Wanted: Henning Berg

This weeks excellent, as all ways, Fighting Talk on five live included a blunt question. Is the FA cup still alive? Although this might not seem like a monumentous enquiry even 10 years ago it would have probably been unthinkable. Go back 20 years and it would be comparable to suggesting that Mother Theresa was overrated. The cup final was was(as my dad often reminds me)the only televised game of the year. It was the focal point of every clubs season. No body was rested, no grounds were half empty and John Parkin would have been considered relatively svelte.

It's clear now those days are gone. Although the media still greet the competition with the same level of extravagant hyperbole, as excellently pointed out here, the "greatest cup competition in the world no longer commands the same prestige. There is one fundamental reason for this swift decline, one guilty body of arrogant pricks who set the precedent for the derision of such a venerable institution. Manchester United. In 2000 gum chewing heart atack waiting to happen Alex Ferguson decided that the inagural (and thus meaningless) FIFA World Club Championship was a more alluring prospect than the oldest cup competition in world football. Unfortunatley history proved him right. After exiting at the group stages United had five days recovery next to the pool, came home refreshed and cleared up in the league.Wankers.

Its saddening to think that such a cynical decsion could forever damage such a cornerstone of British footballing culture. Looking down the list of luminaries that made the fatal trip to Brazil you see the name Henning Berg, personally involved in the murder of a 136 year old kindly gentleman with big ears who occasionally helped out some of the less fortunate members of the community against their stronger, more monied oppressors. Who the fuck is Henning Berg to be able to do that?