russell_anderson wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 12:45 am
I'm afraid the days I got excited about the FA Cup are long gone. The vast majority of clubs these days have little interest.
Almost all Premier and Championship sides play a mostly reserve side and even EFL 1 clubs rarely play their best sides.
The highest crowd for Round 2 was just over 7,800 at Pompey which is well below their normal home attendances this season of between 14,000 and 17,000.
Certainly a long way from the time where we could and should have beaten a full strength Southampton team and Holker Street and an era where Norwich as a 3rd Division club reached a semi-final. No EFL 1, EFL 2 or non-league club will ever do that again.
The big hope for clubs like Barrow is to reach Round 3 and get a huge Premier club away which will make a dramatic improvement in the finances.
I think that’s Jonty’s point Russell, there’s always the hope for a club like ours that we might get a draw against a big club…possibly a PL club. I remember how I felt when we came out of the hat and being drawn against Middlesbrough and Sunderland (don’t think the wife could understand my celebration though

) I always wanted to see my team up against a PL club at their ground, and I got to see it twice!!
Then aside from the romantic part, it’s potentially a draw that could set the club up for years and the chance for the owners to recoup some of their investment.
Shame 2-2 feels that Jonty isn’t allowed to get excited about this, I’m sure many of us are though….
We didn't underestimate them, we just didn't think they were that good.