Of all the matches available why did the BBC have to go for one of the dullest matches available (from a neutral's point of view) - Premiership v Premiership match Wigan v Chelsea? Who would have betted against a Chelsea victory? A predictable Chelsea win against a struggling team (with not many fans).

I totally agree.

I should have added that it sums it up that only 14,166 bothered to turn up.

Yeah, the romance of the cup... 2 teams we see week-in, week-out playing a boring cup tie while some plucky non-leaguers battle to beat the former European champions. Not a great choice for the neutral and the 3rd round choice of Villa v United wasn't a great one either. They did get it right for the early kick off though with the Boro game.

Lets hope the choice for the 5th round game has more thought put into it, although I'm not holding my breath

To be fair I don't think anyone beforehand though it was going to be a tight,hard fought game...but credit to Havant for putting much such a great show.

Had it been Liverpool making the trip to Hampshire the game would have been live.

To be honest they will always show Man U because that brings in the ratings whilst I guess Mansfield v Boro was a potential surprise and it did not sound like a bad game.

Wigan v Chelsea was just typical Chelsea really.

chealsea are so boring to watch

quote:

Originally posted by sassy123:
chealsea are so boring to watch

And their manager looks lie Jack Duckworth (should I be saying this in Jack's time of grieving? Not very sensitive I know)

I think we have to remember that the BBC dont get first choice and that Sky who fronted most of the money in the joint bid therefore get first dibs. Also the BBC dont get to show premiership teams week in week out live so I think it gets too tempting to do so when they get an opportunity no matter how boring it is for the rest of us....

I was under the impression that BBC do actually get first dibs for the cup games under the current agreement. They get to show more games and they get first choice. I'm sure Sky wouldn't have had Man City v Sheff United as their first choice

I know they show more I thought Sky got first choice though but as it turns out it is second choice... So we are both wrong and sky did chose Man City v Sheff United over the others which is bizarre I know.

"- Three FA Cup matches per round, in Rounds 3-6, will be live on BBC (choices one, three and four), with a further live match (choice two) to be shown live on Sky Sports;"