David Preece: There’s no magic beyond round three

THE internet is a wonderful thing, you know. Anything you want and there it is, right at the end of your fingertips. Which is a great help for someone like me who has a mind like swiss cheese; full of holes and very similar to Emmental.

It took less than 30 seconds of me sitting down to write this column to need a Safari search after my latest bout of Blankety Blank thinking when I thought back to who last year's winners were.

My initial thought was: “It must have been Arsenal. They win it every so often to keep Arsene in his job, so it must have been them.”

A quick Google and of course I was wrong, it was Manchester United. “Manchester United?” I quizzed myself. “Was it?”. And when I attempted to recall who was playing at last May, all I could come up with was a vision of Alan Pardew swivelling his hips like an accountant lap-dancing a colleague at his Christmas party.

This isn't how it's supposed to be. Ronnie . Jimmy Montgomery's save. Norman Whiteside shaping the ball around Neville like it was a boomerang. Steven Gerrard pulling his Liverpool side back from the brink.

That's what it should be about, so unless my mind is playing tricks on me, that tells me the FA Cup final has lost something. And there's no getting away from it, it has, but only in the final strait of the competition.

The “glamour” ties are fast losing their attraction. The appeal and importance of the cup to those elite clubs whose focus is on the more financially rewarding Champions League has waned and it's been left to the clubs to keep the tradition, the magic and the passion of the cup alive.

Connection

Classic FA Cup encounters after the third round are becoming rare beasts and there's just something about it that is like no other. The competition is like Kryptonite to some big hitters.

The Arsenals, Manchester Citys and Uniteds may walk away with the glory at the end of the season but it's the Non-League sides that make the FA Cup so special and that's where the focus should be moved to if fans want to make sure the most famous club competition in the world retains its relevance.

I know I'm preaching to the converted here but the cup has grown more special for me after my involvement in the qualifying rounds these past few years and its magic now begins to wane for me when the last Non-League side exits the competition.

It's understandable there were a few grumblings at the exposure Salford City received last season because of that already afforded them by their illustrious owners but it was a brilliant showcase for Non-League football.

TV companies might be surprised in the level of interest if they begin their coverage earlier. Usually interest doesn't stir in many fans until the later rounds but in this case the opposite has happened with me.

My interest in teams just qualifying for the FA Cup has certainly overtaken the competition itself. Last week's final qualifying round is every bit as exciting as any game prior to the third round of the cup because this is where the dreaming really begins.

The dreams of that big payday, that big tie that pits fans against their heroes. There's a rawness of emotion that is echoed on the terraces, connecting the two. A connection which has long been lost at many bigger clubs.

Apathy

Because of this disinterest, this apathy, further down the line towards Wembley, the preliminary stages have become of far more interest.

The “magic of the cup” has been replaced by the “passion of the preliminaries” and when I can remember that Salford City played Notts County and in the early stages last season but not the finalists, that's when you know where the beauty of the competition lies now.

Fans want old-fashioned FA Cup games where victory and defeat actually mean something, not just something that is met with a Alan Partridge style shrug of the shoulders with a total air of indifference.

Watching everyone at AFC celebrating their win against is what the FA Cup is about and it's these clubs, these players and these fans who keep the magic of the cup alive.

FA Cup ties in the very early stages are where the best stories are and as a player I've experienced things that would only happen in those games. As part of a side, we went 1-0 up and down to ten men at within the space of a second as Darren Roberts was sent off for accidentally kicking the goalkeeper after scoring a penalty.

As the ball rebounded out of the net, Darren went to kick the ball back into the goal and inadvertently booted their keeper as he attempted to retrieve it. Cue a 70-minute barrage from the Non-League side and us hanging on to our place in the cup for dear life.

The next round was no less ridiculous after again playing with ten men for much of the second round replay to Solihull and referee Uriah Rennie proceeding to play 13 minutes of injury time – which just happened to be 12 minutes 55 seconds long enough for Solihull to manufacture an equalising goal and eventually take the game to penalties.

And all this came on the coattails of claims of bias against the referee of the original tie at Feethams who was seen drinking with board members from Solihull after the 1-1 draw, which included some dubious decisions.

The FA Cup may not produce the Ricky Villas, Dave Beasants or Keith Houchens that it seemed to do at an annual rate, but if you look around from September to December, you'll find them in abundance.

And that's why we should still celebrate the magic of the FA Cup, even if others decide it just gets in the way.

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