Thetownend.com

So with the Chairmanship Saga taking centre stage this week, I've just noticed it's the 1st round draw this Sunday at 1.30!

Who do we fancy getting?...Personally wouldn't mind us drawing the Met Police if they get through, would be an entertaining tie to say the least!

For several reasons Im hoping Chippenham get through.  Playing Gloucester away on Saturday.  Maybe that would be a nice local derby.

What's the point of this? Are we just all supposed to bang on about 'you know who' again?

The chance to reach Wembley, Nev.

Voldermort

Would like a non league side away, local to me would be even better.

Bromley away would be ace if they get through.

Paolo? Is it Paolo?

northampton away ideally, maybe nuneaton or didcot

Dorchester away please.

Something that will be on the telly.

Cheers

I see South Park are still in there, they are always on the telly :D

Non league team away please.

Without mentioning you know who, Didcot (a) would be funny.  Can't see them making much money after police costs though, which would be a shame for a non league club...even one that's stained yellow round the edges.

I'd be happy with any team at home.

I bet we get Oxford at home and lose again.

If we did get them I really think we would turn them over this time.

Plymouth at home please. For obvious reasons.

Surely you want Plymouth away?

An easy home draw please. Need to get to the 3rd round and beyond to swell the coffers.

This is true.

Assuming the game isn't played when i'm in Swindon!

Knowing my luck that will be the case.

I believe its the weekend of the 3rd / 4th November

Understandably you'd rather be in Swindon than Plymuff....

That's crept up rather quickly!

I think it has crept up quickly, possibly because we're actually having a decent run in the League Cup for a change! I must admit, I do love the FA Cup and I hope we have another good run again this season! Hopefully a path to the 3rd round will be more kind to us this season, but it seems under PdC we have no fear in the cups so bring on whoever. Saying that we despatched Huddersfield and Col U, although at the time Huddersfield were on a massive unbeaten run and Col U away was always going to be a tricky tie!

We should not fear anyone in the first two rounds home or away. I'd love to get those yellow wankers up the A420, has to be a tv cert, though you could also say that FGR v Cheltenham and such like would also qualify.

No thanks to the prospect of playing the scum again this season. They need to focus on getting themselves relegated. I wouldn't mind getting Bristol Rovers at home.

Man knows!
I'd like either them or Newport County

On the contrary, I'm hoping Gloucester get through and we draw them away - they ground share with Cheltenham now so a walkable one for me.

Has to be the Pox for me.

It would be good to end the "run" and they are in the draw.

You never know but there may not be more opportunities to play them again if they fail to qualify for the first round proper in the future.

Boston or Lincoln please! Away

Not a bad thing, the whole buildup to these games does my nut in.

I'd be quite happy if we don't play them for about another 5-10 years

I'm with you 4D. Wembley FC away

 :sherlock:
Remember going to Boston away last time when sturrock was in charge. Fuck me was cold that day, still we won.

Sadly they were knocked out very early on, even with a few vets playing like Martin Keown I believe!

For a different take on this, I'd like the easiest draw possible for financial reasons. The FA cup prize money is massive compared to the Capital one cup:
FA cup, 3rd round qualifying £7,500...4th round qualifying £12,500 1st round proper£18,000. 2nd round £27,000. 3rd round£67,000. 4th round£90,000. 5th round£180,000. Q/f£360,000. S/F runner up£450,000. S/f winners£900,000 final losers£900,000. ( not sure why it's the same ) FA cup winners £1,800,000.
Compare that to the capital one cup, not sure about early rounds but: losing semi finalists£25,000 final r/u £50,000 winners £100,000. A nice little run in the FA cup would bring excitement and financial rewards. In a poll on the capital one web site: who is most likely to cause an upset in round four: Swindon 41% Bradford 26% reading 33%.

Hopefully we can get through a few rounds and top that income up to take us out of the embargo then!

Why would it not be the same?

Your right, it's the same thing isn't it.

:)

Gloucester City beat Chippenham with an injury time winner.

http://www.thefa.com/Competitions/Results

Other results including 5 walkovers :hmmm:

Gloucester City at home please.

Those walkovers are the FA Sunday Cup, whatever that is.

Love the FA Cup, football as it should be, knockout, winner takes all. If one of our four Champions League places was allocated to the winners, watch the greedy cunts in the PL take it seriously again

No non league please...

Couldn't agree more

The lowest ranked team in the competition at home. 

