Chelsea, Arsenal and Co may live to regret it if they turn their back on the FA Cup

The FA Cup has to be counted as a success simply because there were no members of the Big Four taking part. Many have said that the players of lesser non-Big Four sides would shrink at a massive Wembley FA Cup final, but their very presence was a poke in the eye of the four bloated Premier League plutocrats.  

Although ultimately with a Pompey victory – we have a team that could well have qualified for the UEFA cup through the league anyway - it is still important that the FA Cup, finally, isn’t sitting in the trophy cabinet of one of the usual suspects.

And no, this doesn’t mean that the FA Cup has gone the way of the “Mickey Mouse” league cup, a ridiculous assertion. What it does mean is that all the Premier League clubs will be kicking themselves for a missed opportunity. And next season – with hope renewed of a non-Big Four team winning it – the FA Cup will be much more competitive. If the Big Four really are starting to regard it as unimportant, then good – what is better, four fat-cat teams competing for a trophy or 40?

This whole “Mickey Mouse” label is flung on the League Cup because the Big Four have abandoned it. But both the FA Cup and League Cup have a UEFA spot at stake. If they are worthless trophies then does that mean that the battle for fifth is pointless, too?