Do we really want to win the FA Cup Semi?

[Smolik]

Don't think they'd stay even if we were to finish 3rd to be honest (especially Modric).

I'd rather win the FA Cup any day though, I was only 7 last time we won the Cup and I would love to see it again now more than anything.
In 20 years time what are people going to remember, winning a trophy or hanging on to a few players for an extra season?

As I have pointed out in the past, 75% of league and FA Cup wins over the past 15 or so years have been won by teams in the top four. The fact is that if you finish routinely in the top four you will have better players over a longer period, even if some come and go. That's the reality of the game.

Frankly I don't want to look back in 20 years time and say "do you remember that cup win from 2012"? I want to look back in 20 years time and say "what about those 8 cups we won over the past two decades". That means keep getting CL football, keeping players, increasinging the size of your stadium (allowing you to pay higher wages) and generally progessing that little bit each season. Why take short term glory alone when long term glory is possible through the right work?

I am sick of having to go back to past successes all the time. It's time for THFC to have some new glories to sing about and in the modern age that has to be more than one FA Cup and a couple of League Cups every 20 years. It's time we were a title competing team again.

But that's not the point, of course it would be nice to win trophies regularly again and genuinely compete for the title every season. But that will not realisitically happen until the new stadium has been built, meaning that we could pay higher wages. Until this happens we will be constantly fending of approaches from other clubs for our players and as much as I respect Levy for his stance over Modric in the summer, we won't always be able to hang on to these players. Even if we do qualify for the CL next season I don't think this is by any means a guarantee that we can hang on to all of our players or even that we will qualify again next year, particularly given that there are now more teams genuinely challenging for CL spots than there ever used to be in the old 'Sky 4' days.

The point being made above though, was that winning the FA Cup would be a small consolation for not finishing in the top four. This is what I disagree with. If we won the Cup I would not feel any disappointment for anything else that happened this season. I would rather have the glory of winning a trophy than become the sort of club that qualifies for the CL year in year out without ever getting near winning it and without winning any trophies in the meantime.