Norwich fans attitude to FA Cup disappointing

[Lisa Ate All The Bread Again 0]

Hi first thread I''ve started but a bit annoying on returning from the match, not so much with the result but the attitude of fans sitting around me and in the bar at half time.

Performance wasn''t great, but that''s beside the point.

The number of people today, who were saying not really bothered as its the league that counts got pretty annoying in the end, and is a reflection of how little the FA cup is valued these days.

As a kid and up to a few years ago, the FA cup draw and the rounds itself were met with great anticipation.

I understand the figures involved with premiership money and it is important for the club to stay up, but surely I can''t be the only city fan left who loves a little FA cup dream.

Last season man city fans were saying they would take fourth place in the league over the FA cup. Really? Isn''t football about dreaming of a trophy, and we are not talking about the zenith data systems cup, this is the FA cup, the most famous and popular club trophy in the world until recently.

Just flicked on itv and the Sunderland v Arsenal is being played out in front of a half empty stadium.

We often say money isn''t everything when we talk in pubs and at work about teams being taken over by billionaires, yet here we are neglecting such a historic trophy, it really is baffling how such a great competition has become a 3rd rate cup over the last few years, and a bit annoying that money really does talk even in our eyes now.

Honestly fans today who didn''t seem to care that we were losing then drawing then losing in the last 16 of lithe FA cup, mental.

R.I.P FA Cup

[sgncfc 1,251]

So blame the FA whose competition it is for not allocating enough prize money to it. £3.4m if you win as against £40m if you stay in the Premier League. It''s quite clear what the FA think is the priority.

Getting as high up the league as we can is absolutely our priority and as for your Man City point, I would definitely rather be in the Champions League than win the FA Cup.

The reality is that the FA Cup is now only significant to Football League clubs. That might be disappointing, but it''s true. I''m slightly upset that we lost today but not at all surprised after the vibe coming from Lambert this week and the team he picked - he might claim it was good enough to win but it was a worse line up than against Burnley or West Brom so I think it is quite clear that Lambert was only really interested in League points.

Maybe in a year or two as an established PL side we might be able to take it more seriously and go for the "trophy" but at the moment it isn''t relevant to us.

[Lisa Ate All The Bread Again 0]

This is my point, would 3 or 4 games extra this Eason really have affected our status that much. It''s not as if the players work on a building site Monday to Friday, yes they do train hard, but that is there job.

I''m sure the 80s and 90s if most of you were asked if you would rather a mistake finish or win the FA cup you would have said what a stupid question.

Money is vital for clubs to survive but I would like to think we had more class than the likes of man city and Chelsea.

1 place higher in the league or a major trophy shouldn''t really even be a discussion.

Sad.

[Lisa Ate All The Bread Again 0]

Other point is, what memories would you rather share with your grand kids? Tell them about the year we finished 8th or the year we got to wembley?

We seem to have forgotten where we have risen from as a club, and I am slightly envious of Leicester tonight, as a championship club in the great competitions last 8.

Will also say I thought the Leicester fans really backed their team for the whole match. Where I was sat it was like a morgue.

[drurys testamonials V 15 0]

I agree with you OP. Very sad to hear Norwich fans so ambivalent to the romance of the cup. We are in a relatively safe position so Lambert should of gambled today. Leicester were not an easy side to draw against however we are not going to get many better opportunities with a draw like that again especially whe you consider the other teams left in the FAC

[Lisa Ate All The Bread Again 0]

More disappointed with the fans today than the players performance.

Got used to players becoming more interested in money and status, not talking about our own players, but harder to take when it''s fans.

The worst thing I''ve heard in a few years at Darrow road today was a man in his 50s say, it''s only the FA cup. Those words baffled me. Only? Seriously?

We need to go back to 1 place in the Europeon, or champions cup for league winners only, 1 place in the Uefa cup or whatever stupid name they are giving it now, 1 place for league cup and 1 place for FA cup. Having a team in 4th finish 30 points off the top, playing a team from Austria who have already played two or three qualifiers demeans the troohys. And if this was as standard for Europe perhaps teams would then deem our once great cup competition valuable again regardless of prize money.

Did Sutton, Hereford, Yeovil etc think about the prize money when they won there massive giant killing cup ties? Take it back to basics and regain tradition.

Rewind 27 years and I honestly think that milk cup win wouldn''t have happened if it were today. Disappointing times.

[......and Smith must score. 1,355]

If NCFC can''t be a*sed about the FA Cup why did we send out strong sides against Burnley and WBA ?

[Lisa Ate All The Bread Again 0]

I''m talking about fans attitudes not players or lineup.

[Two penneth 0]

Ah yes, those were the days, when the only live game was the cup final or England internationals, when clubs like Derby and Forest could win division one. The excitement of the draw, would we get a big club? The FA cup, the passion, the packed stadium hoping for something more exciting than run of the mill league fixtures.Sadly those days are gone. Money is the driving force among the ''businesses'' that football clubs have become. and money is the Premier League. Staying in the premier league for the next ten seasons would mean more to me than winning the cup. However, make the FA cup worth £60 million to the winner with £40 million for losing semi finalists etc then it might be taken more seriously.The truth is, to me, in the premier league, every game feels like a cup game, far more exciting, meaningful, tense than any of the ''real'' cup games I''ve been to this season.

[MC Fearfull 0]

I agree its a waste, f*** the league we are basically safe anyway we have not had a decent cup run for years and to stop at the 5th round is pathetic when you look at things, no offence to Leicester but if they are better than us on the whole they would not be in the Championship... we should have won today.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Why should we have won today, we didnt deserve to win and we lost. It happens, too many people turned up today assuming a victory was the only outcome.

[Lisa Ate All The Bread Again 0]

Those days are gone I agree, and there is great money from staying in the premier league.

Surely though a trophy is more important.

What would you want to achieve? Look back at a career and say I played for a team who finished 8th, 12th then 9th in 3 years, or say I won the FA cup.

For me this all began when stupid bonus were given for playing for your country.

You get your wage as a player, your job is a footballer, surely as a fan you would want to win the FA cup over a top ten finish?

Playing for your country and winning the FA cup is now less important than playing in the so called big league. ( I do feel Spain and maybe Italy and Germany are better but different subject)

Surely every fan dreams of seeing there team win at wembley?

It seems to be not these days, I really don''t feel that a few extra games would have seen us plummet, and it is sad when people would rather we beat Man Utd than won the FA cup.

I had great days out for FA Cup semis, ( well Everyon till news of hillsborough filtered through) FA cup semi day was always a big big day on the calendar, now the cup and to a certain extent England games are looked at as a chore rather than excitement.

This thread wasn''t a dig at players today, it was disillusion at city fans dismissive attitude towards the cup.

And with Arsenal out, Chelseaa just hanging in, we really would have a great chance to at least our best ever cup run.

It''s sad that we have gone from this great support who backed our team to successive promotions to now being in that premiership mind frame where more is more important.

Premiership survival is important, but people I was sat around think beating Man Utd next week, because it''s manure, is more important than winning a historic trophy. Gutted it''s come to that to be frank.

[Power Hamster 0]

The simple solution to restoring the FA Cup to its former prestige, is to give one of the Champions League places to the winners. That would make them take it seriously, and as it is called the "Champions" league, surely a team that has actually won something is more worthy of a place than one that has only come 4th in the league?

[Lisa Ate All The Bread Again 0]

What I say power hamster.

Restructure europeon places.

Champions league for domestic cup and title winners only and uefa cup for runners up only.

Sure a few fans and teams would start to find just the FA cup a bit more romantic again.