The FA Cup Thread 2024

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Continuing my trend of making threads probably only one or two people - if that many - will be interested in, I see the FA Cup is starting again, and I'll be there, watching highlights, writing statistics, doing match reports and trying to pretend I know more about this sport than I do.

The FA Cup is the "great leveller" of English sport, where teams from the very lowest leagues get the chance to compete against the giants of the Premiership, and not always with the expected result. If the FA Cup has shown us anything, it's that football is completely unpredictable and may make AI blow a fuse, because you just never know what's going to happen. That's what makes it so good, so enjoyable, and why it engenders such passion. A team entering from the fifth division can, and have, beaten legendary teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal maybe. Having been in existence for over 150 years. it's the oldest football competition in the entire world.

These days there are nine seperate leagues in English football, and qualification for the FA Cup is open to any of them. The big league teams, those from the Premiership, don't come into it till the later rounds, but there are nevertheless some incredible matches to be seen, and a team coming from the eighth division beating one in the EFL (English Football League) second division is still classed as what is known as a "giant-killing"; some of, indeed many of the much lower leagues consist of players who are part-time only, and hold down other jobs. To see men who are butchers, factory workers or office clerks score against men for whom this football is a full-time job is a real sight, and something those men will never forget. There's also the prestige attached for the town or city who manages a giant-killing, with bragging rights for many years to come. Those of us who know, remember when Reading kicked Manchester United out of the tournament, and they've rightly never been let forget it.

I see there's a Women's FA Cup too, but I don't know if this is being broadcast on telly. I would like to be unbiased and gender equal, but honestly, if it's not being shown I'm not going to go tracking down match details - there are a LOT of matches for me to write about, and the Men's FA Cup may be more than enough. I don't have paid sports channels so I'm relying on the usual, such as my national station RTE, BBC and maybe Virgin to keep me updated, though I'm pretty sure Match of the Day will be following it. They do have a Women's Football Show, so I might get it there. All I can say is, if I can, I will, but I make no promises.

The first round takes place on November 1, so I won't be able obviously to post anything till then, but for now, my next post will be the draw for the first round, to show who is facing who.

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Key: EFL = English Football League, the second-highest tier in English football, just below the Premiership. It has three divisions. For some unknown reason, the first, top league is now called the Championship, while the second is called League 1 and the third League 2. Ah, these crazy English, eh?

NL = National League. If a team is relegated from League 2 they end up here. The National League, essentially forming the fifth tier of English football, is split into three, the first of which is called, confusingly, the National League. The second and third divisions are split along geographical lines, so you get

NLN = National League North (1 division)
NLS = National League South (1 division)
(In case you're interested, the National League used to be called the Conference League, which would have been better, as it would have saved confusion when you see the next step down is)

NPL = Northern Premier League (4 divisions)
SFLC = Southern Football League Central (3 divisions)
SFLS = Southern Football League South (3 divisions)
ILP = Isthmian League (4 divisions)
It's all pretty confusing, but from what I've read I think the Premier League of each of the above, i.e., the first or top division, is treated as tier 7 while the lower leagues are seen as tier 8. I tell ya, it's bringing a lot of tiers to these eyes!

There's one final tier (well, one that concerns the FA Cup - believe me, they go on and bloody on!) and though this doesn't seem to have an official name, it's like a loose confederacy made up of the top divisions of the lower leagues.

If that doesn't make sense to you (and I wouldn't blame you) I can't help you, so take a look here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system#Structure

Christ scoring a penalty on the rebound! I only mentioned this because I didn't understand what the acronyms on the table were, and wanted to explain them! Should have just left it at the names.

There are over two weeks to go, so I'll try to research each team before the first matches kick off, and present here a sort of pencil-sketch profile of each.

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Team name: Accrington Stanley
Home city or town: Accrington
Area: Lancashire
Nickname: The 'Owd Reds (No, I don't know either)
Home ground: Crown Ground
Manager: John Doolan
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
Current position: 22nd of 24*
First opponent in Round One: Rushall or Peterborough Sports
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Relegations:+++ EFL League 2
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run**: Fourth Round
Rivals: Rochdale, Morecambe, Bury, Blackburn Rovers and Burnley

* Barely avoided relegation by two points.

** By which I mean qualification; this has nothing to do with how well, or badly, they did. I'm also not taking into account how many times they achieved this; if they did it once, that's good enough, but it doesn't mean they didn't repeat the feat.

+++ I'm only looking at recent relegation here, let's say in the last five years or so.

