“The magic of the cup.” It’s one of those overused clichés for which football has become famed. Just like “giving 110%,” being “too good to go down,” and of course, everybody’s favourite, “it was a game of two halves.” These phrases have become the scourge of football fans everywhere, and the go to slogans of commentators, journalists and players alike.
Yet on Tuesday night, in Birmingham, something rather special happened. Bradford City, 10th in League Two, held on to take a 4-3 aggregate win over Aston Villa, and progress to the final of the League Cup. This was truly a “fairy tale,” and it’s one which is not yet over. Bradford are now one game away from qualifying for a Europa League place. By the time they travel to Bootham Crescent to play our own York City on Saturday 2nd March, they could be the Capital One Cup champions.
In recent years, English football hasn’t exactly had a shortage of what could be described as “fairy tale” runs. What sets Bradford apart is the level of their success, combined with the lowliness of their league placing. Only one team has reached a final from the fourth tier before, Rochdale in the 1962 League Cup, and this was when the major teams did not take part in the competition. Wycombe Wanderers, ironically managed by current Villa boss Paul Lambert, reached the semi-finals in 2006-07 before being knocked out by Chelsea. Last year, Cardiff City became the first team outside the top flight since 2001 to reach a League Cup final, while no team outside the top tier has won the League Cup since Sheffield Wednesday in 1991, or the FA Cup since West Ham in 1980. The last from the third tier to win a cup was Swindon Town in the 1969 League Cup, and that had only been done twice before (QPR, 1967 League Cup, Tottenham, 1901 FA Cup).
Bradford, then, have already achieved something truly remarkable in modern football, and have the chance to do something unprecedented in England on 23rd February at Wembley. There may have been many fairy tales, but Bradford’s is the most magical. In fact, in recent times only one fourth tier from any footballing nation has reached a major cup final. Bradford have already emulated Calais Racing Union, who reached the French Cup final in 2000, only to fall to a 2-1 defeat by Nantes thanks to a last minute penalty.
The fact that it is Bradford City who have achieved this feat makes it all the more special. They have spent the majority of their history in the bottom two divisions of the Football League pyramid. Yet 13 seasons ago, they played they completed a remarkable ascension up the leagues and played Premier League football, their first time in the top division since 1921-2. They survived in 1999-2000 thanks to a final day triumph over Liverpool, but succumbed to relegation. In the following six seasons a further two relegations followed. Back in the bottom tier, Bradford have repeatedly faced the danger of losing their Football League status or, worse still, the club going out of business altogether.
They are not the only club to have faced these foes. Indeed, toppling down the divisions is often a recipe for financial disaster in modern football, and numerous clubs have suffered this, with mixed results. But it seems fitting that, in a game where the fans of top teams seem to be increasingly fickle, that it is one of the clubs whose supporters have stuck by it through thick and thin which has been rewarded. For similar reasons, it is also fitting that they should play Swansea City in the final. Swansea have made the opposite journey to Bradford, coming from financial distress and last-day Football League survival in 2002-03 to become a stable, and financially viable, Premier League side. They also “play football the right way,” (sorry, back to the clichés).
This brings me to a wider point about the magic of the cup. It seems remarkable to me that more teams in the higher divisions don’t take cup competitions seriously. There is a swathe of teams in the Premier League for whom avoiding relegation is essentially the best they can hope for from a league campaign. Why not target the cup? As a Sunderland fan, this is a particular frustration. I watched in dismay as we were dumped out of the FA Cup by Bolton last week, and was taunted by the ESPN billboard advert for the FA Cup on the drive home. “What dreams are made of,” it stated without impressive ironic timing. Bradford have shown up all those Premier League teams who turn their noses up at cup competitions.
There is still magic in the cups, and it’s taken the lowly Bradford to rediscover it and unleash it on the world. There are clubs in the country whose fans are so used to success that winning another trophy is little more than a status symbol, easily forgotten. But to most, the fans yearn for just one bite at success, that chance to see their team win a major trophy, as reward for their loyal support. The indifference of those clubs to the cups has left only one to stand up and be counted. Bradford City will step out at Wembley with every neutral on their side. But don’t think for one second that most of those fans are thinking “wouldn’t it be great if that was us.”