Fifth round fixtures:

Bristol Rovers v Southampton
Cardiff City v Wolves
Sheffield United v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Barnsley
Manchester United v Arsenal
Preston v Portsmouth
Coventry City v West Brom
Chelsea v Huddersfield Town

The ties are scheduled to take place on 16 and 17 February.

Ooh look at that tie slap bang in the middle there, Man U vs Arsenal! :junior:

Yes, yes indeed.

Dude, how come liverpool keeps getting the easy draws?

well, it will not be easy enough for us to win it all(meh, we'll find a way to butcher it at some stage). If we win this round(and we should), I can smell Chelsea waiting.

i can see it already, a dream final between Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield Town

Come on Barnsley (H)

Chelsea:
QPR, Wigan Athletics, Huddersfield

Liverpool:
Luton Town, Havant & Waterlooville, Barnsley

Manchester United:
Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal :|:|:| WTF?

I don't mind.

Come on Barnsley (H)

And Sheffield!

When I was driving home from Morrison's on Sunday, we shouted out "yeah the blades!" past every man-city supporter and every pub with them in. I almost drove to Morrison's after the match to go and antagonise them all again :D

Come on Barnsley (H)

Damn................you! :mad::mad::mad:

I hope ManU-Arsenal turns into a borefest. That will make me feel a bit better.

eboue you scum ****

3-0, and 4 minutes into the second half, Eboue is sent off for actin like a dick.

.. and peter brackley can't stop going on about fletcher ... Can you blame him though, he's playing like Zidane or sumat.

4-0 Fletcher scored.

Nani has raped Justin Hoyte today. 2 assists (If Fletcher is given the first goal), and one goal for himself.

Arsenal back to their cheating ways. Gallas should be banned after that kick.
Why is he the captain??? A joke.

I'm so glad I support Al-Khor now

Rafa should resign:mad: he was given too many chances and he failed to prove that he's the right man for the job


let Mourinho in (H)

huh, what?

Ooh look at that tie slap bang in the middle there, Man U vs Arsenal! :junior:
How ironic that this ended up being a damp squib of a one-sided match. I can understand why Bobby's supporting Al-Khor whoever they are. Still, gotta laugh about Barnsley, hilarious, I've been aggravating the old man all weekend!! (H)

Quarter final draw (matches to be played on the weekend of 8th/9th March)

Sheffield United or Middlesbrough v Cardiff City
Manchester United v Portsmouth
Bristol Rovers v West Brom
Barnsley v Chelsea

Surprise surprise, another EPL team.

Well done Barnsley......Take a bow!

http://premium1.uploadit.org/Treble99//applause.gifhttp://premium1.uploadit.org/Treble99//applause.gifhttp://premium1.uploadit.org/Treble99//applause.gif

And it was done by getting stuck in and playing Route 1.

(Y)

Has to be a Portsmouth/Barnsley final, or even an all-Championship final!

Well, after years of the Big 4 boring us, this season, it has got some of its so-called "magic" back dont you think??? Havant & Waterlooville's story cannot be forgotten either.

Oh and..........BYE BYE TREBLE!

Hahahaha...It has just been released, to the press, that the final is going to be held at some field just outside Cardiff, in light of today's events, as the FA now sees no sense in sending London's streets into gridlock. However, conflicting reports suggest that there will be an emergency meeting at Soho Square tomorrow. At the top of the agenda will be cancelling the 2007-2008 FA Cup.

Has anybody even realised that this will be the first time in 13 years that a team outside of the top 4 will win the FA Cup?

Quite funny, i guess this will bring a bit of excitment back into the cup. Take some pressure of Benitez as well lol.

Nice to see a different name on the cup - would actually like to see Harry's Portsmouth win it. Redknapp has always struck me as a good manager with little chance of winning anything before this year

Boro out..........

...this will ...Take some pressure of Benitez as well lol.

That's the last thing we need this week........

Portsmouth = Arsenal lite

Cardiff City.........

Welsh team for English FA Cup!!!!!!!!!!! (I think last time was 80 years ago)

Haha, JFH!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://d.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/eurosport/20080309/18/3104733337.jpg

I bet the FA would be even more píssed off, if a foreign club lays its hands on their trophy. Cardiff did it in 1927 and they could well do it again, and if they get to the final, that'll mean UEFA Cup qualification for their opponents without kicking a ball.

Imagine the embarrasment of the FA if Cardiff won and they weren't allowed to play in Europe. Quite unfair :D

Imagine if it was Wrexham :o

This gets funnier lol. Only 1 EPL team left and its Porstmouth!

