THE CUP

And so our campaign to retain The Cup for another year has started in earnest with a reasonably comfortable win over Sunderland in what was a pretty dull third round.

When I say The Cup I am of course referring to the grand old FA Cup: that trophy that come the Final at Wembley, if you're Team is not in it you want them to be. Those that denigrate the competition obviously don't understand its significance to English Football and its place in history.

Many a team are known as cup specialists and this is curious because those teams don't have particularly good records in the FA Cup. Take Tottenham for example: they last won it 25 years ago, which although not as long ago as their last title win (55 years) is quite a lengthy passage for a "Cup Specialists" club.

We are the club with the record of wins and those wins have often been in the context of doubles of one kind or another. Our last two wins in the competition were very different: the first a tense affair the second a procession and who knows what twists and turns await this year.

One thing is for sure from my point of view: I want the Arsenal to win it again as I don't subscribe to the notion that the FA Cup is not that important. If we could win it in the context of another double, well, that may be fanciful but I'm not going to 

rule it out. roll on the 4th Round Draw on Monday.