I don't go back as far as teh 60s but i do remember when FA cup day was an all day event back in the 80s. It was about as boring as it sounds. Brian Moore or Jimmy Hill or Dickie Davis or whoever killing time for hours while repeating footage of players getting on and off team buses. Intercut with interviews of players saying what a big day it is. The build up was like a 6 hour episode of Football Focus that nobody in their right mind watched more than 20 minutes of.
As for winning the FA cup being more of an achievement than the league - no way! There might have United fans trying to delude themselves along those lines, cos the FA cup was the only trophy they occasionally won in the 70s and 80s, but no way was it close to being as big an achievement as the league. (Spurs also made a big fuss about it 82, as I recall, but what the f**k else could Spurs win?)
It has obviously been downgraded by the FA since then, but you could argue that is basically supply and demand. Fans don't rate it as highly as the league, CL etc. It's worth remembering that back then the FA cup was one of the few games actually televised live. The FA and TV companies didn't realise live league football would actually pull an audience, so they didn't show it - ie they were even more out of touch then than they are now. (Also, clubs were worried it would hit their gate receipts.) That was one reason why the cup final was made such a meal of by the TV companies.
All that said, I hope we f**king beat the Chav cu*ts and take home another well deserved trophy.
Logged