Imagine the embarrasment of the FA if Cardiff won and they weren't allowed to play in Europe. Quite unfair :D

Imagine if it was Wrexham :o
Not really and Cardiff already know it. They wouldn't be allowed to play in Europe because they are members of the FAW. There had been a lot of grey areas about this in the past but the last time Cardiff were on a cup run the FA finally stated that if a Welsh club won the FA Cup they would not be put forward to play in the UEFA Cup. They only play in the cup for prize money and prestige. Besides, when exile clubs used to take part in the Welsh Cup years ago, some Saes border teams (e.g. Hereford, Tranmere, Chester) used to take part, but if they won, they weren't be allowed to play in Europe.

Oh and by the way Wrexwarsaw (as we call the town now) could never do the same, after all they couldn't even win an arse kicking contest they're that crap.

would personally like to see Harry win the cup - he has never really had the chance before a good manager who has never been at one of the top teams -

This is the best FA Cup for a while now, I have feelings over Portsmouth, it would be great for them to lift some silverware after a long time, but it would be better if a second division team would win it

Semi-final draw

Barnsley v Cardiff
Portsmouth v West Brom

It's funny to see all the FA execs moan and groan because there is no big 4. They are slashing the prices. If it was us, tickets would be sky high.

The corporates can ram it as far as I'm concerned.

We'll see how many of the Club Wembley brigade show up to see huddies like Roman Bednar. :)

The good thing about it is that it means that REAL FOOTBALL FANS will be able to watch the cup semi's and the final, instead of the prawn sandwich and bubbly brigade in suits.

The FA execs will moan even more if Cardiff get to the final, the thought of a foreign team playing in the final would rile them, and the fact that the opening ceremony would have to include two national anthems, unless they do what the Football League did in the last few years and chicken out of playing any anthems at all.

I bet you have bet on Cardiff to win the whole thing, just for pure pleasure (H)

I haven't put a bet on it but I should do, but it would be hilarious if they won the FA Cup, not just would they say about the inability of a Premier League side to win the cup, but also the inability of an English club to win its own domestic competition.

The flipside to this is that the FAW will surely be barracked by the exiles over readmittance to the Welsh Cup, due to the "playing in Europe" factor. I can't see why not, after all, the exiles played in it up until 1995 at which time the Welsh Premier League had been running for three full seasons. Come on FAW sort it out you bunch of old codgers.

Now this will p*ss the FA off in a big way...

Uefa boss Michel Platini has pledged to help Cardiff if they win the FA Cup, but are refused entry to the Uefa Cup.

The Football Association says Cardiff will not be one of England's Uefa Cup representatives as the club comes under the jurisdiction of the FA of Wales.

"If England don't do anything we will," Uefa president Platini told BBC Sport.

In the most open FA Cup for years, Cardiff play Barnsley in the semis, with the winners due to meet either Portsmouth or West Brom in the final.

"We have to respect the result on the field," added Platini.

Under current FA rules, Cardiff is considererd a Welsh club with full membership of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), but only associate membership of the FA.

"We spoke with the FAW," added Platini.

"I think it is not normal that if they win then they're out. That's not natural and not so good."

Winners of the FA Cup are currently handed a Uefa Cup spot by the FA, who run the competition as a reward for winning it.

Cardiff chairman Peter Ridsdale has hinted the club would challenge the English FA's current rules and regulations.

Cardiff could cite several examples to support their case including:

* Derry City - Based in Northern Ireland but since 1985 have been playing in the Republic of Ireland's competitions and are regarded as a Republic of Ireland club. When they qualify for Europe, they play as a Republic of Ireland team.
* AS Monaco - Based in Monaco, where they are the only side, but play in the French League.
* Berwick Rangers - Based in England but play in the Scottish League and would be accepted as a Scottish club if they qualified for Europe.

When the FAW formed the League of Wales in 1992, Cardiff, Swansea City and Wrexham all decided not to join it choosing to remain playing in the English Football League.

As a result, Uefa decided the clubs would no longer be allowed to compete in the Welsh FA Cup and therefore would not be allowed to qualify for Europe that way.

The FAW agreed with that decision and Uefa take the view that because they play in English competitions, they are English clubs.

Very interesting to see Platini state his intent. But looking at the cases Cardiff could cite, it's a little bit different for them in that they don't have a full membership of the FA, only an associate membership. Monaco and Derry City are, I believe, full members of the FFF and FAI respectively, so they represent the country of the association they are registered with. I still disagree with the exiles' "ban" from the Welsh Cup, after all, Liechtensteiner clubs play in the Swiss league but take part in their own cup competition (not the Swiss cup) and get a place in Europe as a reward.