FA Cup fever is in the air again and don?t you just love it! We will start as favourites against West Ham, but as we’ve seen many times in the past, that counts for nothing and anything can happen on the day.
Although it may have faded somewhat in recent years, there?s still something magical about the FA Cup. It falls far behind the Premiership and the Champions League in terms of a top teams priorities for the season but its still very much a trophy that every club wants to win. The English FA Cup is most certainly unique in the world of football which I suppose must be put down to its long and proud history.
People may argue over whether the Premiership is the strongest league in Europe and others may argue about whether the Champions League is as strong as its South American equivalent but nobody would ever argue against the fact that the English FA Cup is the greatest domestic cup competition in the world.
Supporters of every team in England will have their own unique relationship with the cup, just as we have ours. Tales of finals or cracking cup ties from years gone by, get passed down from generation to generation and become part of the folklore and the very fabric of every club.
From Liverpool?s perspective the FA Cup remains close to the hearts of all supporters young and old alike. Way before our time, Liverpool?s attempt to win its first FA Cup became an almost mythical grail-like quest. From the year we were founded in 1892, it took us 22 years to reach our first final but sadly we were beaten 1-0 by Burnley (without the help of Djimi Traore this time!). It took another 36 years before we got to another final but we suffered heartbreak once again when were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal.
15yrs later with Shankly in charge and after 73yrs of trying, we finally managed to get our hands on the trophy for the first time with a 2-1 win over Leeds. Its hard for us today to fully grasp what this victory meant to the club and its supporters at the time but a good indicator is the fact that many older Reds fans still regard this triumph as Liverpool?s greatest ever. Its also a great measure of the foundations put in place by Shanks that despite the 73 barren years that preceded our first success in the competition, we have almost a 25% success rate of reaching the final in the years since, with Saturdays final being our 10th in just over 40yrs.
In 1971 we lost in the final 2-1, again at the hands of Arsenal but in 1974 we won the competition again with a 3-0 thrashing of Newcastle. This game proved to be Shankly?s last one in charge of the club as he shocked everyone by retiring in the aftermath of the celebrations. Bob Paisley took over the reins and went on to become the most successful manager of all time but despite the many successes he brought to the club to, it was always a sense of regret to him that he never managed to lead us to an FA Cup win.
The closest he came was in 1977 when Liverpool swept away all before them which put them in a position of winning a unique treble of League, FA and European cups. For me personally, the FA Cup final of that year was also a bit of a landmark event as it was the first final I ever attended. We had already wrapped up the league and were looking ahead to the European Cup final in Rome. However sandwiched in between was the ?formality? of a trip to Wembley to beat the mancs and pick up the FA Cup, or at least that?s the way I saw it as an 11yr old kid at the time.
I remember being awe-struck by the magnificence of Wembley as it heaved in an ocean of Red on a glorious sunny day. However, by the end of the game I couldn?t wait to get out of the place. Somehow, almost unbelievably the bastard mancs had managed to beat us 2-1, how could the Gods be so cruel! However, our disappointment wasn?t to last long and we captured the European Cup shortly later.
In 1986 with King Kenny in charge, we beat the blueshite 3-1 in a memorable final and clinched The Double that year. In ?88 we had our horrible encounter with Wimbledon. They scored early through a Laurie Sanchez header and through a disallowed goal, a missed penalty and every ounce of luck that was going on the day, they somehow managed to hang on to their lead and win the trophy. The following year, we returned to our favourite past-time of beating the blueshite and won the final 3-2.
The following two seasons we lost in the semi-finals but returned to the final again in 1992 with Graeme Souness in charge and beat Sunderland 2-0 in a one sided affair. In 1996, it was Roy Evans turn to take us to a final where we played the mancs in a tight game that looked to be going to extra time until the flukiest, most over-rated player in the history of the game Eric CUNTona stuck out a leg and managed to hit a crappy volley that somehow managed to bobble into the net, and the bastard mancs did us again.
With Houllier in charge in 2001 we got to the final to face Arsenal. For over 70 minutes of that game they battered us but somehow through a combination of good defending, bad finishing and the Hand of Henchoz, they only managed to have one goal to show for their efforts. The latter part of the game was ours and St Michael managed to brilliantly put away the two chances that came his way and we pinched the cup from them with a 2-1 win, one of a treble of cups we won that year.
This brings us up to date and our FA Cup final encounter with the West Ham on Saturday. The Hammers have enjoyed a brilliantly successful return to the topflight and regardless of the outcome of Saturday?s game, they have already qualified for next seasons UEFA Cup, so they will go into the game without any real pressure on their shoulders. Despite this, we will quite rightly start as favourites to win the game. However, the FA Cup can be a very fickle mistress and as my earlier mini trawl through our cup history show?s, we have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly side of her over the years. We have lost finals that we really should have won and won finals that we really should have lost, so we mustn?t take anything for granted.
If we turn up and play as we can, then we will win and it?s as simple as that but if we get complacent and are not fully on our game then it could well be West Ham?s day. However, I?m sure Rafa will have the team fully focussed on the task at hand and after dumping the mancs and chelski out of the competition, it would be a shame if we fell at the last hurdle. So I fancy us to win the cup with a 2-0 win and Crouch and Gerrard on the scoresheet. The only piece of silverware that the Hammers will be bringing home from Cardiff is Teddy Sheringham?s zimmer frame!
Share this article
