THERE have been accusations that the FA Cup has lost some of its magic.

Blame Manchester United they told us, because they pulled out to play in the World Club Championship.

Blame fixture congestion, they told us, because the top teams no longer prioritise the competition (yet they still win it every year).

Well, I’ll finally buy into the talk the competition has been cheapened and weakened, but I’ll personally be blaming Combined Counties League outfit Wembley FC for their offensive and ridiculous attempt to garner headlines.

The club will be signing marquee-retired footballers for their FA Cup games in a cynical attempt to attract interest. They’ll also be managed by Terry Venables, a man with an almost magnetic attraction to farcical ideas – if you’ve watched Hazell (the TV detective show he co-wrote) or listened to his World Cup song ‘If I Can Dream’ you’ll know what I mean.

So if you’re the current left back of Wembley FC, unlucky, you’re being ditched for the FA Cup for Graeme Le Saux. If you’re the right winger you’ll be displaced by the 40-year old Romford Pele, Ray Parlour.

And the saddest thing of all is that I bet attendances are increased for those games. This cynical cheapening of the competition will probably prove a success. Sometimes, modern football’s rubbish.

Sometimes though, it’s utterly wonderful and I was astonished to receive some abuse on Twitter (I’m @Mpearlo by the way) for stating that the critics who labelled Spain as boring have reached Lindsey Lohan levels of crazy.

The final of Euro 2012 was a fitting finale to a quite wonderful competition and the possession football from the Spanish is surely the ultimate example of the beautiful game?

My main critic was also a Stoke City fan. Just saying...