davek
Player Valuation: £150m
It's fair to say that most forum topics are concerned with (or get round to) discussing the continuing mediocrity of the league campaign: whether it's salvaged by performance or whether it's a wasted campaign; whether we can or can't still make an acceptable finish in the remainder of the season. But the cup performances have been largely ignored as a factor in determining the look of the season.
In terms of claiming places in the latter stages of both domestic cup competitions this is the best it's been since the 1983/84 season when we, of course, reached both cup finals and won one.
We've reached the final of the FA Cup on 5 occasions since then, but the LC performance wasn't impressive in those seasons: knocked out way before the quarter final stages. That also goes for individual seasons when we've finished in a SF berth in one of the cups - we then struggled to get past the opening couple of rounds in the other. Only one season since 1983/84 saw us reach a final or SF and give a reasonable showing in the other: 1987/88 when we reached the SF of the LC and the 5th round of the FA Cup. Since then we've not managed two impressive cup runs in one season. This season though has provided us with extended runs in both competitions - a SF and QF represents our best knock out competition return for 32 years - and has the possibility of being extended further still.
Best cup seasons since 1983/84:
1984/85 FAC F; LC 4R
1985/86 FAC F; LC 4R
!987/88 FAC 5R; LC SF
1988/89 FAC F; LC 4R
1994/95 FAC W; LC 2R
2007/08 FAC 3R; LC SF
2008/09 FAC F; LC 3R
2011/12 FAC SF; LC 4R
2015/16 FAC QF; LC SF
In terms of claiming places in the latter stages of both domestic cup competitions this is the best it's been since the 1983/84 season when we, of course, reached both cup finals and won one.
We've reached the final of the FA Cup on 5 occasions since then, but the LC performance wasn't impressive in those seasons: knocked out way before the quarter final stages. That also goes for individual seasons when we've finished in a SF berth in one of the cups - we then struggled to get past the opening couple of rounds in the other. Only one season since 1983/84 saw us reach a final or SF and give a reasonable showing in the other: 1987/88 when we reached the SF of the LC and the 5th round of the FA Cup. Since then we've not managed two impressive cup runs in one season. This season though has provided us with extended runs in both competitions - a SF and QF represents our best knock out competition return for 32 years - and has the possibility of being extended further still.
Best cup seasons since 1983/84:
1984/85 FAC F; LC 4R
1985/86 FAC F; LC 4R
!987/88 FAC 5R; LC SF
1988/89 FAC F; LC 4R
1994/95 FAC W; LC 2R
2007/08 FAC 3R; LC SF
2008/09 FAC F; LC 3R
2011/12 FAC SF; LC 4R
2015/16 FAC QF; LC SF
