Taking out the fan excitement of an FA Cup run for a moment, is a cup run a help or a hindrance to us in our fight for safety?
After sending a relatively disappointed text to my Dad about the cup draw, I received one back saying that he didn't care as the cup is distraction from our main aim, staying up.
While I argued the point that an away win, a goal for Simon Church and a clean sheet cannot be considered a bad thing, is he right to be concerned about it distracting us from our fight against relegation? Or will a good run help to boost confidence and get the boys firing against all comers?
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That said the cup has accounted for 2 of Wiggins' 3 game ban so at this stage I'd say help.
Bournemouth home game yet to be rearranged and if we go through to the 6th round the Watford game will also need to be rearranged. That's pretty much every Tuesday until the end of the season we'll need a few more Liege loanees to help out the squad
And what is this "safety" that you talk about? Will someone die if we drop down a division? Will we all need a hospital check-up in case we've contracted a bad case of maingy metatarsals? No and no? Will the club suddenly cease to be? No. Will we all find ourselves over Charlton Park watching AFC Charlton (2015) playing out depressing water-logged matches in the East Greenwich Junior Parks League? No. The consequences of getting relegated are that we play in a lower division for a season or two, and possibly a season or two more. Despite years of being told by money-obsessed suits that relegation is the end of the world, it isn't. Despite what people may think, clubs do not stop functioning because the have to play Sheffield Utd twice a season instead of Sheffield Wednesday. We might just as easily talk about safety in the cup: Lets forget about Wigan. If we lose to them, there's still another eighteen fixtures in which to safeguard our league standing. Facing The Owls though, that's a one-off. Lose that and our cup-safety is completely and utterly compromised. Lose and we are dead meat. But win and we are up there with the top of the footballing food chain.
Excitement. That's where it's at. And the cup offers precisely that; the chance to play exiting new teams like Huddersfield and Wednesday instead of the same teams we always face in the league. It may only be the Wendies now, but in the next round we could have a really glamorous fixture. And the round after that we'd be at Wembley.
The cup is far more important than the league. No matter how slim, the cup is our only chance of silverware this season. The only chance of glory. The only chance for our team to be immortalised. So let's forget all the boring nonsense that is league football; that's nothing but a hindrance. Let's spur Charlton on to something truly great, a massive massive win in the Massive's own back yard. Nothing is more important.
When I was a lad and Eddie Firmani was manager - 2nd DivisionCharlton were drawn away in the FA Cup 3rd Round, against then newly promoted Division One (top tier) Coventry City at Highfield Road - my first long distance away trip.
Poor old Coventry were rock bottom and looking relegation certainties.
Charlton started the game brightly and growing in confidence, dominated a Coventry side bereft of confidence. Our chances came and went and, in true Charlton fashion, we missed them all.
In the 77th minute, Coventry introduced their sub (one sub only in those days), a slight ginger haired teenager called Willie Carr - who completely turned the game on its head. Within a few minutes we were losing, and conceding twice more in the final 10 minutes, beaten 3-0.
Coventry were reborn with that Cup win, inspiring a terrific run in the League, winning regularly and escaping relegation. Their manager put it all down to the confidence instilled by that Cup win over Charlton being the turning point of their season.
Never underestimate the value of a Cup run - you are winning matches, and what Chris Powell means when he says, " ......a cup run can galvanise our season."
http://www.castrust.org/2014/01/time-to-prioritise-the-fa-cup/
League games get called off, other teams play and gain points and we fall further behind.
Having said that, I am going to totally contradict myself here...................we get relegated but win the FA Cup, that I would settle for.
Having said that, who here wants League 1 football again? If we knew that survival was guaranteed, even by a single point or goal difference, we could go all out for the cup.
The ideal would be to get impetus from a good cup run, to go out - if we do - without a thrashing from such as citeh.
When Johnnie goes up to lift the FA Cup, we'll be there, we'll be there!!!!!