The FA Cup throws up an all too familiar finale

The FA Cup still holds a special place in the footballing calendar.

The early rounds always see an against-the-odds upset or two while the final itself remains one of the year’s standout days. For all their other accolades, the biggest names still crave the chance at getting their hands on the famous old trophy.

But as we gear up for another familiar final is it fair to question just how special it still can be when increasingly only the same teams get to do that each year?

Liverpool and Chelsea’s victories over Manchester City and Crystal Palace respectively at the weekend mean 26 of the 30 FA Cups over the last three decades will have been won by one of five teams.

Only Leicester, Portsmouth, Wigan and Everton have broken the stranglehold in the Premier League era with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Manchester United claiming every other. In the 30 years before 1992, 15 different teams did.

The famous walk out under the Wembley arch next month will be Chelsea’s third in a row, a fifth in the last six seasons.

It will be Liverpool’s first FA Cup final since 2012 but they have of course won the Champions League and league title in that intervening time as well as claiming this year’s League Cup for good measure.

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As the television money has rolled in and pooled at the very top, the chances of others smashing the glass ceiling to join the privileged few have diminished ever further.

Make no mistake, Liverpool and Chelsea will be desperate to lift the trophy and their fans desperate to see it. The emotion and elation of winning is still undimmed even when that winning has become so routine.

For supporters of every other club, though, that routine is a cause for sadness. The chances of someone new winning the oldest competition of all feels as far away as it ever has.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor