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Bragging Rights: Local Derbies in Major Football Cup Finals

2 June, 2023

It’s amazing to think that it’s taken more than a century for the first all-Manchester FA Cup final.

The trophy engraver will be delighted – he or she can scratch ‘Manchester’ into the slot on the silverware reserved for 2023 in advance, before etching either ‘City’ or ‘United’ at the culmination of the latest Wembley Stadium showpiece.

Get set for a historic Battle of Manchester at @WembleyStadium.

For the first time in history, @ThomasLyte engraved on the #EmiratesFACup trophy before the final.

Will it be ‘City’ or ‘United’ that follows?

— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) May 29, 2023

“The Emirates FA Cup team approached us, as the official makers and custodians of the trophy, with an extraordinary request,” so said the trophy’s official engraver, Kevin Baker of the firm Thomas Lyte. “Recognising the rarity of the two clubs sharing such similar names, they asked us to engrave the word “Manchester” on the trophy before the momentous showdown.

“This request is unprecedented and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Incredibly, this is only the tenth time that the two Manchester clubs will have met in the FA Cup at any stage – given that they’ve co-existed for around 140 years, and been dominant forces in English football during the modern era, that’s a considerable surprise.

Whether the FA Cup retains the same magic as years gone by is open to debate, but more than 100,000 Mancunians – those with tickets to the game and others wanting to soak up the atmosphere – are expected to make the 400-mile round trip to the capital in the middle of rail strike chaos.

It seems as though having a local rivalry in the cup final, no matter where the teams and supporters are travelling from, helps to keep the magic alive.

But how often does that actually happen?

London Derbies

Wembley Stadium
Credit: delbaro / bigstock

Here’s a remarkable statistic: from 1900 onwards, it would take 75 years for the first all-London FA Cup final.

Enjoying the honour were West Ham and Fulham, which was notable as Bobby Moore’s final game at Wembley – ironically, he turned out for the Cottagers against the club at which he made his name. But there was little Moore could do to stop the Hammers, who prevailed 2-0 thanks to a brace from Alan Taylor.

In 1980, West Ham entertained Arsenal in the FA Cup final. And again it was the Hammers who would enjoy local bragging rights courtesy of a 1-0 win – Trevor Brooking on the scoresheet.

Tottenham won their seventh FA Cup in 1982, although they would need a replay to see off plucky QPR – The Hoops making their sole FA Cup final appearance.

The first all-London cup final would come in 2002 – Arsenal defeating Chelsea thanks to goals from Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg, before the same two teams would meet at the conclusion of the 2007 EFL Cup final. This time it was the Blues who ran out 2-1 winners; they would taste defeat in the final of the same competition a year later at the hands of Tottenham.

In 2015, a repeat of that 2008 EFL Cup final would see roles reversed: Chelsea downed Spurs 2-0 thanks to goals from John Terry and Diego Costa.

Arsenal and Chelsea would do battle in two more FA Cup finals in 2017 and 2020. And they were the mirror image of one another: 2-1 victories for the Gunners, with the latter being one of the most unique FA Cup finals of all-time due to it being played behind closed doors at an empty Wembley Stadium due to the Covid pandemic.

Merseyside Derbies

Again, it’s a surprise that two of the most pre-eminent clubs in English football for the past century – Liverpool and Everton – have only met three times in major domestic cup finals.

That came in the 1984 EFL Cup final, when a controversial 0-0 draw at Wembley – Alan Hansen appeared to handle a goal-bound shot – was followed by a 1-0 win for Liverpool at Maine Road in the replay. Everton would gain some sort of solace by winning the FA Cup that same year.

Two years later, the red and the blue halves of Manchester would make their way down to London for the FA Cup final – Liverpool running out 3-1 winners, before the Reds made it a hat-trick in the 1989 FA Cup final….Ian Rush’s extra-time goal breaking the hearts of Everton fans once more.

Midlands Derbies

There’s a handful of football clubs from the Midlands that have been in and around the top-tiers of the English game for decades, and yet cup finals featuring protagonists from the west or the east of the region are fairly thin on the ground.

West Brom won their third FA Cup in 1931, and it might just have been the most satisfying victory of the lot given that they defeated local rivals Birmingham City 2-1 in the final.

The EFL Cup final was the scene for the next battle between two West Midlands clubs. This time, Aston Villa and Birmingham locked horns – albeit back in the days when the final was a two-legged home-and-away affair. Birmingham won the first leg at St Andrew’s 3-1, before a goalless draw at Villa Park was enough to secure them the trophy.

Greater Manchester Derbies

City and United may not have contested the FA Cup final prior to 2023, but there have been five English domestic finals involving clubs based in the city or the Greater Manchester area since 1900.

The first came way back in 1904, when Manchester City got their hands on the FA Cup trophy for the first time. They defeated Bolton Wanderers in the final, who were a Second Division team playing at a level below their local(ish) rivals, courtesy of Billy Meredith’s strike.

But it was roles reversed in 1926, as the Trotters defeated City 1-0 in the 1926 FA Cup final in front of 91,000 fans.

Bolton were at it again in 1958, defeating Manchester United in the FA Cup final, before a gap of some 48 years for the next Greater Manchester cup final. United and Wigan Athletic met in the showpiece occasion of the EFL Cup in 2006, with the Latics’ big day out rather spoiled by a 0-4 defeat in which messrs Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were on the scoresheet.

But Wigan would still have their day in the Wembley sun, and ironically it would come against the team from the other side of Manchester. City were red-hot favourites to win the 2013 FA Cup final, but Ben Watson’s injury-time goal was enough to secure a 1-0 win for the Latics – a true underdog story.

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