For the neutral, looking at this weekend's FA Cup quarter final line-up, it may be tempting not to look beyond the glamour of the top tie, and the only one being played on Saturday. Do you remember the days when it was THE day for football?
Anyway, enthralling as the Arsenal v Chelsea tie might be, for anyone south of Watford, may I just remind the football world that four of the last eight teams are from the Nationwide First Division and although two of them meet, Watford host Burnley, there is a very real chance that one of the First Division sides could feature in the FA Cup Final in Cardiff.
Sheffield United continue to enjoy home advantage in cup competitions this season, thanks to Mrs Warnock, and in their quarter final they face Yorkshire neighbours Leeds United, who they have already dumped out of this season's Worthington Cup. Indeed the Blades only just failed to reach the final of that competition, losing to Liverpool, on aggregate, after beating them at Bramall Lane.
Leeds will be very wary of Sheffield's team which proved more than capable of beating Premiership opposition this season and older Leeds fans will cast their minds back 30 years to when their all-conquering team of Bremner, Hunter and co faced a team from the then Second Division, Sunderland at Wembley. Apart from Ian Porterfield's winning goal the outstanding moments of the game came with Jim Montgomery's fantastic double saves to deny Trevor Cherry and Peter Lorimer.
The save from Lorimer still defies belief for the speed and agility 'Monty' showed in pushing the Scot's effort onto the underside of the bar. Scroll forward to the present day and a team that contains refreshing young talent such as Michael Brown and Michael Tonge as well as the experience of Stuart McCall and Peter Ndlovu may just be the First Division side to reach the semis and, if they avoid Arsenal, who knows.
Southampton are another of the quarter finalists who experienced an FA Cup Final clash between a top flight club and a team from the second strata. It was back in 1976 when, as a Second Division club, they faced mighty Manchester United. A walk-over thought most of the football world but little Bobby Stokes wrote his name into FA Cup history with the only goal of the game.
Ironically it was former Manchester United player Jim McCalliog who played Stokes through, beyond a static United back line appealing for offside, for the decisive goal. I think Stokes was offside and Martin Buchan, one of the United players who appealed for offside on the day, agrees. Thankfully for Stokes and his mates the referee awarded the goal and Southampton were the second Second Division winners of the FA Cup inside four years.
Wolves are pretty much in a similar situation to that which Southampton found themselves in 1976. Striving hard to reach the top flight and lifted only by their cup run but there is a little added spice to this particular occasion. Southampton turned their back on Dave Jones when he was under criminal investigation on sex abuse charges three years ago. Jones lost his job then but bounced back into football as manager of Wolves and was subsequently found not guilty of the charges.
Knowing the Wolves players they will be motivated that little bit extra at St Mary's in perhaps providing their manager with a sweet measure of revenge. But they will have to shackle one James Beattie in order to reach the last four.
Watford reached the FA Cup Final in 1984 during their purple patch under Graham Taylor. The Hornets had been in Division Three as recently as 1978 but in four years Taylor took them through to the First Division where they finished runners-up to Liverpool in 1983. The following year Watford faced the other Merseyside club Everton in the final but lost 2-0, with one of the goals coming from a typical Andy Gray challenge on Steve Sherwood that ended up with the ball in the net.
Already a goal down to Graeme Sharp, Watford accepted their fate with dignity. On Sunday they face a Burnley side every bit as erratic as The Hornets are in Division One with one major difference. The Lancashire outfit have lost just one game in their last 13 so if Watford are to emulate their former feat and reach the semi-final they must do it with home advantage.
And that brings us around nicely to Arsenal v Chelsea, the only all-Premiership tie. Arsenal may well be favourites but they could well do with a quick check of the history books to the time when they faced Second Division West Ham in the 1980 FA Cup Final.
The Gunners had reached the final for the third consecutive season and were the first side to do that in the 20th century but it was the 13th minute of that final that proved decisive as Trevor Brooking headed a mis-hit Stuart Pearson shot home for the only goal of the game. To rub salt in the wound it was only the third headed goal that Brooking ever managed in his 17-year professional career. So Arsenal you have been warned.