Hendon I think of the qualified teams.

We are No. 42.

Bromley away please. Just read a book about a bromley fan who emigrated many years ago. He's only been back to see them once since, when they played us and lost 7-0

A home game, hopefully get a good win and score a few goals to restore some belief in our home form.

ebbsfleet? 20 minutes on the train

That would be beyong stupidness

Why?

We will probably get a L2 side at home. My guess is Barnet.

Gloucester City away please.

The FA Sunday Cup sounds like a cup for pub league teams.  Wonder who Oxford are playing?

Oh, I don't really remember typing that. Nor do I particularly stand by what I typed.

That's not quite the insightful, well reasoned response I was expecting!

Haha, sorry.

Although thinking about it, saying big teams "don't care" about the FA cup doesn't really stack up when you look at the list of finalists and winners over the past 15-20 years.

We certainly want a winnable tie looking at the potential prize money we could get for winning the first few games. It would certainly be a step towards getting the embargo lifted. I'm not sure how we can get rid of the embargo without winning a few cup games.

Then you're on the wrong forum... :)

That's exactly the insightful response I expect of you!

We can't TBH. Unless there is a mad rush to buy season tickets to fill SN1 and put cash on the books. My understanding is that the club submits a budget at the begining of the season and that is your starting point. This is then reviewed every month and adjusted up or down. That is why the full payment of the TAH & Collins fees knocked us. They were factored in as we now know to be paid over two years. This is why JW was fuming that we did not get a TV slot v Villa, as the extra bunce would have put us back in the black. The Villa money is in the current budget apparently as is the first round of the FA Cup in terms of prize money. Any gate share will depend on who we get and the venue. So ideally we need to beat Villa and draw a plum premiership club in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, preferably away.  

It probably won't happen but Oxford at home wouldn't do us any harm either. A probable big crowd and possible TV revenue coming into the clubs coffers.

I'm not sure I like the idea of having to rely on Poxford to help lift us out of an embargo, especially as Di Canio has a less than impressive record against them.

When is the draw? Is it on box?

Just about to start on ITV

Met Police away please or my old stomping ground Hendon

I think Rotherham should get Met Police as Fat Boy has had a few dealings with them lately...

Close...his old club Creepy !!!

Home to Macclesfield. Lovely !!!

M'eh

Good. A winnable home tie. That'll do.

Macc Lads at home that'll do...

Cant ask for more than a winnable home game

Earl Barratt rather shy, ain't he?

Maybe I should have used the League Cup, even though if the greedy twats think they have an easy tie in the FA Cup, they will still stick in a few reserves.

Well the league cups hardly shared around by 'lower' teams is it?

I'm not sure what you expect them to do. They can't field full strength sides for every match, players need to be rested.

Just chucking a few ideas in there really. If the big clubs ie I mean the top four or five, Arsenal, Man Utd etc don't want to take these competitions seriously because they are more interested in the riches the Champions League generates, why not just pull out, or even better for them, cancel them altogether

Agree with stfcinbth. The contempt shown for the FA Cup by the big boys is shocking. The competition had so much prestige and the whole country stopped still on final day, nowadays i'm indifferent to it oweing to the irreverence shown towards it.

Macc fans largely seem to think its the worse possible draw and that they are out already:

http://fansonline.net/macclesfieldtown/mb/view.php?id=96986

I however remember Stevenage, but thankfully not Histon

Have they seen our home form lately

Ergh Stevenage...I remember that well - McMahon, players' effectively giving up...the first and only time I deliberately stopped attending matches (until the scouse twat left)

Anyone know what he's up to these days?

Yep. Man united, chelsea, arsenal, liverpool - all showing so much contempt to the competition. They've only won it 17 out of the last 20 times. Such contempt.

I'd hate to see what would happen if they took it seriously.

I was (Unfortunately) at Histon. It's games like those that make even the most optimistic person turn into a pessimistic cynic.
We should beat Macclesfield, but then we should've have stuffed Histon.......

Four days after Villa. I'm sure the players won't be up for it so we'll probably lose.

God that was awful...

Very dull draw, but at least it is winnable.

I maybe wrong here but weren't we 2nd in the league (near the top of league) at the time of playing Stevenage and after losing to them we went on a dreadful run and got relegated, which then a pitch invasion at the county ground with fans calling for McMahon to be sacked?

1997-1998, bastard windy which was a leveler. We were 9th. 4 points outside playoffs, 14 points above the drop zone. We finished 4 points above the drop zone.

