In another era, Calum McFarlane\u2019s appearance at Wembley would be viewed as a vintage piece of FA Cup<\/a> lore. Here he is on English football\u2019s national day, with the chance to be the first English manager to actually win the competition since Harry Redknapp in 2008, and in just his sixth game as a coach.<\/p>\n Donning the suit for the final was an image that so many managers long dreamed of. Brian Clough famously only got to do it two years from retirement, and never won the FA Cup. A novice like McFarlane now stands 90 minutes from glory, with the challenge of having to out-coach a great like Pep Guardiola<\/a> only adding to the story.<\/p>\n In previous decades, it would be one of those great FA Cup curios, like Sunderland\u2019s Malcolm Crosby in 1992, or how West Brom\u2019s 1968 victory was the only major success of Alan Ashman\u2019s career.<\/p>\n Except, people don\u2019t really look on FA Cup lore in that way any more, and McFarlane\u2019s temporary elevation certainly isn\u2019t really a quirk comparable to those or any in this great competition\u2019s history.<\/p>\n It is instead very much a product of the distortions of the modern game, of which Chelsea<\/a>\u2019s ownership are one of the more extreme examples.<\/p>\n The questionable financial experiment has already resulted in one strange outcome, where the relationship with Kinetic<\/a> has seen a coach like McFarlane elevated.<\/p>\n As regards what next, though, there\u2019s a fair question over whether many will even care outside Chelsea and Manchester City<\/a>.<\/p>\n This already felt like an FA Cup final that was struggling for a place in the news cycle. Even with these two clubs alone, there\u2019s City involvement in an intense Premier League title race<\/a>, the uncertainty over Guardiola\u2019s future and Chelsea\u2019s own search for a permanent coach \u2013 currently expected to be Xabi Alonso<\/a>.<\/p>\n The question of whether Tottenham Hotspur will go down<\/a> is meanwhile one of the biggest recent stories in football, as local rivals Arsenal look to stave off the immense pressure of that title race while also preparing for a Champions League final.<\/p>\n In the slightly longer term, there\u2019s the most politicised World Cup in years<\/a>, albeit one that England have a good chance of winning.<\/p>\n Even on the day, there\u2019s the Scottish title race, as Hearts hope to win their first title in 66 years <\/a>and end 41 years of Old Firm dominance. <\/p>\n That prospect alone offers such a contrast to this year\u2019s FA Cup final, which gets its own special day in this packed schedule \u2013 the only English match taking place \u2013 out of a sense of history rather than present intrigue.<\/p>\n As Hearts toil for this rare moment of history, there hasn\u2019t been an FA Cup final without City or Chelsea in a decade. Both have meanwhile rattled out trophies even in bad seasons over that time, as may well be the case this season.<\/p>\n Chelsea have endured mayhem and calamity<\/a> but may well add this FA Cup to last season\u2019s Europa Conference League and the Club World Cup.<\/p>\n Pep Guardiola could go two consecutive seasons without a league title for the first time in his career, or he could yet win another domestic treble.<\/p>\n Such opportunity merely reflects the financial size of these clubs<\/a>, rather than anything about the cup.<\/p>\n The shame is that it has so quickly gone from one extreme to the other. Last season reminded everyone what the FA Cup is supposed to feel like, as it meant everything to Crystal Palace<\/a>. Fans were openly weeping in the stands. Is anyone going to be weeping with joy at Wembley?<\/p>\n Even one of them against either Leeds United or Southampton would have offered something different, as well as the vintage possibility of an upset \u2013 a story. <\/p>\n A Leeds-Southampton final in itself would have been something else entirely, given both clubs would have been going for their first trophy in decades. There would have, yes, been a magic about it.<\/p>\n Except, this very week might have changed that. What might the build-up have been like had Southampton been in the final but also been embroiled in an alleged rule-breaking controversy<\/a>?<\/p>\n Which of course raises a fairly weighty element around this final: only rarely acknowledged in all the broadcasting but always there.<\/p>\n If we\u2019re long past the point where English football\u2019s national day is any kind of barometer for the national game, this one does say something else about it.