Archives for January 2010

At Brighton Health and Racquets Club in Falmer

A charge often levelled at foreign players and managers in England is that they don't fully embrace the FA Cup, that they view it in the same way that domestic knockout tournaments are seen in many other countries - as a second-class competition.

Given the high number of imports into our game, on the pitch and in the dug-out, it is a worrying outlook. And one that could be used to partially explain why the competition has lost some of its lustre in recent years.

But I don't believe it is totally true. For a start, British bosses are just as likely to field second-string teams in the Cup as their counterparts of different nationalities - Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp and Hull manager Phil Brown were just two examples in the third round earlier this month - and who could forget what Hitchin-born Stoke striker Dave Kitson had to say about the merits of the competition when he played for Reading in 2008?

In fact, it is rare to hear anyone speaking about the Cup with unbridled enthusiasm these days - which is why I enjoyed meeting up with Brighton boss Gus Poyet so much last week.

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At Old Trafford

Although I doubt that many of them have stopped celebrating yet, Leeds United fans should probably know better than to get carried away with Sunday's shock FA Cup win over Manchester United. After all, when the last decade began, they sat on top of the Premier League... and the club's subsequent meltdown is well-documented.

But, crucially, it is not only because of a one-off victory over their fierce rivals that the Elland Road faithful can be optimistic at the start of 2010. The club's revival is already well under way and the presence of Simon Grayson as manager gives them many more reasons to be cheerful.

The 40-year-old former Blackpool boss has won 41 of his 60 games since taking charge in December 2008 and Leeds are sitting pretty on the summit of League One. Grayson described Sunday's win as the proudest moment of his short management career, but for me it was also an emphatic mark of his ability and ambition.

With promotion a priority this campaign, Leeds' trip across the Pennines was supposed to be a way of measuring their progress, to give their players a taste of the big-time and remind their fans of how things used to be. Despite their hugely impressive form this season, the gulf between the two teams made it seem almost impossible that the Yorkshire side could do anything more than give a good account of themselves - in fact, many of their followers feared a demoralising defeat.

One man thought otherwise. So, 19 days after Wolves manager Mick McCarthy infamously came to Old Trafford for a Premier League game and picked a shadow side that screamed surrender and brought a meek defeat, Grayson arrived with a bold outlook and team that made a statement of much greater volume about his and their capability and confidence at any level.

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