Sir Alex Ferguson took rotation to new limits when he fielded a weakened team for the 2009 FA Cup semi-final at WembleyTo paraphrase a question supposedly asked of George Best in a hotel bedroom,where did it all move wrong for the FA Cup?The respond remains the same: Manchester. There are two obvious salients to succor chart the decline of the nation’s favourite knockout competition, and both involve decisions made in and around feeble Trafford over the past couple of decades. The first was Manchester United pulling out of the 2000 event, and with the shameless connivance of the Football Association,to visit Brazil instead in what we now know to be a hopelessly naive attempt to win votes for a World Cup in England.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com