FA Cup - Where's the magic gone??

April 19th 2015 - Liverpool v Villa in the second Semi final of the once prestigious FA Cup, theres no  double page pull outs in the papers, not much shouting about it on the box, and only a handful of people tweeting about it, mainly from the clubs involved. What on earth has happened to this ICON of the footballing world?

Theres more noise about this weekends Premier League games in the news than the two semi finals. Leicester City are off the Bottom - Chelsea grind out result against United thats all the back pages read, a small column in the bottom left hand corner mentions the result of the other semi final, theres no bells or whistles and no pun - Just the full time score.

British football is now dominated by the riches of the Premier League. Clubs would rather finish 4th than win the cup... how times have changed. In five years time no one will remember who won the FA Cup in 2015, yet they will remember who finished fourth that season! Just look at Spurs and Everton they have spent so long trying to break back into the monopoly of the top 4, yet if they had just given that extra push in the cups they would have surly won a few medals instead of having an empty trophy room!

One of the games greats - Gerrard is calling time on his Liverpool career to move over to the MLS, if you ask him right now what would he rather achieve in his final season with the club - a top four finish or a FA Cup medal, I bet he would be undecided! Yet years ago players like Gazza, Adams, Ginola, Gray, Rush would of laughed at that question, in fact that question wouldn't off even existed.

Something needs to change for the love & the future of the game! Maybe just maybe when the money dries up  the Premier League may fall from grace just like the FA Cup.

Teams of 2012

With 2012 turning into 2013, we @ It's a football thing have been a bit slow getting our teams of the year together, we could blame it on the rain or we could blame it on the Midweeker getting Man flu and being stuck in bed for god knows how long......

Fear not as we have finally made our selections and for the first time in 3 years Joe Hart fails to make it into either pundits team! Joe has been solid but there have been some outstanding displays by other keepers throughout 2012 including that twat of a bloke Szczesny. Defending was a problem throughout 2012, with teams such as Tottenham & Newcastle conceding 5 or more on more than a few occasions! As for Man United they had been leaking goals left right and centre! On the United front what has happened to the likes of Smalling and Jones? 2012 also saw Paul 'ave ago' Scholes return to Manchester as he got bored playing fifa on the PS3.

West Ham returned to the top flight and then decided to buy Andy Carroll.... lets just say he hasn't really hit the ground running... or played much!

What a signing Michu has been for the Swans! The Midweeker had tipped them to go down this season, but with Michu up top the Swans on their day can beat anyone anywhere.... Just ask Arsenal!

2012 saw the Toffees start a season on fire! it makes a change for them, in the past they seemed to like playing ketch-up (not the tomato type)

So with our debate settled with who makes the starting 11 of our teams of the year The weekender slumped in his pint of best raises his head and shouts out a request for Friedel to move the O's on loan!