And just as the fans can’t be bothered, nor can the teams. Once, players and managers shrouded their apathy in phrases like ‘magic of the Cup’, ‘still a priority’ and ‘want to win every game’. Now, we have Aston Villa’s Stiliyan Petrov freely admitting that he “doesn’t care” about the FA Cup, and Blackpool manager Ian Holloway positively revelling in the weakened team he put out against Southampton.  This is the sort of indifference against which ITV and ESPN have to struggle as they try to justify their expensive investment in the competition. They knew it, too. “At a time when the FA Cup is battling for its right to prominence,” declared Peter Drury at the start of Arsenal’s game against Leeds on Saturday, “this is the tie it needs.”  ITV had two weapons in its armoury. The first was Drury himself, a man whose attempts at sky-scraping oratory make a pitch for Barack Obama, but end up hitting the George Bush level. Which leads to sentences like this: “Is Robert Snodgrass believing, on this day of days, that all things are possible?” And later: “Lightning on the point of striking twice, albeit 200 miles apart” — a statement rescued from inanity only by its stunning idiocy.  The other was the game itself, which was simply magnificent. As Snodgrass — great player, by the way — stood over a penalty, the camera pull-focused on to the rows of Leeds fans behind the goal, eyes bulging, faces taut with expectation, before shifting back on to Snodgrass, who belted the ball into the net. It was a great moment — David reaching forward and poking Goliath in the eye — and it epitomised the unique allure of the FA Cup.  This is what distinguishes the Cup from the humdrum treadmill of the league: the humble lower-league side presented with a daunting peak, and occasionally scaling it. The clash of styles, of cultures, of personalities; the now-traditional ‘liberation’ of a TV microphone by gleeful away fans, who proceed to sing “ITV is ------- ----” into it.  So here’s my idea to breathe life into The World’s Oldest Cup Competition (TM). Instead of giving a bye to the big sides, give it to the small ones instead. Let the Premier League teams fight to the death in the autumn, when there are fewer distractions and less competition for TV viewers, and then as the new year dawns, introduce the several hundred lower league, non-League and amateur sides.  You’d virtually guarantee yourself some juicy giant-killings and underdog interest in the latter stages. Imagine Manchester United turning up to play some non-League side from Somerset and having to get changed in a pub car park. It would make the game incalculably richer.  And it is then, you suspect, that we would find out how much substance really lies behind the big clubs’ bluster about the ‘magic of the Cup’.
Hands up. How many of you woke up on Saturday morning, realised it was FA Cup    third-round day and bounded out of bed with wide-eyed excitement?