The FA Cup is full of magical moments for football clubs in England, much more for the smaller ones when they vie for honours with big-spending EPL rivals
No prizes were ever distributed in Europe during January.But the first weekend of the year has its own folklore in England as the timewhen small clubs can rise and knock the giants out of the F.A. Cup.
Many countries just use their cups as secondary revenuestreams for clubs, but England has used its tournament to produce 141 years ofmagical memories. Giant-killings are rarer now because the rich and poor havepolarized, but on Saturday, Luton Town and Macclesfield knocked out clubs threeleagues above them.
Macclesfield’s 2-1 victory against Cardiff City was assistedby the fact that Cardiff’s priority right now is gaining promotion to thePremier League, so its coach rested his best players in expectation that hisreserves could cope with non-league opposition. They couldn’t.
Luton’s 1-0 eclipse of a four-time former Cup winner,Wolverhampton Wanderers, was the result of the day. It brought the biggestrepercussion, with Stale Solbakken getting fired by the Wolves just six monthsafter he was hired.
The Norwegian has known better days and worse days. Heretired early from playing after suffering a heart attack on the trainingfield, and coached F.C. Copenhagen to memorable nights in the Champions Leaguebefore moving to Germany and then to England.
His quick-fire Wolverhampton career encapsulates thecluelessness of the team owners. Solbakken came from outside the Englishculture. He inherited players who were recruited to play in a physical Britishstyle by a previous coach who lost his job when the team faced relegation lastspring.
The coach went, but the players remained on costlycontracts.
Solbakken, by the way, speaks perfectly passable English.But players like the Irishman Kevin Doyle and the Englishman Jamie O’Harafailed to do any better under the new coach than they did the old one.
Luton, roared on by a capacity crowd of 9,638, still feelsaggrieved by the fact it was shoved down three leagues as punishment for itsdebts. The ruling powers in English soccer made an example of Luton and almostdrove it out of existence.
But Saturday, the Town devoured the Wolves.
The winning goal was volleyed by Alex Lawless. And threehours later, the Wolverhampton club got rid of the manager and his coachingstaff.
The winner is lauded, and the loser blamed the coaches. Butnothing dulls the appetite of some fans for the Cup. The farthest travellersSaturday, for the least reward, came from Newcastle.
Their team, Newcastle United, is the northernmost club inEnglish soccer. Some 2,000 supporters rose in the early hours of Saturday totrek 350 miles, or more than 550 kilometers, to Brighton on the south coast fora game that started shortly after midday to suit television. After they werebeaten, 2-0, by second-tier Brighton, those fans made the dispirited returnjourney.
Newcastle, like Wolverhampton, is steeped in the F.A. Cup.But Newcastle, weakened by injuries, was a beaten team from the moment AndreaOrlandi, a Spanish journeyman, conjured up the opening goal with an improvisedflick of his left foot with his back to the target.
It probably did nothing to lift Newcastle’s morale to hearthat Demba Ba, their chief striker until a week ago, scored twice in Chelsea’s5-1 rout against Southampton.
But romance is not yet dead. Saturday was the day that JoeCole, formed at West Ham United’s academy, returned like the prodigal to hisclub.
While Joe was a schoolboy – and a marvel who scored sevengoals in one youth match – Manchester United bid 1 million pounds to buy him.The Hammers said no. But time passed, and in 2003, shortly after RomanAbramovich arrived from Russia to revolutionize Chelsea, the oligarch foundWest Ham’s price.
It was not just that he offered 6.6 million pounds (about$10.75 million today), but that he arranged to pay it in cash at a time whenthe Hammers were deep in debt. Cole flourished, briefly, but as Abramovichchanged his coaches by the season, so Cole lost his way.
He still had suitors. Lille gave him a season on loan inFrance, and Liverpool, which had taken him permanently from Chelsea, was eagerto offload him in the January transfer window. Here, again, the coachingcarousel – hiring managers once or twice a season – made it difficult to for aplayer to settle.
Then, last week, he was called home. West Ham no longerplays the sweet-flowing game that it taught him, but its manager, SamAllardyce, felt Cole’s ability to find a man with a fine pass could still beuseful.
On Saturday, on Day One of the homecoming, Cole produced twoexquisite long passes with his right foot from the left of the field. Each washeaded into the net against Manchester United by the big, bald defender JamesCollins.
