Back in the day, a Sky Sports subscription was a rare thing in Irish households and so the 3rd round of the FA Cup offered the rare chance to see live English football on television.
An FA Cup weekend generates less excitement this weekend. Indeed, it generates apathy in some quarters, with supporters pissed off by the interruption to the Premier League schedule.
In the very early noughties, the Cup still retained its magic.
Witness the delirium of the Manchester United away support after they pulled off their extraordinary comeback against Aston Villa in 2002. That is our retro football clip this evening.
Officially, it was still meant to be Alex Ferguson's swansong. He was bidding adieu to the Manchester United support, ideally having just collected a second Champions League title at Hampden Park.
Sven Goran Eriksson was to take over. The joke later on was that this prospect horrified Fergie and prompted his u-turn. In his book, he credited his wife with convincing him that he didn't really want to quit. In staying on, he was partly doing her bidding.
Man United had come through an awful wobble late in 2001 and were returning to form by the turn of the new year. However, two second Aston Villa goals seemed to have delivered an unlikely victory for the hosts.
Late on, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and Ruud Van Nistelrooy were introduced. The former rustled up a goal out of nothing on the 77th minute. By the 82nd minute, Man United led 3-2, Van Nistelrooy grabbing both goals.
After Ruud rolled home the winner, the track-suited away support spilled onto the field.
