The Tameside Correspondent quotes Mossley manager David Fish on the significant financial boost of an FA Cup run. “It’s huge to a club like this when we had six months of shutdown – the bills don’t stop. You’ve still got to maintain your ground, you’ve still got to get your pitch ready, you’ve still got your licensing fees for your bar and all those things. So that money is huge for the club. And someone like Curzon Ashton here at Seel Park would be brilliant, wouldn’t it? The only shame is we’d have to restrict the crowd.”
Mossley received £2250 for their victory on Tuesday night which was attended by 371 supporters. Full price tickets for Saturday’s league clash with Pickering Town are £8 with a variety of concession and junior options ranging from £5 down to £1. Even if a similar attendance all paid full price, which is unlikely, this would fall just short of £3000. A few more saw the Lilywhites win over St Helens in the previous round, but even a slightly larger crowd can’t compete with the FA’s chequebook. Victory in the next round earns a team £3375, win the Third Qualifying Round and it’s £5625. Lose and the reward is still a handy £1875. The prize money may have been cut by around 50%, but the benefit of progression stares us in the face. How much this detracts from the romantics idea of the “magic of the cup” will depend on individual circumstances.
Curzon enter the competition at the Second Qualifying Round, with other possible local match ups including Stalybridge Celtic and Hyde United. So whilst David Fish says he’d like a local derby, the harsher reality suggests progression for larger prize money is more important now than ever. Certainly FC United of Manchester, who hammered Pontefract Collieries 6-2 look a team to avoid. We’re now at the point in the competition when I start to wonder who is capable of going all the way to the official round 1. The club founded by disillusioned Manchester United supporters who felt a disconnect with the multi-trophy winning global powerhouse would appear to be a strong contender.
The prize money might be significantly less than usual, but as David Fish points out, it’s still vital income for grassroots football. So you have to feel especially sorry for any team who goes out of the cup on penalties, like Merstham for example, who lost 7-6 in a shoot out to Dunstable. It’s little more than a village between Redhill and Reigate in Surrey but is a place I know well as it’s where, twenty years ago, I attempted to start a radio career, presenting shows from the top floor of a drafty old house that had been converted into some sort of community centre. This opportunity had come about through someone on the same course as me at Farnborough College, so Farnborough too is a name which always catches my eye. Their form with two victories already means I’d put them as a contender for a long cup run. They once had a money-spinning trip to Arsenal in the fourth round, losing 5-1 with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Sol Campbell scoring, and they’re in the hat, bowl, bag or whatever thing balls can go in the FA choose to use for the second qualifying round draw on Friday.
A couple of notable names local to me have already fallen. I remember Stanes Town reaching the first round earning a short trip to Brentford’s Griffin Park, with former Bee Marcus Gayle’s side losing 5-nil. Kingstonian too haven’t made it beyond the first qualifying round this year. Twenty years ago they did a giant kill job on Brentford on their way to the ‘Second Round Proper’. They reached that stage last year with demand for tickets such that they were sold over the counter at Kingston’s excellent independent record shop Banquet.
Fans might still be allowed at this stage of the FA Cup, but if Mossley or anyone else jumps a few more hurdles and secures a high profile opponent from the Football League, the absence of that popular FA Cup defining image of a packed, cramped stadium, fans mostly standing around the ground, close to the pitch fired up to give their illustrious visitors both barrels of local hospitality, will be a cold reality check for football in 2020. I can’t see that the FA’s prize fund will make up for the loss of income then.
Glory Hunting 