“Magic of the cup? Sold by the FA for Monday night TV cash,” read the banner unfurled by Manchester United supporters in the upper tier of the Shed End at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening.
For the second round in a row, Manchester United had been drawn against top-six opposition, away from home, in London, on a week night. After 5,223 United fans made the trip to Arsenal on a Friday night in the fourth round, 5,900 of them travelled to Chelsea last night – but at least they got a full allocation this time.
The raucous away following (which wasn’t in fact composed of fans who “only live round the corner,” despite the witty, original jokes from some quarters) was loud throughout, contributing significantly to the spectacle chosen for the BBC’s prime-time television slot.
Online however, rather than get behind an issue which affects all match-going football supporters, fans of other clubs watching from their sofas chose to mock the message instead. The reactions, hidden partly behind anonymous social media accounts, were based primarily on one particular myth:
“The same Man United that didn’t take part in the FA Cup in 2000? Decided to take FIFA money in the Club World Cup? That Man United?”
What really happened
On 30th June 1999, the reigning English and European champions and FA Cup holders withdrew from the coming season’s FA Cup, forfeiting the right to defend their title. But it wasn’t a decision of United’s own making.
The decision was forced upon United by a Football Association and a British government which were worried that failure to send a representative to FIFA’s new Club World Cup competition could irreparably damage England’s 2006 World Cup bid.
"Whether we like it or not there is going to be a World Club Cup in the future,” said the FA's executive director at the time, David Davies. “England has a choice, either it wants to be part of that or it doesn't. We have to be leaders on the world stage."
#mufc 🇾🇪
Had United refused to take part, Champions League runners-up Bayern Munich would have been sent as Europe’s representatives instead in what would have been a boost to the rival German World Cup bid.
"We had to think of the situation regarding England hosting the World Cup," said Sir Alex Ferguson at the time. "No one wants to see them not get it. I dare not think of the criticism we would have received if we had refused. That was unthinkable - and that's a Scotsman talking."
"If we had not entered this tournament, England's opportunity to host the 2006 World Cup would have been in jeopardy,” added United chairman Martin Edwards. “It might even be stronger than that. We've given England an opportunity now.”
Ultimately, of course, it was all in vain anyway as Germany won the bid to host the 2006 competition. The tournament subsequently became known as the “Sommermärchen” or “summer fairy tale” due to the party atmosphere which engulfed Germany for a month that summer, although the bid has since been exposed as corrupt.
United take the cup more seriously than most
The suggestion that Manchester United, of all clubs, have devalued the FA Cup, remains ridiculous on several levels. Only Arsenal (13) have lifted the FA Cup on more occasions than United (12), whose relationship with the old competition stretches back to 1909, when the FA Cup became the club’s second major honour.
In 1948, it became Sir Matt Busby’s first trophy as United manager. Ten years later, after Busby’s team were largely wiped out in Munich, a tidal wave of emotion carried a patched-up United side to the 1958 cup final, where they lost to Bolton.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, when United went 26 years without a league title, the FA Cup provided rare opportunities for success, opportunities which were treasured by the fanatical Red Army who packed out Wembley on eight occasions during those barren years, replays included.
After defeat to Southampton in 1976, Tommy Docherty promised to win the cup the following year and his team delivered, the famous “scousebusters” preventing Liverpool from winning the treble in the process.
The FA Cup was also Ferguson’s first trophy, won after a replay against Crystal Palace in 1990. Ferguson would go on to win it on five more occasions, while Palace were also the opponents when United last won the cup in 2016.
This season, over 11,000 United fans applied for a reduced allocation of 5,233 tickets at Arsenal in the fourth round. Last night, almost 6,000 took the roof off Stamford Bridge. Even at home in the third round against Reading, United’s “Red Army” group turned what would otherwise have been a dull affair into a party in the Old Trafford away end.
Manchester United may have been lagging behind in the league in recent years, but the club and its hardcore support take the FA Cup more seriously than most.
Whatever myths you might have heard about the Club World Cup.