McMahon was sacked the following season.

The best available side goes out in the final, should they be unlucky enough to reach it. I'm sure you know what we're trying to get at.

They took it seriously before the CL, it's now just another unnecessary fixture

I think I remember. They scored from our goal kick, which the wind nearly blew back into our penalty area.

Cheers batch, I wasn't sure of the years.

Tbh I can't remember where we were in league at that point but the rot had set in regarding results before then...we lost 6 out of 8 previous (drawn one and won against Poxford) It was the nature of the capitulation that annoyed me against Stevenage...fair play to Town fans though despite (rightly) booing our own they applauded Stevenage players off the pitch

“We are not going to win the FA Cup and I do not give two s**ts about it, to be honest with you,” Dave Kitson summarising today's attitude to the cup.

But the early rounds can still be magical, with the postman and the bakers and..

I can see what your point is. But given the sides which reach the semi-finals every year, I don't see how it is at all valid.

It's probably not been my best thought out argument that I've ever put forward. The top four or five have the resources to win it every year without breaking into a sweat. I'm going to concede defeat on this one. I still love it, the early rounds anyway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-5nist-qeQ

Hard to imagine they beat us 1-0 at there place about a year ago.

FA Cup final day used to be such a big thing whether you supported either team or not. Think the tv showing used to start around 11am with the players leaving their hotels and extended coverage of how the two teams reached the final etc. Now it's just more or less straight into the game which I suppose for some is all they want. As a kid I was lucky enough to watch the Sunderland v Leeds final, think it was 1973. To be at a final back then when the FA cup was a big deal was pretty special. I went with friends from Sunderland so enjoyed it even more so.

stevenage was a nightmare.  when they equalized my dad said something about not looking forward to the replay to which i replied that i doubt there will be one because we'll lose now. 

i was so angry with what was going on on the pitch that day because it was so clear to see that what we needed was for somebody - anybody to just go to the edge of the 18 yard box and accept the ball from digby instead of effectively forcing him to try to play against the wind.  i just couldn't see how hard it was to figure this out on the pitch.  unforgivable performance that day.

i was at histon, can't really remember much about it at all other than the feeling of disappointment in the display.

I was at Dagenham and Redbridge years back(got beat)....remember us thrashing Kettering away....Tooting and Mitcham was another sorrowfull awayday in the cup for me....i also remember getting beat in the snow at Luton when a young Rideout was superb.
Norwich away with Nestor Lorenzo getting sent off and Norwich away when we shocked them with a brace from Bambi......Fulham away drawing 3-3 after leading 3-1...hammered them in the replay.
I seem to remember a shock away win at a pretty decent Wimbledon side(maybe wrong?)

Just a short list of FA Cup matches i remember away......home ones i seem to remember is Villa,Blackburn who beat us 2-1 i think....or did we beat them 2-1?
Everton of course at home and away.........just remember Spurs away when we dicked them and still managed to lose 2-1.

I love the Cup.

Everton= Kenny Stroud  :)
Spurs= went to WHL and couldn't get in  :(

The away match at Everton was the first time i had heard a real big noise at a footy match....Goodison rocked when Mckenzie beat us with a late late winner.......think Andy King played in that one ::)

2-0 on a Friday night, m6 was closed on the way up and took about 6 hours, fucking shite away day that was last season the cunts.

That was McMahon's fault for not doing something about it. We used to sit pretty close to the dug out and were shouting at him non-stop about it as everyone could see what was going to happen. Except McMahon couldn't and then it did.

Having a defender take the goal kicks would have probably been the best option.

I seem to remember Histon scoring directly from a throw in and the ref giving the goal before consulting with the lino and the 4th official and then realising that it shouldn't count. Nice stadium though, with smoking areas inside.

Both games were dire from memory, esp the replay. For a decade then we always seemed to struggle in the cup against non-league teams, even if we won. Beating Hendon 1-0 with a pen, draws with Hitchin and Boreham Wood, struggling to beat Weymouth, Taunton, Sutton.

I liked the cup but the foreign ownership / manager syndrome means too many clubs treat the FA cup like they did the cup in their own countries, a tournament to give the stiffs a run-out. Trouble is these days the squad system means Chelsea / Man Utd etc B teams could hold their own in the Premiership, let alone the lower leagues, so they can progress anyway.

For me the cup has little interest beyond the 3rd Round, once the candlestickmakers etc have been knocked out.