COVENTRY WANTS COVENTRY IN THE DRAW

The FA Cup draw happens tonight at 7pm and clubs surviving since the Extra Preliminary Round, held way back in August, will be excited. Some teams will have played at least six matches by now. John Coventry, the manager of East Thurrock United, from the Conference South, wants to be drawn with, guess....Coventry! Coventry, the club, once thrilled fans in the 1987 Wembley cup final beating Spurs 3-2 in one of the great finals. The Sky Blues are now lounging in League One and have only just returned to their Ricoh home.

Extra Prelim Round winners, teams in Pyramid Level 9 and below, earn their club £1500 and winning the 4th Qualifying round, when Conference teams join in, has earn clubs like Chester City £12,500. In the next round, the First Round Proper, victory will raise £18,000, all sponsored by E.ON. Championship and Premier league teams join in at the 3rd Round proper. The winners of the final will get £1,800,000. Probably worth entering the competition then??; remember when Manchester United pulled out in 1999-00 due to a clash with the World Club Championship? Respect!
So tonight's draw is a great moment for all true football fans. 1872 saw the first Cup Final. 15 clubs originally entered the competition, including Queen's Park of Glasgow and Donnington School from south Lincolnshire. Three teams scratched and Queen's Park were exempt from the competition until the Semi-Final, to help with their travelling expenses! In one semi-final, Queen's Park drew with the then, famous Wanderers, but could not find money to return for a replay! So they handed the final to the Wanderers. The Royal Engineers, the favourites, based at Chatham, won their semi but lost out 1-0 at the Oval before a crowd of 2,000.

Do you know which clubs from the lowest level of the pyramid are still battling on?