<\/p>\n It is a meeting between one club who have recently faced punishment for breaching Premier League rules in a wide-ranging case<\/a>, against another club still awaiting the outcome of an even wider-ranging case, which amounts to the biggest ongoing controversy in the English game<\/a>.<\/p>\n Manchester City, of course, insist on their innocence.<\/p>\n Chelsea\u2019s new ownership admitted the club\u2019s guilt from the Roman Abramovich era, in a concession many felt brought an unduly lenient punishment. The club are still the subject of a related investigation from the very organisers of this competition: the FA.<\/p>\n It is, put bluntly, a remarkable setting for this historic fixture. To go with how it\u2019s private equity against state ownership, England\u2019s showpiece is this year a showcase of many of its issues, even as regards regulation.<\/p>\n No matter the actual outcome of the City case, it remains humiliating for the game that it hasn\u2019t been resolved. It fosters so much uncertainty and doubt.<\/p>\n And even if it won\u2019t actually be mentioned all that much on Saturday, it\u2019s hard not to feel it has played into an apathy about this final.<\/p>\n This obviously isn\u2019t to say there isn\u2019t much on it.<\/p>\n McFarlane will have one of the days of his life. The football traditionalist in Guardiola, meanwhile, does value his record in this competition \u2013 especially as City make history by becoming the first club to reach the final four years in a row.<\/p>\n The club can still win that domestic treble. Even two domestic cups would be a return that other clubs can only dream about, while potentially carrying a greater weight if this is to be Guardiola\u2019s last season.<\/p>\n The widespread expectation that would be the case has started to change over the past two weeks. Guardiola clearly has a fine team again, and one that will tempt him to keep going.<\/p>\n They will be the clear favourites on Saturday, but that\u2019s also where there\u2019s genuine football intrigue.<\/p>\n Chelsea\u2019s modern incarnation has made them one of those clubs which can suddenly raise that intrigue. McFarlane himself secured a 1-1 draw away to City in his very first game as a manager, back in January.<\/p>\n There\u2019s even the subplot about this squad, and what it would say about them if they were to win a trophy after a season of so much controversy.<\/p>\n Will anyone really be talking about it, though? It would be just another trophy for these clubs, in a season of so many other stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":961594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[254416,251751,47671,393,97,268608,252848,268607,94,268609,44888,251752,48279,47681,2249,257969,10031,93,79,30364,16,15,12735],"class_list":{"0":"post-961593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-chelsea-f-c","9":"tag-club-soccer","10":"tag-color-image","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-fa-cup","13":"tag-fa-cup-trophy","14":"tag-fan-enthusiast","15":"tag-foil-material","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-holding-aloft","18":"tag-horizontal","19":"tag-leeds-united-f-c","20":"tag-london-england","21":"tag-match-sport","22":"tag-photography","23":"tag-semifinal-round","24":"tag-soccer","25":"tag-sport","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-stadium","28":"tag-uk","29":"tag-united-kingdom","30":"tag-wembley-stadium"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116578765814539382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2273198733.jpg\")
The FA Cup has not staged a final without Man City or Chelsea since 2016 and it\u2019s hard to not to feel it has played into an apathy about this final (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/83e835786274c6513b8fdcfc1abdcda9Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzc3NTQ5NDE0-2.83983323.jpg\")
Man City could yet complete a domestic treble (PA)<\/p>\n![\"Leeds](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2273227934...jpeg\")
Leeds were beaten in the semi-final by Chelsea and Southampton lost to Man City (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2276049133.jpg\")
Three years on, Man City\u2019s charges remains the biggest controversy in the game (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Callum](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/094ee3226314abbe6946acd4e0dfe216Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzc4ODU0ODU0-2.84418430.jpg\")
Callum McFarlane could yet make a story for himself if his Chelsea side were to topple Pep Guardiola\u2019s Man City (PA)<\/p>\n