fondest of the blokes up the M1 but I couldn't help but smile at the passion still at that club that shone through. Good luck to them when they go to Tottenham in Round 4, they're going to need it as I see Spurs being one of the only top sides taking the FA Cup seriously this year and are my tip for Wembley glory. Until next week enjoy the snow!