Don't upset the favourites

Last season’s FA Cup final was the first for 17 years not to feature any of the Premier League’s big four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. Portsmouth’s victory over Championship side Cardiff City came 13 years after the last time the big four failed to claim the trophy as their own.

But for all these convention-busting statistics, the game failed to unite neutrals as the FA Cup final is expected to do. Despite all the clamouring for change and freshness, this meeting of two unfashionable teams was deemed too much of a departure from tradition.

In America, such ties are a regular occurrence as sports’ ideological dedication to redressing imbalance rarely allows dynasties to develop; in several leagues the weakest team gets first pick of the next year’s strongest draftees, for example.

Without a complete overhaul of long-standing sporting institutions, America's diversification of triumph looks unattainable in Britain. Luckily, that’s not what we really want. Whisper it quietly, but we like winners.

Whisper it quietly, but we like winners

Friday’s Gold Cup saw racing manage the enviable task of knocking football and the Six Nations off newspapers’ back pages, as Kauto Star became the first horse to regain the trophy. Kauto Star won as the 7-4 favourite, and rider Ruby Walsh had already become the most successful Cheltenham Festival jockey of all time even before the unprecedented victory upped his tally of winners from six to seven.

Yet response to Walsh and his horse has been almost universally positive, surely due to the stiff test posed by stable-mate Denman who eventually finished 13 lengths behind in second. A guaranteed favourite’s victory is still welcome, so long as they really work to earn it.

The current Manchester United squad, like Kauto Star, may prove to be crowd pleasers. Last week saw United sink their teeth into Internazionale in the Champions League with the aggression their boss Sir Alex Ferguson usually reserves for chewing gum; the current world club champions remain on course for an unprecedented quintuple.

The side are favourites on all fronts, overwhelmingly so in the Premier League, but even the most begrudging of neutrals would afford respect to the side if they can repeat, or even surpass, their historic hat-trick of 1999.

Resounding victories stand the test of time far better than unlikely upsets. Memories of Blackburn Rovers’ league triumph faded with worrying speed. The same cannot be said of Manchester United’s tremendous treble.

Resounding victories stand the test of time far better than unforeseen upsets

Let us return to the FA Cup, the reputation of which increasingly relies on the occasional set of Premier League prima-donnas faltering on shoddy lower league pitches. When we think of the truly memorable upsets – or, if we use the hideous nomenclature, cupsets – then this becomes abundantly clear.

Newcastle’s famous 1972 defeat to non-league Hereford in the competition’s third round replay is exactly that: a famous defeat. Mentioning the result does not evoke memories of the plucky Hereford side, but rather the pathetic defeat of a Newcastle team that should never have put the tie to bed at their home ground. The occasional twist is a treat, but too many and your contest becomes devalued – just look at M Night Shyamalan’s dwindling reputation.

Unforeseen events unfolding can be a magnificent sight to behold, but the greatest treat of all is watching a team – or individual, or even racehorse – realise its potential and put on the kind of masterful display that will be spoken about in hushed, reverential tones for decades to come.

An upset ultimately dissolves into an anecdote, but the likes of the quadruple-winning Lisbon Lions become legends. Which would you rather witness?

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