The Magic of the Cup?

With Ipswich safely through to the 4th round for this season after a satisfactory 3-0 victory over Chesterfield, are thoughts turning towards the prospect of an exciting cup run? John thinks the FA cup is nothing more than a side-issue.

With credit to Jim Magilton, he at least endorsed his own comments about the magic of the cup by playing what amounted to a full-strength side.

Unsurprisingly, the fans didnt quite feel the same at this early stage, with probably less than 10,000 Ipswich fans in attendance.

The question is, at what point WILL Ipswich fans feel the magic of the cup? I believe that, whilst we are in the Championship, FA Cup success is entirely secondary to promotion, to such an extent that a good cup run would be viewed as an indication of underachievement if we arent winning promotion at the same time.

Whilst everybody would love to see Ipswich in the cup final, or in a semi-final perhaps, it would be a waste to see our season meander to a disappointing mid-table finish.

Given the finances spent, I dont think our fans would recognise the FA Cup as an alternative to league success as perhaps Cardiff fans might have done last season. Similarly, if West Brom had failed to win promotion last season, despite their run to the FA Cup Semi-Final, their fans would have viewed it as a disappointing season.

It is already looking like a significant improvement in our form is required to allow us to reach the Play-Offs. To achieve that alongside a long-run in the FA Cup looks to be an extremely tall order and it would seem very unlikely that we will achieve both.

So, whilst it remains unlikely that we are going to reach the FA Cup semi-final, and with the league form struggling to get any momentum, perhaps a defeat against a Premiership team, after a good performance, might just be a blessing in disguise.