Accrington Stanley is a club that came back from the dead. Twice. Originally formed in 1968, from the ashes, as it were, of its original predecessor of the same name, itself formed in 1891 but having gone into receivership in 1966. Accrington's history actually stretches back a little further than that, with their original club being named just Accrington having been formed in 1888 and able to claim the honour of being one of the clubs that formed the original football league. The current club has a rich history, having seen its golden years from 1977 - 1991, during which time they were regularly promoted from lower leagues, until they reached the dizzying heights (!) of the Northern Premier League's Premier division in 1991.

Though relegated in 1999 they quickly came back, a new team for a new century (and indeed, a new millennium) and were promoted to the EFL (at the time, Football League) League 2 in 2006, though they struggled here and remained at the bottom of the league for almost 12 years, before finally earning promotion to League 1 in 2017. Much of their recent success is due to the purchase of the club in 2015 by local businessman Andy Holt, who was able to clear the debts Stanley owed. He became chairman two years later.

A quick scan down through Stanley's latest results in the league does not make promising reading. They have only managed one win in eleven games, with three draws, their most encouraging perhaps being a 3-3 stalemate against Harrogate Town. Their heaviest defeat was a 4-1 loss to Doncaster Rovers in their opening match.

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Team name: Aldershot Town
Home city or town: Aldershot
Area: Hampshire
Nickname: The Shots
Home ground: Recreation Ground
Manager: Tommy Widdrington
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 8th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Bradford City
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations: National League
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: 4th Round
Rivals: Farnborough, Woking, Reading

A mere babe-in-arms compared to Accrington Stanley, Aldershot too have come from the ruins of another club, named the same, but this had only been in existence from 1926, closing in 1992, whereupon Aldershot Town was founded. From the beginning they seem to have flourished, winning promotion from lower leagues until they reached the EFL League 2 in 2008. After a spotty few seasons there, they were eventually relegated back to non-league football and actually went into administration in 2013, though obviously they survived. This was due to a cash injection from a consortium led by the former chairman, Shahid Azeem, and a deal with Chelsea to play the Premier League's reserve matches at their ground.

Narrowly missing relegation to the National League due to the administrative relegation of Gateshead, Aldershot did in fact fall down to the National League and have been there for the last ten years, this seeming to be their best season. Oddly enough, the year they were relegated (2013) seems to have featured their best run in the FA Cup, when they progressed to the fourth round, something they have consistently achieved over the last four years, last year being the first time they went out in round three.

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Team name: Alfreton Town
Home city or town: Alfreton
Area: Derbyshire
Nickname: The Reds
Home ground: North Street
Manager: Billy Heath
Currently playing in: National League North
Tier: 6
Current position: 5th of 24 (as of 2024 season; can't get details for the current one)
First opponent in Round One: Notts County
Highest position achieved: National League North
Relegations: NLN Division 1, non-league football
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown

Created from the amalgamation of two older teams, Alfreton Town merged Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United in 1959, and after a shaky start when they ended bottom of their league, bounced back to top it and even qualify for the FA Cup in 1970. Success followed success and they were promoted to the Northern Premier League Division 1 in 1986, and ten years later the Premier division, though they were relegated back to division 1 in the following year, ending as last and being relegated the next season out of the league altogether.

The new millennium though saw their fortunes take an upturn, and in 2002 they were back in the NPL division 1 and promoted the next season back into the premier division. From here they went on to the National League North, where at present they are 5th in the table, so possibly looking at another promotion. Okay that's the previous season; I can find no statistics for the current one. Their FA Cup run has only seen them advance to the second round, so far.

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Team name: Altrincham
Home city or town: Altrincham
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Robins
Home ground: Moss Lane
Manager: Phil Parkinson
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 5th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Maidstone **++
Highest position achieved: National League
Relegations: National League North, Northern Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Birmingham City (2-1; 1986) (Seventeen giant killings in all, but I'm not going to list every one. This was the biggest scalp they took)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Unknown

**++ Depends; it's still between two teams, only one of which can qualify.

Another club with a long history, Altrincham were originally a merger between Rigby Memorial Club and Grapplers (sounds like those monsters out of Tremors!) and became Broadheath Football Club. They changed their name in 1903, so although originally founded in 1891 you could probably say the Altrincham of today only began life then. They seem to have gone from strength to strength, rising from minor leagues (and creating some, or helping to) until they were instrumental in setting up the Northern Premier League in 1968.

For a small club, Altrincham hold the record for the most giant killings in the FA Cup, their biggest and most famous being, as noted above, Birmingham City, who have played in the Premiership, but they have also taken down Tranmere Rovers, Blackpool, Chester, Wigan, Crewe Alexandra, Rochdale and Sheffield United, to name but a few.

