We’re down to the last eight in the FA Cup and some clubs need Wembley glory more than others. For Newcastle it would mean much more than just enhancing their manager’s reputation.
Here’s how we’ve ranked the quarter-finalists based on how much of a s*** they should give about the FA Cup…
1) Newcastle
Like other clubs in the last eight, the FA Cup represents Newcastle’s best – and probably last – chance of making a success of this season. They sit in 10th place in the Premier League, two points above Chelsea who have a game in hand. So European qualification looks unlikely while they are 10 points off Tottenham in fifth. Especially while they stumble from game to game, unsure which version of themselves might show up at any given moment.
More than that and the boost it would provide for Eddie Howe’s long-term employment prospects, is what an FA Cup triumph would mean on Tyneside.
If you’re not drawing your pension, you won’t have seen Newcastle win a major honour. Sixty-nine years have passed since their last one: the FA Cup in 1955. Which is simultaneously far, far too long, and very, very funny. That said, without wishing to patronise Newcastle fans more than they already are, no set of supporters on this list would relish cup glory like the Toon Army. Largely because the rest have all won it since Newcastle last did.
2) Wolves
We’re now drunk on the romanticism of the cup, so here come Wolves, for much the same reasons as Newcastle.
Wolves last won the cup only five years after Newcastle, and though they have had a couple of League Cup triumphs, in 1974 and 1980, to sustain the middle-aged supporters, there are a couple of generations of Wolves fans who have never seen their side win a major honour.
The FA Cup won’t have been a priority at the start of the season – staying up while balancing the books was – but with the first target already achieved by Gary O’Neil, the Wolves boss can allow himself to dream of Wembley glory without fear of what a cup distraction might do to their Premier League prospects.
3) Chelsea
Now we come to a couple of sides who would doubtless enjoy winning the cup, but this particular one would just be chucked on the pile with the others while much of the focus goes on what a trophy might do for their manager’s prospects.
Chelsea, the ‘blue billion-pound bottlejobs’, and Mauricio Pochettino need something to show for their massive investment. Talk about projects all you want – Todd Boehly and his pals want something shiny, tangible and immediate for their billion bucks.
Pochettino too would relish ending his personal trophy drought on these shores to dispel the growing doubts over the manager as a ‘fraudulent loser’. Chelsea blew their chance in the Carabao Cup final against a Liverpool side on the bones of its arse. Only winning at Wembley in May would atone for a damning defeat.
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4) Manchester United
Erik ten Hag is in a similar predicament to Pochettino. Casemiro is hardly to Ten Hag what Mark Robins was for Fergie at Forest in 1990, but the feeling persists that the current boss needs something to show from the season to convince Sir Jim Ratcliffe that he deserves the chance to lead the Red Devils into another campaign.
That might yet be a Champions League place but an eight-point gap to fourth seems steep, especially given how flaky Ten Hag’s United remain. They might be fancied to turn it on in three games between the quarter-finals and final in May, but would anyone back them to go on a run that would propel them past Spurs and Villa for a top-four spot?
The cup might not even be enough to save Ten Hag – it didn’t do Louis van Gaal much good. And the quarter-final draw is a shocker…
5) Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp goes to United in the last eight for one of two stops at Old Trafford on his farewell tour. Which the departing boss hopes to round off with four trophies – a domestic Treble and the Europa League.
The League Cup is in the cabinet, and Liverpool fans can squabble among themselves over which they would prefer out of the FA Cup and Europa League. Neither really come close to the Premier League in the priority list.
That said, Liverpool’s charge is largely based on momentum and belief. There seems little need for Klopp to pick and choose between competitions since the Kop is savouring every last moment under the manager and the Reds are rolling from one win to another. Klopp so enjoyed the Carabao Cup triumph over Chelsea so imagine the glorious/nauseating (delete as appropriate) scenes if Liverpool win at Wembley in what could be his final game in charge.
6) Manchester City
Another trophy, innit.
City remain on course to repeat their Treble triumph, and though they weren’t the first English side to do it, a fact United fans cling to for dear life, they could be first to go back-to-back.
Again, City aren’t in the business of being sniffy about their pots – not to the point of chucking them in – and, with the squad, they have no need to be. The Premier League and Champions League, of course, remain the priorities but Pep Guardiola has no need to ignore the FA Cup.
Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden celebrate a goal.
7) Coventry
The lowest-ranked team of the last eight, it seems some Sky Blues weren’t sure how to take the quarter-final draw that pitted them against Wolves at Molineux. It is neither the easiest draw on paper that might have enhanced their chances of going to Wembley, nor the glamour tie some might have craved.
In any case, the main point of contention for Coventry is how much focus they want to give a bonus cup run. Their Championship obligations, presumably, take priority in Mark Robins’ mind.
Coventry have slipped recently towards the back of the chasing pack for the play-offs. They were penalty kicks away from the Premier League last year and necessity makes a Wembley return to atone for that defeat to Luton more prominent in their thinking than an FA Cup semi-final.
8) Leicester City
It is even more important for the Foxes to get back into the Premier League.
They look well-placed while sat top of the Championship, and they have a six-point cushion on those below them. But it should have been a greater advantage, with defeats to Leeds and Middlesbrough in their last two matches prompting more twitchiness at the King Power than they might have anticipated when they appeared to be cruising back to the top flight.
The cup doesn’t have to be a distraction but a surprise repeat of their 2021 triumph is unlikely to compensate for any failure to achieve their primary objective.
