Ex-Evertonian Matt Jackson praise for underdogs of war

May 17 2008 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

THE mundane predictability at the top of English club football in the 21st century was in danger of consuming the game until this season’s FA Cup competition.

Not only does the regular income provided by constant Champions League participation create a glass ceiling between Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool and the rest of the top flight when it comes to finishing in the Premier League’s top four, the financial chasm has enabled these sides to totally dominate the nation’s senior knockout competition for more than a decade.

That sequence is finally about to end as Portsmouth and Cardiff City contest today’s final, and with none of the ‘big four’ in the final for the first time since the Premier League began, this afternoon’s showpiece should make a refreshing change for the neutral fan.

Indeed, 13 years have now passed since the last time that football’s oldest competition was won by a club from outside the Premier League’s ‘big four.’

So Matt Jackson, who reached the pinnacle of his career that day in 1995 when he helped Everton to their most recent trophy with victory over Manchester United, is looking forward to seeing a break from the norm today.

Jackson said: “It’s a really special final in the respect that it won’t be won by one of the so-called big four.

“I think it’s restored a little bit of the magic of the cup with there being so many upsets leading up to it.

“I think it will be a great final. People have become a little bit sick of the top four being in the final and it being a little bit mundane as the Champions League tends to be their priority now.

“The two teams playing will be really going for it and it should be a great occasion.”

Since Joe Royle’s ‘Dogs of War’ shocked Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United at the old Wembley in 1995, the FA Cup has remained a closed shop for everyone outside the game’s super-rich quartet.

Jackson believes that the domination of the FA Cup by the ‘big four’ in recent years is a case of pure economics.

He said: “It just comes down to money. They’ve not only got the best squads, they’ve got the biggest squads.

“Also what’s happened now is that the Premier League is so important, people don’t look at the FA Cup as being their priority.

“Before, people would give it a real good go, including when we last won it in 1995. Everybody would be trying their best to win the Cup whereas now, staying in the Premier League is the ultimate goal of all the sides outside the top four.”

Many clubs outside the ‘big four’ now prioritise Premier League safety ahead of cup runs but Everton’s success under Royle helped to boost their battle against the drop that year.

Jackson said: “It was a totally bizarre season, we were struggling in the league so badly.

“It was great for everybody. It gave us all a chance to have a break from the league which was a real pressure situation at the time.

“It was just fantastic, it’s great to be a small part in the history of the club in that respect and the fans certainly hung their hats on the cup success that season because the league had been so poor.”

He added: “It’s the FA Cup final that you play with your mates in the park when you’re a kid. You watch it then go out and try and recreate it.

“That’s how we were brought up. Winning the Cup was all about the glamour.

“Certainly it was the pinnacle of my career by a million miles.

“It was a fantastic occasion and only a very small percentage of footballers get to experience that.”

Jackson had lost his place in the Premier League side to new signing Earl Barrett but with the former Aston Villa defender cup-tied, he was able to return at right-back for the FA Cup games.

He said: “The whole run was great. Particularly as it was frustrating for me not playing in the league side at the time – certainly towards the latter end of the season.

“I was playing the cup games and then getting left out for the subsequent league games.

“It was a bizarre situation but I was just delighted to be a part of it.

We got battered at Bristol City but won 1-0 when I was lucky enough to score and really it was like two finals because the semi-final was so magnificent at Elland Road.”

Jackson added: “Even now when you look back and tell people who you beat in the final, they always raise an eyebrow when you tell them it was Manchester United.

“Maybe we wouldn’t have chosen them as opposition had we been given the choice but for it to have worked out the way it did for us was amazing.”

Although Jackson remains part of Everton’s last trophy-winning side, overall his spell at Goodison Park was during a ‘transitional’ period at the club and he was never part of a team that finished in the top half of the table.

However, he believes that the steady progress Everton have made in recent seasons under David Moyes means that the club are now in the best position since 1995 to break their silverware duck.

He said: “When I played it was a club that was struggling, we had quiet a bad time pretty much the whole time I was there – it was a team in transition after the greats who had won the League Championships in the 80s.

“It was a difficult time for the club but there is a fantastic foundation in place now with the work that David Moyes has done and the backing that Bill Kenwright has given him.

“The squad now has a solidity about it where you get to each summer only needing to buy three or four as opposed to nine or 10 when it’s near impossible to get any continuity in the team.”

Jackson added: “It’s been a gradual building squad but each year they’re a bit stronger.

It’s fantastic that the club stuck with David Moyes because there were some tricky times in the first couple of years which there always will be when a manager is overseeing the rebuilding of a club.

“They’re certainly reaping the rewards of that now and having finished fifth and gone into the UEFA Cup they’ll be stronger again next year and eventually they’ll be looking to mount a challenge on the top four.

“Even if it took 10 years, I think Evertonians would be happy to wait providing they see the club improve year on year.”