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Team name: Barnet
Home city or town: Barnet
Area: London
Nickname: The Bees
Home ground: Hive Stadium
Manager: Dean Brennan
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 2nd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Exeter City
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations: National League
Giant Killing(s) Newport County (6-1, 1970) also Bristol Rovers, Stockport County and Sheffield United (2019)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Wealdstone, Enfield, Stevenage, Boreham Wood

Founded, interestingly, in the very same year that London's East End was terrorised by Jack the Ripper, Barnet is the first London club we've come across, another which was formed from two other clubs, Barnet Avenue and Alston Works, and as Barnet F.C. As seems to have happened a lot, the original Barnet ceased to exist in 1902, and the two clubs mentioned then formed the "new" Barnet. They had tremendous success, winning seven league titles from 1917 to 1965. In 1991 they were promoted to the EFL (look, it was called the Football League at the time, and the National League was the Conference League, but I'm going to stick with modern names; it's confusing enough to me as it is!) but were relegated, then promoted, relegated then promoted, until they ended up in the EFL League 2 for eight seasons, and are now back in the National League, where they seem to be doing well.

FA Cup-wise, they appear to have done all right, having made it as far as the fourth round, and taken on, and beaten, bigger clubs such as Bristol Rovers, Stockport County, Sheffield United and Newport County.

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Team name: Barnsley
Home city or town: Barnsley
Area: South Yorkshire
Nickname: The Reds, The Tykes, The Colliers
Home ground: Oakwell
Manager: Darrell Clarke
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
Current position: 6th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Port Vale
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship (EFL Premier League)
Giant Killing(s) West Bromwich Albion 1-0 (1912); Manchester United (1998) Liverpool and Chelsea (2008)
Best FA Cup run: Final (which they won)
Rivals: Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Rotherham United, Leeds United

Who says football and religion don't mix? Barnsley was founded by an English clergyman who wanted to use sport as a way to empower the poor of his parish. Formed one year before the previous post's Barnet, in 1887, they are the first team we've come across not only to win the FA Cup (even if it was over 100 years ago now) but also progress to the very top tier of English football, the Premier League. Barnsley achieve another first, the first team I've come across here who had a player who was involved in winning two league titles (though not with them, but with Manchester United) and who also played for England. Finally, and tragically, the player, Tommy Taylor, was one of the Man United team who died in the fatal air crash in Munich in 1958. Taylor had also become, on the way, the most expensive English player when he was sold to United for a then-record fee of just under thirty grand.

In 1998 they won their only promotion to the Premier League, but lasted just the one season, being relegated at the end of it back into the Championship. The same year, however, they had a famous victory over Man United in the FA Cup. They were further relegated to the Second Division of the EFL (League 1, I think - man this is doing my head in) during 2002 and threatened with going into administration, this only avoided by the purchase of the team by the Barnsley mayor. Their woes haven't gone away though, as in July 2023 they were charged by the EFL with violations of regulations due to the makeup of the shareholders, or some damn thing.

Their greatest FA Cup victory - in terms of goals scored - was against Blackpool in 1912, when they beat them 6-0. On the flip side, their biggest defeat in the Cup came against Derby County, when they were thrashed 8-1, and Man United had their revenge recently (look, I know the proverb, but rather than cold, revenge would be a dish served frozen solid by now!) when they hammered them 7-0 in the EFL cup this year.

As an aside, I praise them for their attitude towards sponsorship, as this Wiki quote reveals: Originally, cryptocurrency company HEX.com were announced as Barnsley's shirt sponsor, but after the Barnsley Supporter's Trust raised concerns about controversial and homophobic tweets by people who reportedly brokered the deal and an investigation by the club, they were dropped as the Barnsley shirt sponsor after only featuring on the shirt for 2 games.[37][38] The shirts remained sponsorless for the following 4 games of the campaign. On 27 August 2022, Barnsley launched the "Together Red" campaign against discrimination and hate, with numerous sponsors adorning the Barnsley shirt for select games throughout the 2022/23 season starting with the away game against Ipswich Town.[39] The campaign ended on 14 April 2023.

