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get West Ham to the Final
I have never managed a team to FA Cup Final glory. Yes, I’ve got close but, as yet, there’s been no cigar.
There is absolutely nothing I would like more than to fill that gap on my management CV but there are times when you have to be realistic, such as last season, for example, when the Cup just had to take second place behind Premier League survival.
When your owners tell you the big priority is staying in the Premier League, then you owe it to them to listen — and act accordingly.
Yes, the manager often cops the stick afterwards if it does go wrong — as it did at Nottingham Forest in the third round last season — but the owners understand why that has happened.
No one wants to reach an FA Cup Final more than the players, the manager and his staff. This season, because we’ve done well in the Premier League, we can really go for it. Anyone who doubts that was not watching our two ties against Everton.
There’s nothing better and more exciting, nothing which will add more to the history of your club, than playing in an FA Cup Final — and winning it!
When the memories of countless other challenges fade, the day out at Wembley will always stay in sharp focus — just ask the managers, players and fans of the clubs who have been there and done it.
Ask our supporters, the ones who went to Wembley to watch us take on Blackpool in the Championship Play-Off Final in 2012 how they enjoyed their day. It may not have been an FA Cup Final but the sheer joy of winning that match will never be forgotten, not by the players who played in it, not by me or the coaching staff — and certainly not by the fans.
The FA Cup is unique, steeped in history, and winning it, for me, has much greater kudos than qualifying for the Europa League. If you win the FA Cup, it’s time to party!
I was manager of Bolton when we reached the League Cup Final in 2004, only to lose to Middlesbrough.
Also with Bolton, we qualified for Europe but then had to prepare for our next game, so there were no real celebrations.
In fact, the start of my time at Bolton was bizarre. At one stage, in 2000, I was on cloud nine and at another time I was lower than a snake’s belly.
I had taken them out of the bottom four of the old Division One and all the way into the play-offs but then we were beaten in the League Cup and the FA Cup semi-finals and the play-off semi-finals! I admit I asked myself after that season, “Has my chance gone? Will I ever get to a final as a manager?”
As a young manager, there was nothing better than being drawn against a big club and having the chance to claim a big scalp but even that has changed. Eddie Howe, for example, made more changes to his Bournemouth team I believe than Liverpool did when they met in the Capital One Cup. You could clearly see Bournemouth’s priorities for this season.
You have to put aside personal ambitions as a manager and concentrate on what the club need to do. Eddie might have wanted nothing better than to beat a struggling Liverpool team at that time but he made seven changes on the night because the club, backed by a wealthy owner, are trying desperately to win promotion to the Premier League.
It would be lovely for us, though, to get to Wembley this season and I would sacrifice a place or two in the Premier League table if we could reach the FA Cup Final.
Certainly, though, it won’t be easy against Bristol City on Sunday. Steve Cotterill’s team are flying, they play with a back three and two big lads up top. He will pick a strong team, for sure, and although there is always a risk that one of your key players picks up an injury, none of his men will want to miss the chance of playing against West Ham at their place.
As for us, we’ll carry on as we did against Everton. We’ve already had two games, plus extra time and penalties, so the players will not want to waste all that energy and endeavour by losing at Bristol City.
Mark Noble would never stand for someone else taking a pen
Kevin Mirallas’s penalty miss at Everton on Monday night provoked a fair bit of reaction from various people but I was not as critical as some.
I had a similar thing happen to me, where a player other than the regular penalty taker took it upon themselves to grab the ball and put it on the spot. If that happens, though, he has to make sure he scores!
Here at West Ham, Mark Noble is our designated penalty taker but has never taken one in training to my knowledge.
His point is that practising penalties has no bearing on what faces him when it’s time for the real thing.
He says that when he’s called upon to take the spot-kick, he puts the ball down, stands up, weighs up that particular situation, then decides what he’s going to do — and then does it.
Practising, with no pressure, no crowd, no anything, he contends, is not relevant — in fact, it might make him worse because it might put too many options into his mind.
I’ve had players say they’re right up for taking a penalty if it comes to it, practise them all week but then when it comes down to the nitty-gritty in a shootout, say they don’t want to take one after all.
It’s the ones who want it — “I’ll go first” or “I’d rather go last” — who you put down on your list.
All I would say on the Mirallas situation is that, if it happened here at West Ham, Mark Noble wouldn’t allow another player to do it. He would say, “I’m the one who takes the chuffing penalties, so go away” — or words to that effect.
Good luck in Turkey, Ricardo
We had to say goodbye to Ricardo Vaz Te recently and we all wish him well in his new career in Turkey.
Everyone here will always have a soft spot for Ricardo, not only for scoring that unforgettable winner in the Play-Off Final but for his goals and performances that season. We had signed him from Barnsley for £500,000 in the January. We were short of goals and the chairman said he would help me.
We thought that Nick Maynard would be the one to propel us towards promotion but it was Ricardo who really took up the baton. I have to admit I’m a little surprised he has gone abroad. I would have thought a Championship club would have come in for him.
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