Hypothetical FA Cup Scenario

Assuming Boro go through, the Semi-Finals were also drawn at the same time and the following fixtures came out, would you focus on getting to the final if you were a smaller club?

Cardiff City v West Bromich Albinon
Bristol Rovers v Barnsley
Chelsea v Manchester United
Middlesbrough v Portsmouth

[Bristol Rovers v Barnsley] v [Cardiff City v West Bromich Albinon]
[Chelsea v Manchester United] v [Middlesbrough v Portsmouth]

Is aiming to lose the final really a good enough incentive for the fans of those clubs?

Depends on the smaller clubs position in the leauge, if near the relegation zone, i would focus on the leauge.

However if Midtable and above, pay a bit of attention to the FA Cup.

Firstly it's going to generate revenue for a club, esp if against one of the bigger teams, not that they're many left.

Also a final finish (or FA cup win), could mean european football which also comes with finanical rewards amongst other things.

what an odd question. why would aiming to lose the final be the incentive? it's the prestige of the day out at wembley, the dream of against-the-odds glory and the chance for their club to be the focus of the nation that will be the incentive for fans.

teams like barnsley, cardiff, rovers have little to play for in the league, so their fa cup run will have made their season already. for west brom, promotion will be their primary aim, but i'd bet a fair few fans would trade that for another fa cup (they have an impressive record in the competition already, but their glory days have long since past). chances like this don't come around all that often.

Would be great to see a lower league team reach the final. That way if the question of "Who was the last team to reach the Cup final while playing outside of the Premiership?" were ever to arise, the answer wouldn't be M*llwall.

TM wrote:Depends on the smaller clubs position in the leauge, if near the relegation zone, i would focus on the leauge.

However if Midtable and above, pay a bit of attention to the FA Cup.

Firstly it's going to generate revenue for a club, esp if against one of the bigger teams, not that they're many left.

Also a final finish (or FA cup win), could mean european football which also comes with finanical rewards amongst other things.

jesus. are bristol rovers really two wins away from being in next years uefa cup? that's awesome. but also terrible as i actually hate bristol rovers for beating us at wembley last year. bastards.

they'll probably do it, and villa will finish 6th and miss out on europe much like we did when millwall got there. bastards.

debaser wrote:

TM wrote:Depends on the smaller clubs position in the leauge, if near the relegation zone, i would focus on the leauge.

However if Midtable and above, pay a bit of attention to the FA Cup.

Firstly it's going to generate revenue for a club, esp if against one of the bigger teams, not that they're many left.

Also a final finish (or FA cup win), could mean european football which also comes with finanical rewards amongst other things.

jesus. are bristol rovers really two wins away from being in next years uefa cup? that's awesome. but also terrible as i actually hate bristol rovers for beating us at wembley last year. bastards.

they'll probably do it, and villa will finish 6th and miss out on europe much like we did when millwall got there. bastards.

No i believe theres a seperate UEFA CUp place allocated to Finalist, but you usually have to start from the early qualifying rounds.

Both. I see no reason why you would focus less on a game just because you're in another competition at the same time.

Dwarf wrote:Is aiming to lose the final really a good enough incentive for the fans of those clubs?

Maybe they could aim to win?

Wimbledon and Sunderland not only aimed to win but they did win!

Anyway, Bristol Rovers or Barnsley at the Bridge please.

Sir Les wrote:Wimbledon and Sunderland not only aimed to win but they did win!

Wimbledon would be the equivalent of Portsmouth or Boro winning, which isn't out the question with the right draw. The fairy tale ending would be wonderful, but another Milwall like procession will probably be on the cards if either Man Utd or Chelsea reach the final.

debaser wrote:
what an odd question. why would aiming to lose the final be the incentive? it's the prestige of the day out at wembley, the dream of against-the-odds glory and the chance for their club to be the focus of the nation that will be the incentive for fans.

The FA's desire for both semi-final's to be played at wembley ruins the tradition. Without, everything you said is true, but with the current scenario being presented with the oppertunity doesn't matter as much as it would have before.

After todays performance I think its clear this cup is ours

TM wrote:

debaser wrote:

TM wrote:Depends on the smaller clubs position in the leauge, if near the relegation zone, i would focus on the leauge.

However if Midtable and above, pay a bit of attention to the FA Cup.

Firstly it's going to generate revenue for a club, esp if against one of the bigger teams, not that they're many left.

Also a final finish (or FA cup win), could mean european football which also comes with finanical rewards amongst other things.

jesus. are bristol rovers really two wins away from being in next years uefa cup? that's awesome. but also terrible as i actually hate bristol rovers for beating us at wembley last year. bastards.

they'll probably do it, and villa will finish 6th and miss out on europe much like we did when millwall got there. bastards.

No i believe theres a seperate UEFA CUp place allocated to Finalist, but you usually have to start from the early qualifying rounds.

No.. it does not happen that way. England has three spots in next year's UEFA cup.
One spot is given to team finishing 5th in the league.

Next spot is given to Carling cup winner. In case the winner has already qualified for Europe via league, it will go to team finishing 6th in league. Runners up wont get that spot. So debaser, I think Villa can still get it if Chelsea win the CC.

One more spot is for FA Cup winner. In case the winner has already qualified via league position, then it goes to runners up. In case they too have qualified, it goes to 7th placed team in league.

I See RedNWhite wrote:

TM wrote:
No i believe theres a seperate UEFA CUp place allocated to Finalist, but you usually have to start from the early qualifying rounds.

No.. it does not happen that way. England has three spots in next year's UEFA cup.
One spot is given to team finishing 5th in the league.

Next spot is given to Carling cup winner. In case the winner has already qualified for Europe via league, it will go to team finishing 6th in league. Runners up wont get that spot. So debaser, I think Villa can still get it if Chelsea win the CC.

One more spot is for FA Cup winner. In case the winner has already qualified via league position, then it goes to runners up. In case they too have qualified, it goes to 7th placed team in league.

A scary thought, but if Liverpool win the Champions League a team could potentially have to finish 4th to qualify for the UEFA Cup