From when is not winning the FA cup worrying? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Walter Broeckx

In another article I tried to find out when we should win the league to keep up with our own history books and records. And I tried to do the same thing for the other teams in the PL.

Today I will do the same but for the FA cup. As the FA cup has a history of some 130 years I had to use this number as the point to look at. I will not repeat the whole reasoning why I feel that we should look at the whole history of a club and not just the last 10 years or so.

When you become a supporter of a club you support the club for and take it as a whole. You don’t pick out the cherries on the cake. No you also eat the dry cake. [Is that a Flemish expression Walter?   I think the nearest English expression is “take the rough with the smooth” – but your version is much more apt.  I think I’ll start using it – Tony] And cake can be dry and hard to swallow but as a supporter you have to take it all.

So is the FA cup record a reason to use the Arsenal hasn’t won anything in X years mantra that the media and some desperate fans use valid?

Once again I took out my calculator and started calculating. And this is what I found for the teams who are currently in the PL when it comes to Fa cup wins.

Club	Years	FA cup	Avg cups	Last won	Moaning point
Man Utd	130	11	11,82	2004	2015
Arsenal	130	10	13,00	2005	2018
Tottenham	130	8	16,25	1991	2007
Aston Villa	130	7	18,57	1957	1975
Liverpool	130	7	18,57	2006	2029
Blackburn	130	6	21,67	1928	1950
Chelsea	104	6	17,33	2010	2027
Newcastle	130	6	21,67	1955	1977
Everton	130	5	26,00	1995	2021
WBA	130	5	26,00	1968	1994
Bolton	130	4	32,50	1958	1990
Man City	130	4	32,50	1969	2001
Wolves	130	4	30,25	1960	1990
West Ham	130	3	43,33	1980	2023
Sunderland	130	2	65,00	1973	2038
Blackpool	130	1	130,00	1953	2083

So again you can see that if we keep an eye on the entire history of our club we still have another few years before we really have to start worrying about not winning the FA cup. As we only win it normally every 13 years. So 6 years is not even halfway such a cycle.

There are other clubs who should have won it to keep up with their own records. Tottenham should have won it a few years ago. And again the same old clubs with a rich history come in bold as the underachievers.

Also Manchester City is such an underachiever. They should have won the FA cup in 2001 to keep up with their own history. They will have a chance to win it this season but then still this is 10 years behind their normal schedule. And it will be the most expensive cup win ever I think. No owner ever will have paid more money to win the FA cup.

Now does this article (and my other article) mean that we should not be hungry to win anything? NO. But it should remind us fans that winning is not some kind of god given right to us. It never has been. The Manchester United fans may think it is their god given right for the moment. But nothing is eternal in football. After a good period comes a bad period.

We have gone through bad periods in our long history for many many years. Periods if you compare them to the current ‘6 years of failure’ (as some call it) who were so dark and full of real gloom and doom that finishing in the top 4 each year is far away from failure.

And keep in mind we are not playing with team on the same playing field. We are doing it on our own. No rich sugar daddy who is paying the bills. No, we pay our own bills. We work within our means unlike other clubs.

Some will want to trade this for a trophy but a trophy at all costs can be the beginning of the end. Just ask Portsmouth.

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