If the BBC broadcasts another goalless FA Cup game, I\u2019m demanding the license fee back. I mean let\u2019s be honest, the whole point of broadcasting Fleetwood vs Leicester was to watch the heroic return of Jamie Vardy – Fleetwood legend, unlikely Premier League winner and, for some unknown reason, consistent scorer of goals against Liverpool. How fitting, then, that he should find himself rested from the match day squad as a result of a niggle. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m a fan of the niggle \u2013 how else would football managers alike justify the spontaneous dropping of a club favourite, typically amidst transfer speculation, without actually specifying the exact type of \u2018niggle\u2019 \u2013 but it didn\u2019t half entirely ruin a game of football.<\/p>\n
Tuning into a Fleetwood vs Leicester 3rd round cup match \u2013 devoid of all things Jamie Vardy \u2013 expecting to see free-flowing football is like tuning into The Jeremy Kyle Show expecting to be moved to tears by an emotional embrace between two misunderstood lovers. I can\u2019t help thinking a few half-time DNA tests might have livened up the whole affair, maybe even a couple of lie-detector tests:<\/p>\n
\u201cRiyad, we asked you whether you would still be at the club come February.<\/p>\n
You said yes.<\/p>\n
I can confirm\u2026 that this was a lie\u201d<\/p>\n
The away support cries out \u201cI KNEW IT!\u201d as Jurgen Klopp, disguised underneath a Fleetwood Town scarf slowly edges towards the exit.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Kyle aside, I do sympathise with the BBC \u2013 Fleetwood\/Leicester was one of the ties of the round as a result of the famous Vardy story we have all heard so much about \u2013 but after Shrewsbury drew 0-0 with West Ham the following afternoon, there must have been a few frantic calls from inside Broadcasting House made to Mr. Wenger.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook Arsene, I know it\u2019s a lot to ask but do you fancy starting Mertesacker and Holding at centre back this evening?\u201d<\/p>\n
Imagine the joy in the building when everyone saw Debuchy\u2019s name on the team sheet. I know you may have lost the game, Arsene, but you saved the FA Cup.<\/p>\n
As is the case every year, I\u2019ve seen many hungover, empty new years promises of \u2018never drinking again\u2019 on social media, only for these promises to be broken within the week. Until Forest\u2019s 4-2 triumph I was starting to think that the BBC, unlike the hungover population that makes up my social media feed, should make a promise and stick to it: \u2018never broadcasting the FA Cup again\u2019 would have done the trick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If the BBC broadcasts another goalless FA Cup game, I\u2019m demanding the license fee back. I mean let\u2019s be honest, the whole point of broadcasting Fleetwood vs Leicester was to watch the heroic return of Jamie Vardy – Fleetwood legend, unlikely Premier League winner and, for some unknown reason, consistent scorer of goals against Liverpool. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":3788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3240],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n