We could do without FA Cup - Paul Lambert

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Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert says clubs could do without FA Cup

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The FA Cup was first held in 1871-72 and has been contested every year since, apart from during the First and Second World Wars

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert believes the majority of top-flight clubs would rather not have the distraction of the FA Cup.

Speaking before Saturday's third-round game with Sheffield United, Lambert was asked whether the FA Cup was something Premier League clubs could do without.

"I think if you asked the majority of them, if they were being honest, they probably would do," he told BBC WM.
The FA Cup

"Not just because of the money but survival in the league is vital."

The Scot added: "It is realistic. That is the nature of it. If anyone says any differently then I am not so sure they will be telling the truth because the Premier League is the most vital thing that anyone wants to get into and we are no different."

Lambert's side are six points above the Premier League relegation zone and it is survival - rather than the visit of the League One Blades - that is his priority.

"Cup competitions, if you can get through, then absolutely I want to get through. I don't want to not get through but your main one is the league," he said.

"We don't have a massive squad and points are really important. If you are honest enough people will say the same."

Aston Villa have won the FA Cup on seven occasions but have not lifted the trophy since 1957 and last reached the final in 2000.

Last season, Wigan became the first team to win the FA Cup but also be relegated from the top tier in the same season.
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Personally I look forward to the FA Cup every season and I wouldn't like to go without it. I still hold it in high esteem and the fact that you regularly have the best teams in the country facing each other in the final (something which happens far less frequently in the League Cup - although hopefully this year's an exception) shows the esteem it's still held in. It's a national event - and it is perfectly legitimate to call it that because it's one of the few OFCOM protected events in football along with the World Cup and the European Championship. Usually a national dignitary there like a royal or the Prime Minister as well. I look forward to knowing we could be playing anyone, which isn't the same as the League Cup. I also know that it's hugely important for non-league clubs. I can remembering following Accrington Stanley when they were non-league and the elation of getting through to the FA Cup Proper. A good FA Cup run can also be huge financially for small clubs. I'm a lover of the FA Cup and probably always will be, so I think Lambert's talking out his arse. If one of the cup competitions should go, it should be the League Cup.

Do you agree with Lambert or talking bollocks?
 
I'd sack him tomorrow!

That's the sort of attitude that pisses me off. Ok paul, you spend your career trying to get 40points whereas managers that people remember try and win things

I've never liked him and headlines like that won't do him any favours with the Villa fans
 
I wonder if the bookies have stopped taking bets on Villas match !

The problem is not confined to concentrating on the League, if you win the Europa league in its shit format can screw you up the following season.

Mind you in it something that Villa have in common with the rags..........
not being bothered about qualifying for Europe next year.
 
Would he say the same thing if the prize money for the FA cup was 100m, this is about business and money, for me as a fan I would want us to win a trophy and this is one competition where there are no coefficients it is down to the luck of the draw. It is the one competition where any fan from any club that is in it can dream about having some sucess.
 
Would hate someone with attitude to be manager of my club whether we had a realistic chance of winning it or not.
 
Talking bollocks. When we were scrapping at the bottom of the league the FA Cup was the slim hope of glory that kept me believing maybe one day we could win a trophy, it was horrible losing to West Ham in the quarters. If I was a Villa fan I'd be gutted to read that, if you win it it's 6 games, hardly a vast amount.
 
Lambert is simply the personification of business ethos that now rules the league.

That ethos would be rougly...

"win, do not get relegated or our finances are fucked, stay up - all other considerations secondary"



tl;dr money
 
Forgive me, why do we have two open style cups for country?

Surely if anything we could do without the league cup.
 
Lambert always sounds like he has just downed a bottle of scotch.

Even when we were crap I was always gutted when we were knocked out of any of the cups.
 
I have always loved a cup run. My earliest and greatest memories about Palace came the year we made the cup final. All I remember is the street parties and the celebrations. I even thought Barnes played for us for a couple of years after, due to misunderstanding what people had said.

For me I would take a cup win over staying up. I would take Wigan's season last year every time. The runs we had in the League cup alongside the play off finals are the best matches I have ever been too.

I don't understand why midtable clubs don't try and win the cup. I mean clubs like Newcaslte, who are not going to relegate should go all out to win this trophy.
 
white dog poo said:
Even when we were crap I was always gutted when we were knocked out of any of the cups.
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Me too. As mentioned by someone else on this thread, I regarded the domestic cups as providing our only realistic chance of glory. I used to take cup defeats badly, much worse than defeats in run of the mill league games.
 
I love both the Fa Cup and Carling cup, the more football the better. Can't understand Lamberts comments tbh, for one its only a few extra matches obviously depending on our far they get, surely its doesnt have that much effect on the squads fitness? Secondly its the only chance for clubs like Villa to have any major success, it can turn a poor season into a great one. Im sure most Wigan fans wouldn't swap the Fa cup they won last season for survival in the prem.

You cant beat a cup upset as well, Oldham beating Liverpool or Havant & Waterlooville leading twice at anfield are some my favourite non-city footballing moments.
 
supercrystal7 said:
I have always loved a cup run. My earliest and greatest memories about Palace came the year we made the cup final. All I remember is the street parties and the celebrations. I even thought Barnes played for us for a couple of years after, due to misunderstanding what people had said.

For me I would take a cup win over staying up. I would take Wigan's season last year every time. The runs we had in the League cup alongside the play off finals are the best matches I have ever been too.

I don't understand why midtable clubs don't try and win the cup. I mean clubs like Newcaslte, who are not going to relegate should go all out to win this trophy.
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That's the answer from a true supporter. We often had the thread on here before our Palace friend joined us during 2010 - 11 "Top 4 v Winning a Trophy". Supporting a team should be about those golden moments when you see your club triumph not about a balance sheet.
 
supercrystal7 said:
For me I would take a cup win over staying up. I would take Wigan's season last year every time.
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^ This, Wigan fans will treasure the memory of last May to their graves, try telling them that it would have been better to finish 17th in the League and go out in the 3rd round. Lambert speaks like a money man not a football man.
 
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