Queen's Park, Katić and Cupsets
A thrilling weekend of cup action illuminates the continued vitality of cup football in Britain against all the odds
Sunday was one of the most remarkable days of British cup football in modern times.
First, on the South Devon coast, Arne Slot’s seemingly invincible Liverpool came unstuck at the hands of Plymouth – a side who sit rock bottom of the Championship with only one win to their name in three months.
Then, an even bigger story as second-tier Queen’s Park produced one of the biggest shocks in Scottish Cup history to eliminate the mighty Rangers. This was the first time that Rangers have been knocked out of the cup by lower league opposition since the 1960s and the first time Queen’s Park had defeated Rangers in the cup since 1882.
It was a day that encapsulated everything that makes cup football such a potent expression of football heritage in both England and Scotland. Both games were dense with the kinds of timeless narrative tropes and iconic moments that give cup football its unique sense of continuity with the past.
In Plymouth we had the glorious sight of a bouncing Home Park as the “Green Army” created an intimidating, uproarious atmosphere. We had an agricultural eastern European skinhead centre half heading everything away despite having had a tooth knocked out in the first half. We saw the all-conquering Arne Slot humbled by the inevitable nature of the FA Cup. Think you can get away with playing a second string side in the Cup, Arne? Think again.
Up in Glasgow, the drama was even more heightened. Queen’s Park rocked up to Rangers with only four fit defenders and manager Callum Davidson forced to watch from the press box thanks to a touchline ban. Their goalscoring hero, Seb Drozd had only scored one goal all season and had previously been playing for Uxbridge in the Isthmian League – the eight tier of English football.
Even more remarkable were the exploits of the phenomenal Calum Ferrie in goal. The 26 year old put in a legendary performance, making nine saves – none more incredible than a 97th minute penalty save to win the game for The Spiders.
The astonishing action of this weekend comes against a wider context in which cup competitions both sides of the border seem to be under relentless attack, dismissed as a relic of football history and left to die by an increasingly apathetic football community.
There are a number of reasons for this demise.
Cup competitions are no longer the focus of the domestic calendar, often playing second fiddle to well-funded, more widely broadcast league competitions. Naturally, the biggest teams in both England and Scotland treat domestic cups especially contemptuously as they focus greater attention on lucrative continental football. The need for footballing authorities to satiate the whims of these powerful elite clubs has resulted in disastrous decisions for the sanctity of cup competitions, none more so than the recent scrapping of FA Cup replays. This was not only a hammer blow to the lore and heritage of the competition, but significantly undermines the opportunity for lower league teams to receive hugely transformative financial payouts from the competition.
Then, there is the biggest problem of all: the death of the “magic of the cup”.
In the 32 editions of the FA Cup since the foundation of the Premier League, only 4 teams outside the traditional “big 6” of English football have won the trophy. Even when Everton, Portsmouth and Leicester won the competition in 1995, 2008 and 2021 respectively, they could still boast one of the top 10 biggest budgets in English football. In this sense, Wigan Athletic stand alone as the only true “shock” winner of the FA Cup since 1992.
In parallel, individual cupsets and giant killings are also on the wane. The sheer financial muscle at the disposal of most top flight sides means they can hoard enough talent to easily negotiate passage past lower league opposition, even with second string lineups.
Quite simply as the financial gulf between the rich and poor gets ever wider in football, so too the possibility for the giant killings that have historically made cup football such a rich cultural seam are severely diminished.
All of this had bred a wide sense of apathy amongst supporters towards the cup competitions in both England and Scotland. This weekend in Scotland attendances for the last 16 of the cup were exceedingly low, with teams posting crowds of anywhere between 25% and 50% lower than their average SFL gate.
My fear is that the death of the cup competitions in England and Scotland would break one of the great narrative chains of intergenerationality and continuity that makes the British game so special.
I was raised in a house of West Brom supporters and football traditionalists. I was weaned on stories of Jeff Astle’s cup final heroics. Albion’s five FA Cup wins are central to our sense of identity as a genuine heavyweight of English football. I was even lucky enough to experience the joy, excitement and ultimate heartbreak of an FA Cup semi-final as a child in 2008.
But if I was a young Albion supporter growing up in the current climate, I can’t say for sure that I would care about the FA Cup.
In many ways Albion are symptomatic of the wider problem with the cup competitions. For the best part of 15 years, I’ve seen a succession of managers treat the cup as a secondary concern against the context of Premier League relegation battles or Championship promotion pushes. I’ve seen an apathetic, half-empty Hawthorns barely react as we invariably get knocked out in the early rounds. Just three weeks ago, I watched Albion succumb to a 5-1 hammering at the hands of a second string Bournemouth in the third round. If the gulf between even the top two divisions of English football is so large, what hope is there for the future of the cup?
Albion are a team who partially define themselves by their cup history trapped in a culture that is turning its back on the importance of cup football. As the footballing authorities desperately try and find ways to engage younger generations with the magic of football culture, it would seem that the cup competitions are not being factored into the equation.
In stark contrast, these are the full time scenes in the tiny away end at Ibrox, as Queen’s Park supporters hear the blast of the final whistle; a tapestry of unconfined joy, ecstasy and romance that is simply unique to cup football.
I would like to think that scenes like these - and this weekend in general - is not only a huge vindication for people such as myself, footballing traditionalists who are devout believers in the magic and vitality of the FA Cup. Rather, I hope it is also as a sharp wake up call to the footballing authorities.
Cup competitions are the litmus test for the wider health of the game.
A cup slate full of competitive, well-attended matches in which lower league opposition can genuinely test elite level teams suggests a footballing culture which is well balanced, healthy and in touch with its own sense of history and heritage.
Whilst it can feel like our sacred cup competitions are on a slow drift into obscurity, weekends like this one represent a unique opportunity to try and help preserve the unique magic and majesty of cup football. They represent the newest layer onto the palimpsest that is cup lore.
Moments like Nikola Katić scrabbling around on the Home Park turf to find his missing tooth, or Callum Davidson hiding in his own hoodie in the stands as his Queen’s Park team desperately try and defend a 99th minute corner, will be seared into the brains of football fans from up and down the country. The passing of these moments into folklore represents a renewal and continuation of the magic of the cup, despite a wider context of decline.
It's easy to be cynical about the place of cup football in the modern game, but this weekend has once again highlighted that these mighty old competitions still have a unique capacity for drama, intrigue and wonderful narrative. They still can be the lifeblood of our domestic games.
As supporters, we have a responsibility to try and preserve this wonderful aspect of our footballing heritage. That means engaging with the competition and supporting its continued existence through match-attendance, advocacy and celebration of its glorious history.