McCarthy a Big Fan of the FA Cup
Saturday, 4th Jan 2014 06:01

Boss Mick McCarthy says he has has fond memories of watching FA Cup finals while growing up in Barnsley. Back then, in contrast to today, the final was one of only a handful of games shown live on television.

“I loved it,” he recalled. “My parents’ next-door neighbour, he knew I loved football and he’d come round and we always had a bet on the outcome of the game.

“It used to be two shillings, that tells you how long ago it was, then it was 10p for a while. Thankfully, he used to pay me whatever the outcome was!

“I loved the FA Cup, but I think it has been diluted, partly by the money and the Premier League, and we all change teams.

“If it was a league game would I be changing the team? I’d be picking the strongest team, I’ll be brutally honest.

“But then we’d be playing a team in our league as well. I see Simon Grayson’s talking about the games he’s had and he might make changes.”

Once he had joined Barnsley as a young player McCarthy says he used to make an annual pilgrimage to Wembley: “I used to love the FA Cup final, the last game of the season, it always appeared to be the most important game of the season.

“Winning the FA Cup was fabulous and as a young pro at Barnsley I used to get the tickets and I used to drive down and watch them.

“I have some great memories. One of the best was when Alan Sunderland scored the winner for Arsenal against Manchester United in 1979.

“I wasn’t supporting either of them, but I was with two Manchester United fans and they were dancing and cheering and turning around hugging everybody [after Sammy McIlroy had made it 2-2] and I said ‘You might just want to look, you’re actually losing!’. They were still cheering when Alan Sunderland scored the goal!

“I loved the atmosphere going down there. I guess it’s still the same if you’re involved in the final.”

The Town boss came nearest to reaching a final himself in 2004: “I got to the semi-final with Sunderland and we lost to Millwall, we had a good run but got beaten at Old Trafford.”

Photo: Action Images

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