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Team name: Barrow AFC
Home city or town: Barrow-in-Furness
Area: Cumbria
Nickname: The Bluebirds
Home ground: Holker Street
Manager: Stephen Clemence
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 3
Current position: 8th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Doncaster Rovers
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations: National League
Giant Killing(s) Brentford (2-1, 2009)
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Unknown

Formed just after the turn of the century, in 1901, Barrow don't seem to have had a lot of success, spending almost half a century outside league football. They did have some luck in 1990 and again in 2010, winning the FA Trophy (not the same as the FA Cup) and were promoted to the EFL in 2020. Ah, now, you couldn't make this stuff up! Barrow were purchased by a boxing promoter with links to a Liverpool drug-dealer, who high-tailed it after being investigated for money laundering, and seems to have sold out the club's stadium from underneath them! The club then went into administration, but was saved by a members' club, who eventually bought it, and the ground too. Phew! Hard to play your matches if you don't have a stadium!

Not that any of this did anything to improve the performance of the team. They stumbled on, flirting with relegation and also with the law, one of their players actually making history for being the only English football player in recent times to be sent to jail for an assault, when he punched a Bristol Rovers player on the field. Sure, back in the early days, weren't they all kicking the shite out of each other, and nobody complained, least of all the ref, who probably joined in! Ah, the good old days. VAR would've had a field day with those games!

In 2014 Dallas businessman Paul Casson bought the club, but four years later he realised it was a bad deal and sold it. After that, Barrow's fortunes began to change for the better. In 2020 they were promoted to the EFL League 2. They struggled, but managed to maintain their position and are now in the top half of the table.

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Team name: Birmingham City
Home city or town: Birmingham
Area: West Midlands
Nickname: The Blues
Home ground: St. Andrew's
Manager: Chris Davies
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
Current position: 22nd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Sutton United
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship, EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Final
Rivals: Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves), West Bromwich Albion

Though we've read about one other team who played in the Premier League, I would consider Birmingham to be the first proper "big" team I've come across here. They were regulars in the Premier League for years, but it seems their fortunes have turned recently, as they've just been relegated from the Championship to EFL League 1. A team which underwent four name changes, they began life as Small Heath Alliance (don't ask me!) in 1875, becoming simply Small Heath in 1888 and then Birmingham in 1905 and finally Birmingham City in 1943. 1943? You'd think they would have had more to worry about than changing the name of the team, wouldn't you?

Birmingham led the way to Europe when they became the first English football team to compete outside of Britain in 1956, losing to Barcelona, and again became the first English team to reach a European Cup Final, again losing to the Spanish side. In 1970 they broke the transfer record, when they sold one of their players to Everton for £350,000. Ah, not that long ago we were talking about one of the other clubs breaking that record with less than a tenth of that figure! How times change, eh? A mere eight years later they were getting a cool million pounds from Nottingham Forest, a new record.

There was tragedy, too, as a riot at one of their matches in 1985, resulting in the death of a boy when part of a wall collapsed on him, coincided with one of the most mourned days in British football, the Bradford City stadium fire, in which 56 people died. Financial problems, too, dogged the club, with its owners having to put it into receivership when their bank collapsed. Birmingham City was then bought by a newspaper tycoon, David Sullivan, who brought with him a little-known Karren Brady, whom he installed as Managing Director, and who would help turn the club's fortunes around. She would eventually become Baroness Brady, and serve as Lord Alan Sugar's right hand on the TV reality show The Apprentice.

In 2002 Birmingham made it to the Premier League for the first time ever. They would remain there for two seasons, then be relegated, but bounce back the next season, after which they would have a tumultuous time in the top tier, being relegated, flirting with relegation, coming back up, scraping by and so on. In 2023 American businessman Tom Wagner bought the club, bringing with him a minority stake for American football legend Tom Brady, something which helped raise the club's profile. This did not however prevent Birmingham from being relegated to EFL League 1, after almost thirty years in the top two tiers of English football.

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Team name: Blackpool
Home city or town: Blackpool
Area: Lancashire
Nickname: The Seasiders, The Tangerines
Home ground: Bloomfield Road
Manager: Steve Bruce
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 3
Current position: 8th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Gillingham
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship, EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) None that I can see
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Blackburn Rovers

Another of the older clubs, Blackpool were formed in 1887, and from what I read so far, appear to be the first club we've read about that started with the name they ended up with, i.e., they were always Blackpool. They had a fine FA Cup run, winning it as early as 1956, and are the second team I've come across who had players in the national team. Also, one of their players, the great Stanley Matthews, was the very first recipient of the Ballon D'or, the Golden Boot, awarded to the player who is deemed to have performed best in a season.

