FA Cup: Macclesfield and Mansfield keep the 'Cup magic' alive

COMMENT

The romance of the FA Cup has always added something special to the month of love, with the chance of an upset – not roses and candlelit dinners – getting the hearts of fans fluttering, and red cards the ones that truly matter.

The English game’s oldest competition once reigned as a blazing romantic David-versus-Goliath tale. But has that glow dimmed in the modern era of football pragmatism?

Fixture congestion, squad rotations, and packed Premier League schedules mean that for some big clubs, the FA Cup is no longer the main romantic interest.

Still, if this season has taught us anything, it’s that English football never quite lets the magic die – especially when the underdogs get to write their own love stories.

Take the most jaw-dropping moment of this season’s FA Cup: Macclesfield’s shock 2-1 victory over defending champions Crystal Palace – themselves the fairy-tale story of last season. The National League North side, sitting 117 places below Palace in the football pyramid, dumped the holders out of the Cup. It  is widely regarded as the biggest giant-killing act in FA Cup history.

Lower-league dreams weren’t done there either. Third-tier Mansfield stunned Premier League Burnley with a 2-1 comeback win in the fourth round that will be savoured by supporters for years.

Manchester United and Aston Villa are out, while Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Newcastle  and Chelsea are among the top-flight teams safely through the fifth round. The Gunners as still on track for the quadruple after Sunday night's 4-0 thrashing of League One Wigan Athletic. 

But it's the unpredictable spirit that keeps traditionalists insisting the Cup’s romance isn’t gone – it’s just hiding in the mud and rain of third-round thrillers where anything can happen. Even Wrexham’s spirited run offers a feel-good storyline for neutral fans, and a reminder of how much fairy-tale football the FA Cup can still offer.

It sometimes feels like a long-term relationship that’s settled into comfortable routine – familiar, respectable, but not exactly setting hearts racing.

Blame modern football, if you’d like. The relentless demands of the Premier League title race and European competition mean that the FA Cup is often treated like a complicated ex: important, but not always a priority.

Squad rotation has become the norm. Star forwards are “rested”. Youth-team hopefuls get their moment in the spotlight while supporters squint at the teamsheet like a set menu at a pricey restaurant on Valentine’s Day wondering where the romance went.

There is a certain irony to this. The FA Cup was built on unpredictability. On muddy pitches and improbable comebacks. On packed terraces roaring underdogs forward against the odds. It was football stripped back to its emotional core – belief.

Perhaps the issue isn’t that the FA Cup has changed, but that we have. Supporters now consume football at a relentless pace. There is always another match, another narrative, another transfer window, another crisis. The slow-burn charm of a Cup run struggles to compete with the week-to-week intensity of the league.

Yet, it’s not only the football minnows who seek salvation in the storied competition. The FA Cup is often regarded as a sweet consolation prize for teams whose advances have been knocked back elsewhere.

For Liverpool supporters, there’s a sense of rekindled affection here. With their league title defence stalling, the FA Cup doesn’t feel like a distraction – it feels like a chance for redemption. That shift in tone, from ‘it would be nice to win’ to wholehearted pursuit, is itself a mini love story worth savouring.

However, like any long-term relationship, the FA Cup isn’t all butterflies every week. Sometimes it’s messy, sometimes it’s chaotic, and sometimes you need underdogs from rundown grounds to remind you why you fell in love in the first place.

It may not command the undivided attention it once did, nor draw every top star out in full force each round. But it still delivers plenty of unpredictable drama, heart-racing finishes and moments that make you throw your hands in the air.

Maybe the sparks aren’t flying quite as wildly as they once did. But on the right night, under the right lights, when a so-called minnow refuses to read the script, you can still feel it.

And in football, as in love, sometimes that little jolt is enough.

* Rowan Callaghan is an avid English Premier League fan. He currently covers all of South Africa's major sports and Olympic codes as Independent Media's general sports reporter.