The FA Cup has always been a theatre of reliving dreams. After Arsenal’s narrow win over Brighton and Hove Albion, Arsène Wenger noted that those lower-league sides so memorably enhancing FA Cup weekend have “players from academies in the Premier League, who don’t quite make it but can maintain the pace for 90 minutes”. It was more than stamina that these discards demonstrated. It was a desire to prove a point to the world that shredded their teenage hopes.
From the Amex to the Abbey, Stamford Bridge to the Etihad, Anfield to Ewood, the FA Cup fourth round produced stories of former youth-team prospects seizing a rare spell in the limelight. Some, such as Patrick Bamford, the Chelsea starlet on loan to Middlesbrough and centrally involved in the humiliation of Manchester City, clearly have a future at the highest level.
Others were running on adrenalin and a frustration at a paradise lost. Rohan Ince, who was once on the Chelsea launchpad now occupied by Bamford, bowed out of the Cup to Wenger’s Arsenal but performed powerfully in central midfield, confirming the faith that Chris Hughton, Albion’s manager, has placed in him.
Ince’s early years were spent at Chelsea, shining at centre-back in the FA Youth Cup-winning side of 2010, beating Aston Villa in the second leg before a crowd of 10,446 including John Terry and the then first-team manager Carlo Ancelotti. Much was expected of this generation, securing the first Youth Cup for the club since Terry Venables and Ron Harris in 1961.
Sadly, stymied by knee injuries, Ince was moved on, his contract paid up six months early. But then the Cup came around like an old friend, offering an opportunity in the national gaze which Ince grabbed, confirming that his youthful reputation was not some myth.
Motivations vary over why so many lower-league players raised their game in the Cup. For some it is the vexation of turning on Match of the Day and seeing players they once roomed with getting top billing. For others it is annoyance that the rewards have declined. Others could be bitter, risking heading down the road that leads to a saloon, a bar-stool, and hours telling a bored landlord that they could have been a contender.
What the Cup’s tapestry of tales highlights is how many schoolboys enter Premier League academies and how few make it. The reality for most is not being ushered along the red carpet from youth set-up to first-team dressing room but dropping down a division or two, even dropping into non-League or, worse, tumbling out on to Civvy Street.
As they head to modest facilities, they recall the life in the lap of luxury, the kit laid out for them, the sponsored boots cleaned and ready, the pristine training fields awaiting. Reality bites for most. The dream gets recalibrated and lived elsewhere. So the FA Cup resonates deeply. Many in other professions look back in anger and crave a moment to stop the clock, to show what might have been, possibly what could still be. Footballers get that with the Cup.
Some sceptics naively decry the Cup, failing to appreciate that it celebrates the wonderful pyramid of English football, brimming with players in the lower leagues just itching to get at the elite. “I have played against three Premier League teams now – Sunderland, Liverpool and Man City – and scored against all of them,” Bamford reflected. This was not the cheap arrogance of some cocksure kid. The former Nottingham High School pupil with a clutch of A-levels and an offer from Harvard is too intelligent, grounded and polite for that. Bamford just believes. “I think it has shown I can cut it at the top level.”
Those words alone underpin why the Cup is worth fighting for. Dismantling City’s defence with his touch and shrewd movement confirmed Bamford can “cut it”. It sent quite a message to Jose Mourinho back at Chelsea. Bamford began at Nottingham Forest but was signed as a 19-year-old by Chelsea, sent on loan to clubs where they knew he would develop under the likes of Karl Robinson at MK Dons, where he took advice from such legends in the art of finishing as Ian Wright and Robbie Fowler. Bamford’s footballing education continued under Steve McClaren at Derby County and now under Aitor Karanka at Middlesbrough.
At some point, Chelsea will have to decide when a striker who has proved he can “cut it” comes into the first-team fold. Mourinho fields only one up, the undroppable Diego Costa, but Bamford is surely a better long-term option than Loïc Remy or Didier Drogba.
Others who joined Bamford in putting Manchester City to the sword had started among the aristocrats. Adam Clayton, the Boro midfielder, spent a decade in the youth system at City, even sitting on the bench when Mark Hughes was manager. No wonder Clayton was so determined to deliver at the Etihad.
Boro’s keeper, Tomas Mejias, made the most of the opportunity against opponents coached by Manuel Pellegrini, who was in charge of Real Madrid when the keeper was trying to break through from the reserves. Under Mourinho, Mejias managed six minutes in a 2011 win over Getafe with Cristiano Ronaldo, Ángel di María, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema. Six minutes. That was his Real career. No wonder he relished his chance in this high-profile game, making particularly good saves from James Milner, David Silva and Stevan Jovetic.
Mourinho was in the tunnel at the Bridge on Saturday, shouting a welcome back to Filipe Morais, of Bradford City. Morais left Chelsea in frustration nine years ago because he could not persuade Mourinho of his potential. A goalscoring and creative force in Bradford’s stunning 4-2 win, Morais briefly considered not celebrating as “Chelsea moulded me as a youngster” but then saw Bradford’s marvellous fans going wild in the Shed and joined in.
Others contributing to what Mourinho termed Chelsea’s “disgrace” were Stephen Darby, who began at Liverpool, came on for Alonso against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, but never made the elite grade, eventually ending up on a free at Bradford.
The League One side’s midfielder Billy Knott, so promising as a kid at Chelsea that he starred alongside Jack Wilshere for England Under-17s (especially in a 7-0 thrashing of Estonia), was released by the club in 2011.
The sight of Petr Cech and Drogba will have revived memories for Knott’s 80th‑minute replacement, Mark Yeates, from his early days at Spurs, playing alongside Michael Carrick, Ledley King and Jermain Defoe against Chelsea, including Cech and Drogba, a decade ago. Bradford’s keeper, Ben Williams, was a trainee at Manchester United. On it went.
Another former youth player at United, Josh King, contributed to Blackburn’s defeat of Swansea City. The fickle nature of football was shown when King came on for Danny Welbeck to partner Javier Hernandez against Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012, and four days later he was on loan at Blackburn, losing to Millwall in the Championship. Another dream diverted.
One of Cambridge United’s most impressive players against King’s old club on Friday was Ryan Donaldson, who spent four formative years at Newcastle United, playing six times. He left them but the dream never left him.
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