LAST week was one of nostalgia but I left St Mary’s with a sense of sheer disappointment after the FA Cup defeat against Arsenal.

It should should have been one of the ties of the fifth round and there was a definite buzz about the place before the game.

Hopes were high that we could make it to Wembley twice this season after the League Cup semi-final win against Liverpool at Anfield four days earlier.

But it basically turned out to be Southampton reserves v Arsenal reserves, with both managers making ten changes.

This was the case not only at St Mary’s but all around the country.

So it is hardly surprising that less than half the teams in the fifth round are from the Premier League and that two non-league clubs are in the last 16 for the first time.

It is fantastic for Lincoln City and Sutton United and well done to them.

But with due respect to both those clubs, I’m not sure they would have got this far if everyone had put out full-strength teams.

So what does it mean as far as the Premier League is concerned?

There is a desperation to remain in the league because of the money. As I’ve said before, the Premier League is divided into the top six, a middle eight and the bottom six.

There is the elite half dozen expected to be battling for the four Champions League positions and the bottom six, which usually includes at least two of the promoted teams trying to get a foothold after winning promotion.

I can understand the need for a manager to make sure he wins his league games.

But with this in mind. an article in last week’s matchday programme referred back to 1979, when of course we reached the League Cup final and also drew Arsenal at home in the FA Cup quarter finals.

It clashed with the League Cup final at Wembley so the Arsenal game was moved to the following Monday night.

I asked the FA if it could be moved to the Tuesday. The FA said ‘yes’, provided Arsenal agreed. But of course they didn’t, knowing our team would be tired after a weekend at Wembley.

Despite a hard game - we lost 3-2 to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest - we should have won the Monday night game.

But we could only manage a draw and, would you believe, the replay was just two days later at Highbury (we lost it 2-0).

So three major cup games in five days. But hang on, we had also just had two FA Cup fifth-round ties against West Bromwich Albion which meant five cup ties, including a final, in 12 days.

I played the same team (Gennoe, Golac, Peach, Williams, Nicholl, Waldron, Ball, Boyer, Hayes, Holmes, Curran) in the first four of those games - in the space of just ten days.

Only in the fifth game did I make any changes, one of which was due to injury, with goalkeeper Peter Wells, defender Emmanuel Andruszewski and Charlie George coming in for Terry Gennoe, David Peach and Terry Curran.

So in total that season we played 14 cup ties as well as 42 league games. If you add on pre- season that’s 60 games with a much smaller squad than clubs have now.

Players just wouldn’t want to be left out. Alan Ball, bless him, was nearly 34 but still played in every cup tie.

So what is going on? Is it because winning the FA Cup is not worth as much as Premier League survival?

Or is it because the majority of clubs are now owned and coached by foreigners and the majority of players from abroad don’t take our FA Cup as seriously as the supporters?

I have to say, particularly to the group of supporters who challenged me in the car park after the Arsenal game, that I sympathise with them.

It wasn’t my fault, I was just a spectator! Like them I was hoping for a better result and display but no doubt in two weeks’ time they will cheer up when they get to Wembley.

I hope that the criticism ensures that the owners and coaches of certain clubs think differently about the FA Cup next year.

Daily Echo:

GRAHAM Taylor’s funeral was a timely reminder of how much an FA Cup run can mean to a club’s supporters.

The wake was held at Watford FC’s Vicarage Road where there are large murals reminding everyone of their FA Cup final appearance under Graham in 1984.

Even though they lost the game, Sir Elton John was in tears when I spoke to him immediately after the 2-0 defeat against Everton.

It had suddenly dawned on him that little Watford had played at Wembley.

Graham’s picture was in every room. He was literally Mr Watford, bearing in mind he took the club up four division in five years.

He put them on the football map.

Elton John was unable to be there on Wednesday. But, as John Motson said after reading the former Watford chairman’s tribute, four words from the previous night’s Premier League games could not have been more fitting: Arsenal 1 Watford 2. That was greeted with cheers from the estimated 1,500-2,000 supporters outside the church.

There were 450 of us inside. I was privileged to spend nearly four years working with Graham for England and was sat between two knights of the realm in Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Trevor Brooking.

Many more faces from the football world were there, including Arsene Wenger and Sean Dyche, many other managers and and lots of former players.

They included some from Grimsby Town, my old club and where Graham played as a youngster.

Graham’s daughters spoke so well, as did his three grandchildren.

Watford had organised everything excellently and the response from the crowd outside showed how much Graham is appreciated.

Many letters that Graham sent to supporters over the years were read, reminding everyone that the club is all about the people who work hard during the week to make enough money to come and watch them on a Saturday.

Graham always remembered that and was rewarded with a fantastic tribute.

God bless, Graham.