William Eve wrote:
I see no beauty or magic in any cup competition when results are determined by an utter lack of disrespect, appetite and motivation for winning, which surely ought to be the very essence of any sporting contest.
You're welcome to that crap.
I fully agree with your stance on this but then, that's the money driven greed machine that is the football world of today. and you can see why the clubs field weakened teams (even if you don't agree) when Champions league football is worth many millions in revenue, finishing top 4 is almost a must these days for the elite clubs.
Then you have promotion and relegation teams fighting over many more millions for premier league status, that is sadly far more valuable than a few grand and a nice cup run. Many of us will remember the days when the FA cup was the pinnacle of the season (in many ways like the CC) but it hasn't been that way for a good 20 years or more now.
The point about mid table premiership teams is a good one though, i see no reason why these clubs are not making a cup run a priority... if i was a fan of said clubs i would be pretty upset if we bombed out playing the reserves.
All this said, we are still likely to see two big premiership sides fighting it out in the final as usual.