Richard Sutcliffe: How an ‘unknown’ Frenchman may just have saved FA Cup

On the plus side could be found Leyton Orient and goalscorer Jonathan Tehoue, the substitute who literally went from zero to hero by netting a last-minute equaliser against Arsenal just a year after turning out in the French Fourth Division in a couple of matches that did not attract a single paying spectator.

Not only did the 26-year-old force a replay that will give the O’s and their supporters a night out at the Emirates Stadium to go with the cheque of around £500,000 the East London club can expect to bank.

But, perhaps more importantly in terms of the Cup’s long-term future, he also killed in an instant the ridiculous plans that were under consideration by the FA. The scrapping of replays, playing all Cup ties in midweek and seeding teams from the third round in a bid to make sure the top sides make it through to the latter stages were just some of the ‘gems’ that were leaked last week in an attempt to test the water.

Also included in the plans under discussion, we were told, was the possibility of handing the winners a Champions League berth.

But, as the chances of the Premier League agreeing to this are about as likely as Arsene Wenger suddenly developing 20:20 vision when one of his players has been sent off, that is never likely to get off the ground.

The same, unfortunately, could not have been said about the other madcap ideas that had been put forward as a possible cure for the Cup’s ills.

Thanks to the previously unknown Tehoue and, to a lesser extent non-League Crawley Town for giving Manchester United an uncomfortable time 24 hours earlier, such fears have been eased.

That, however, is not to say the world’s oldest knockout competition is suddenly in robust health with the 14,607 who turned out to watch Birmingham ease past Sheffield Wednesday proving that plummeting attendances remain a big problem.

In terms of such a paltry turnout at St Andrews, surely a more adventurous pricing policy than £25 on the day with a fiver off if a ticket was bought in advance plus an additional discount for season-ticket holders would have brought in a few more thousand. As, of course, would granting the Owls’ request for extra tickets on top of their original allocation of 4,200.

In terms of giving the competition a permanent lift, however, then surely the best idea is to revive some of the tradition that always made the Cup special.Which brings this column neatly on to what constituted the ‘bad’ of last weekend’s fifth round, namely the chaotic state of the fixture programme as illustrated by Sunday’s draw for the last eight actually including 13 teams.

With Bolton Wanderers’ tie at Fulham still being played at the time Graeme Le Saux and Ronnie Radford were pulling the balls out of a goldfish bowl (whatever happened to the velvet bag?), it meant just Manchester United and Stoke City were definitely through to the quarter-finals.

Owen Coyle’s men joined their Premier League rivals half-an-hour or so later but, even so, the number of outstanding ties – many caused by fourth-round ties having taken place on what should have been fifth-round weekend – made the draw, and the Cup, something of a farce.

The situation encapsulated everything that is wrong with the Cup at the moment and if the FA really are serious about sorting out their own competition then reviving a sense of tradition should be the priority.