A recurring theme among English football clubs though seems to be legal troubles, and here it seems Blackpool's owner, Owen Oyston, went to jail in 1996 for rape and indecent assault of a young girl. His wife took over the chair, and I think that, so far, this seems to be only the second instance of a woman running a football club, though I may find there are more as I go along. Hey that's weird! I see Oyston bought the club for the princely sum of one pound! I wonder what the deal was with that? I remember there being a story about Ken Bates buying Chelsea for a quid too: is it something to do with the idea that the club was seen as no good, a white elephant, and was not worth any more? Answers on a postcard, please.

Blackpool are another team who made it to the top, though they only managed one season in the Premier League before being relegated, and then suffered two further relegations, to the Championship and then League 1, ending up in League 2, where they are now.

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Team name: Bolton Wanderers
Home city or town: Bolton
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Trotters, The Whites, The Wanderers
Home ground: Toughsheet Community Stadium
Manager: Ian Evatt
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
Current position: 3rd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Walsall
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship, EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) West Ham (2-0, 1923); Manchester City (1-0, 1926); Portsmouth (2-0, 1929); Manchester City (2-0, 1958); Liverpool (2-0, 1993); Wolves (2-1, 1993); Arsenal (3-1, 1994); Everton (3-2, 1994); Aston Villa (1-0, 1994)
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Bury, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester United, Oldham Athletic, Wigan Athletic, Burnley, Preston North End.

And here's another team with a female chairperson, so maybe not as rare as I had thought. I do wonder, though, why some teams choose the suffix "wanderers" to append to their name? Is it because they had to play in different stadiums or on different pitches early in their history? I know there was a dearth of football grounds at one point, and some had to share, so I wonder is that the reason behind it? May find out, may not. I'll read on.

Is this the oldest football club in England? Founded in 1874 as Christ Church Football Club, they took the current name three years later, but no, it doesn't say why. Bolton have also been in the Premier League, though I think lasted longer there than Blackpool. Yeah, far better: remained there, in fact, for most of the first decade of the twenty-first century, eleven seasons in all.  Okay it seems I was right; Wanderers did choose their name due to difficulty finding a ground to play on. They are also the second team I've read about who were founded by a clergyman, hence, I guess, the original name.

Interesting, and I guess commendable, to see 15 of the Bolton playing staff saw active service during World War II, taking part in the Battle of Dunkirk, and quite amazingly, losing only one of their number before the war's end. I also read that they kept the game alive during the war, challenging other teams of allies during breaks in the fighting. What did they say about football being more important than life and death?

Sadly, as ever, this good side of the team is balanced with bad as what was at the time the biggest tragedy in English football, the Burnden Park disaster, claimed 33 lives when fans were packed in to the stadium with no regard for safety. The disaster did lead to changes in how crowds were regulated, so something good came of it I guess. Bolton hit the headlines again in  2012 when Patrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest on the field and had to be taken to hospital. His plight sparked sympathy all across the football spectrum.

Bolton also struggled with financial difficulties, at one point being 172 million in debt, but narrowly avoided a winding-up order and survived. Nevertheless, money worries continued to dog them and as late as 2019 a match had to be cancelled when the players refused to play as they had not been paid. Seems fair enough to me.

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Team name: Boreham Wood
Home city or town: Borehamwood
Area: Hertfordshire
Nickname: The Wood
Home ground: Meadow Park
Manager: Luke Garrard
Currently playing in: National League South
Tier: 6
Current position: 21st of 24 (relegated)
First opponent in Round One: Leyton Orient
Highest position achieved: National League
Relegations:
Giant Killing(s) Blackpool (2-1, 2018); Southend United (4-3, 2021); AFC Wimbledon (2022); Bournemouth (2022)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Unknown

Certainly one of the younger clubs, Boreham Wood was founded in 1948 as a merger between Boreham Wood Rovers and Royal Retournez. And, um, that's all she wrote, folks. Can't tell you anything more than that, other than that Boreham Wood have reached the dizzying heights of the National League, only to be relegated and are now in the next tier down, the National League South.

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A team which underwent four name changes, they began life as Small Heath Alliance (don't ask me!) in 1875, becoming simply Small Heath in 1888 and then Birmingham in 1905 and finally Birmingham City in 1943. 1943? You'd think they would have had more to worry about than changing the name of the team, wouldn't you?

Regarding this, they're from an area in Birmingham called Small Heath. In the same way Villa are from Aston. Back then, we also had another club called St George's. Anyway, Birmingham City broke an agreement with Villa to not use the citys name and that's partly how the rivalry started.

It is said that when they built St. Andrew's in 1906, they used a gypsy site and were told by the gypsies if they built on there, they would put them under a 100 year curse. They won one league cup in the next century and then won another one in 2011 five years after the 'curse' was lifted.

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