No one cares about the FA cup any more. As nice a change as it was, there is no way Cardiff and Portsmouth (twice) should have reached the FA Cup Final; nor, in all honesty, should Stoke. Manchester United haven't won it since 2004, and suffer regular giant killings. Even the small clubs don't seem to treat it with much respect, often fielding weak teams in order to prop up their domestic campaign.
The FA Cup is branded as The World's Oldest Cup Competition. Who gives a rat's ass? The Premier League and the Champion's League both dominate the club scene. History doesn't matter if the present doesn't matter. It needs a re-branding.
Instead of the The World's Oldest Cup Competition, the FA Cup should re-position itself as The World's Second Best Club Competition. The former branding draws attention only to its increasing irrelevance; the latter draws attention to the fact that the FA Cup has a very generous serving of the European club pie. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool - each an elder statesmen the European scene and precious scalp for whoever knocks them out (usually Barcelona or one of the other three) - and latterly Manchester City and Tottenham. This lineup is stronger than the Europa League, the Copa del Rey, the Copa Libertadores and the Club World Cup. These are big teams, with big stadia and strong support. Add Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter and you've got the last-eight in the CL. Add to that an appearance at Wembley, one of the best stadiums in the world, and you've got yourself something worth fighting for.
Of course it wont solve the entire problem. Bragging rights don't compare to a place in the the First Best Club Cup Competition in the World, so ideally a berth in the qualifying rounds or group stage would be on offer. But it's a start at least, I think.
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