FA Cup third round day

 FA Cup third round day.

Throughout the ages, the FA Cup has stamped its authority on football's consciousness. In the first or second week of January, the New Year's resolutions have once again come down with the Christmas tree and all that lies ahead is one superlative sequence of FA Cup giant killers, shocks, surprises and revelations. It is the most democratic, inclusive, non judgmental, completely unbiased Cup competition in the world. There are no impostors, no intruders and everybody is welcome with an open heart. 

For well over 100 years now and counting, the FA Cup is a level playing field, free of prejudice and pomposity, no airs or graces, simply equality and the ridiculously unexpected. In a sense it is the one afternoon of the football calendar where nobody turns up their nose at those who earn their living at the grassroots, the amateur spirit, the lower classes, the teams who play for the sheer fun and joy of playing the Beautiful Game. 

There will be none of the presumptions and assumptions from those who believe the FA Cup should only be designed for the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Spurs and Chelsea. Oh no, not the FA Cup. For they have no divine right to climbing the steps at Wembley Stadium in May to collect the FA Cup. We believe the FA Cup means much more than entitlement and hierarchy where only the rich and pampered should always win the FA Cup.

The trouble is of course that we know and you know that the FA Cup should be for everybody, not some class obsessed object where the Davids of the footballing world should be brushed under the carpet and dismissed out of hand. Goliath is out there waiting for them, a mammoth presence, a much stronger and more powerful force that has to be taken seriously. For this is the FA Cup, the real thing, a thing of stirring authenticity, blood, sweat and tears, heroes and villains, impish wingers who dominate the Monday back page headlines. 

Of course the FA Cup is the most romantic liaison of them all, an intimate, candle lit rendezvous in a quiet restaurant where the main menu consists of non League pretenders. It is a moment of time when those obscure butchers, bakers and greengrocers come face to face with the strutting peacocks of the Premier League. In theory, the third round of the FA Cup should represent their only opportunity of being genuine contenders, the glory boys in the big time spotlight. But this is never the case.

The harsh reality is altogether more stark. For instance Boreham will meet Burton in the clash of two teams with no FA Cup pedigree. Boreham Wood and Burton play their football in the backwaters of football's distant wilderness, a place where pretty parks live side by side with boating lakes and summery tennis courts. This is the one location where nobody disturbs the serenity of an idyllic day in June or July. But life has always been idyllic so nobody really cared. What a day and what a fantastic spectacle. 

And so relegation haunted Premier Leaguers Wolves meet Shrewsbury, the only team who employ a fisherman to throw a ball back into their ground whenever it lands in a placid river. You would expect Wolves to book their place in the Cup's fourth round but there are no certainties in this competition because the FA Cup is so teasingly flirtatious and loves to play with our emotions. Shrewsbury once knocked Manchester City out of the FA Cup but that was a thousand years ago although that's a gross exaggeration. 

At Pride Park there is a rerun of that explosive old First Division clash between Derby County and Leeds United. Some of us will remember with, mild amusement, the fisticuffs punch up between Derby's Francis Lee and Leeds Norman Hunter. In hindsight, it seemed like some acrimonious scuffle in the school bike sheds but at the time it just felt relevant to the times. Derby are in the Championship at the moment, the old second tier and Leeds are back in the big time of top flight Premier League. Both teams have been through the mill in recent seasons, bouncing up and down the Leagues and yo yo fluctuations.

Tomorrow, Manchester United who have mopped up all of the biggest trophies that football has offered up and were once almost unbeatable at times, face Brighton. Here's an FA Cup coincidence. This is the 1983 FA Cup Final and poor Gordon Smith, Brighton's plucky and spirited striker, must have nightmares about that last gasp, last minute missed open goal that would almost certainly have brought the FA Cup to the old Goldstone Ground. Manchester United keeper Gary Bailey must have thought it was his birthday. 

At St James Park, Newcastle will be setting out on that traditional FA Cup journey, hoping it'll culminate in their first FA Cup winning trophy for the first time in over 70 years. Last season, the Magpies and Toon finally broke their hoodoo when they collected the League Cup( the Carabao Cup) against Liverpool who would go on to win the Premier League quite convincingly. Newcastle face Bournemouth in the FA Cup third round and it's hard to know which Newcastle will turn up on the day. This could go the wire, so fiercely contested that both teams will require nerves of steel. 

Meanwhile at the Etihad Stadium, once four times Premier League winners in quick succession Manchester City will lock horns with Exeter City. Now in the grander scheme of things, United, on any given day, should trample all over Exeter and score a lorry load against the Grecians. But for Manchester United, their world has been turned upside down. Reuben Amorim, United's boss was sacked by a United board who will not tolerate anything less than perfection and, ideally, the FA Cup every year. Storms and tempests are raging through Old Trafford and the natives are restless. For Exeter  this should be a tasty bone given the adverse circumstances but United should make FA Cup progress.

On the South Coast, Portsmouth, who won the FA Cup in 2008 by beating Cardiff City in the most improbable FA Cup Final of all, find themselves in the mix against runaway Premier League leaders and, quite possibly, Champions elect Arsenal at Fratton Park. They'll be ringing the Pompey chimes with firm conviction and Fratton Park will be summoning old sea shanties to delight the ear.  Arsenal of course will not be intimidated at all since they know exactly how to handle these juicy Cup ties.   

In the Midlands. Stoke and Coventry will be battling out a spicy confrontation and local bragging rights. In London, Chelsea, who are now under the managerial leadership of Liam Rosenior, a seeming novice in the fiery furnace of the Premier League. Rosenior will be hoping that Chelsea will remember recent FA Cup winning trophies and that classic FA Cup Final against Leeds 56 years ago. Then the foundations of Old Trafford trembled to the thunderous sound of Billy Bremner and Ron 'Chopper Harris' boots. Chelsea face Charlton Athletic who once graced the old Wembley twin towers just after the Second World War.

Spurs, who will be hungry for FA Cup redemption after 45 fallow years, take on high flying Aston Villa who would love nothing better to get to a Wembley Cup Final and actually win it  for a change. At the moment, Villa are unstoppable, in rousing form and challenging for honours on both the domestic and European front. This one could go either way and somebody is bound to leave the exit door of the FA Cup.

At Everton's new plush Hill Dickinson Stadium, expectations will be high again. It's been quite a while for the Toffees since the FA Cup sat proudly in their trophy cabinet. After some shaky and nervous seasons, Everton have re-discovered their Messiah again. David Moyes, for whom West Ham fans will be probably wishing he'd stayed at the London Stadium, is back at Everton. This time Sunderland are the visitors to the Hill Dickinson and this is a mouth watering prospect because this one sounds like a feast for the eyes and senses. Sunderland, promoted to the Premier League, have reached the giddy heights of brilliance and should fancy their chances and the temperature is rising. There is a feeling that the thermometer should soar dramatically. 

So wherever you go this weekend on your FA Cup travels, it should be pointed out that the FA Cup third round is still a palatable dish best served both cold and hot. The FA Cup has never left the building. It's still there, always pleased to see us even though it may have been criticised quite savagely at times. It may never go away because its presence has spanned so many generations. Last year, Crystal Palace discovered for the first time, that the FA Cup Final is the ultimate celebration. Long may it reign.