This 2026 FA Cup Final just doesn’t feel right.
It is Chelsea v Manchester City later today and I will probably end up watching it, or there again, I might not.
I know it is well covered ground now, as to how the FA Cup Final has been messed around, compared to back in the good old days.
However, I think even more so this time, it is all a bit lost.
The FA Cup Final was always special.
After the league season was completed, the FA Cup Final was the finale of the domestic season, all eyes on a massive match at Wembley.
I have to say, when I woke up this morning I had completely forgot that this FA Cup final was today!
Imagine that happening back when I was a kid in the 1970s?
Back then the only two matches that were shown live on TV every season were England v Scotland in the home internationals and the FA Cup Final.
Now it appears you can watch pretty much any match, if you make enough effort to find a channel/stream. Even many non-league matches are now shown live. This would have been a LOL (if LOL had been invented back then) moment for me and my mates back in the 1970s, if somebody had told me in my lifetime I would have this embarrassment of ‘riches’ to watch, without even leaving the house.
In reality of course, sometimes less really is more.
I don’t want to go back to having only two live matches on TV every year BUT things have reached saturation point.
Look at all the choice we have now people will say. Well, when almost all of it is a choice between something not very special and something not special at all, what kind of a choice is that?
A bit like all the TV channels in general we have to choose from now. Maybe I am just wearing rose-tinted glasses but I am convinced that despite only three channels to choose from back in the 1970s, there were far more quality TV programmes that were made back then, the vast majority actually on just one channel, BBC 1.
Anyway, I digress, the 2026 FA Cup Final.
Chelsea v Manchester City.
Maybe the biggest question is whether Wembley will even be full on Saturday afternoon?
For the Wembley semi-finals, neither Manchester City nor Chelsea could sell their allocations. I suppose it is all of eight miles from Stamford Bridge to Wembley…
We all know that it is now Premier League and Champions League as the two big competitions, not Premier League and FA Cup.
However, it feels like this FA Cup Final has got even more squeezed than normal.
Still to be decided are Premier League winners and relegation, plus an intriguing situation with the Champions League qualification.
None of that has been decided ahead of the 2026 FA Cup final.
Arsenal or Manchester City for the title, Tottenham or West Ham for the third relegation place, whilst last night’s Aston Villa win over the scousers means Bournemouth, Brighton and Liverpool are still fighting to qualify for the Champions League.
This year we don’t even have an underdog to cheer in the 2026 FA Cup final. Just a case of who you most want to lose between two of the self-entitled clubs that now think they have a divine right to dominate English football. Chelsea or Manchester City to win? What a choice!
At least we had Crystal Palace to cheer on a year ago, the same as when so many neutrals cheered on Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup against Liverpool two months earlier.
You saw how much it meant to Crystal Palace and their fans. As mentioned earlier, you wonder if the fans of Manchester City and Chelsea will even fill the stadium, never mind properly celebrate when whoever wins.
By Sunday morning nobody will even be talking about today’s 2026 FA Cup final outcome, it will be all about can West Ham win at Newcastle to stand a realistic chance of dodging relegation, who will qualify for the Champions League, as well as who will win the title? (Never mind the three European finals all with English clubs in them, they are to be played Wednesday (Europa final), Saturday (Champions League final), then following Wednesday (Conference final.)