Between 1966 and 1970 West Bromwich Albion reached four major English cup finals sharing the spills with two wins and two defeats. Following this FA Cup fifth round defeat to Newcastle, the half century mark has been reached since that last final in 1970 with pointers suggesting the wait for a Wembley return on such an occasion could be an even lengthier process. It can hardly be said that Albion have been continually knocking on the door in the intervening years with only three FA Cup semi-finals and a solitary League Cup last four appearance reaping the rewards of an annual pursuit.
It is an often mooted statistic that around half the teams in the league have graced a final since the Albion last did, and it has not always been down to the club having a side incapable of surging on a deep competition run. In fact for approximately half of this time, the club has been a top flight team, but still progress seemed to be allusive. This year's FA Cup run ended at the fifth road hurdle with a three-two home defeat to Newcastle, so it is hardly a disgrace to go out to a team from a higher division.
Despite the difference in league status, a shock would not have been unexpected with Albion riding high at the top of the Championship and the visitors currently on a bad run seeing them slide down the Premier League. The priorities of each club were represented in the line ups with Albion using a keen eye on promotion as a reason to rest a large number of first team regulars, while Newcastle fielded a fairly strong first eleven giving the signal that a prolonged cup run may re-ignite their season.
The game panned out as per the starting team sheets with Newcastle cashing in on a slightly lacklustre Albion performance by racing to a three-nil lead just after half time. A few adjustments later, Albion began to show why the gulf between the two sides may not be that wide and narrowed the deficit to a single goal before time ran out.
Post match analysis raised the issue of what would have happened had fewer changes been made at the start, but this was countered by those stating that incurring injuries to key players with just ten games remaining of a promotion challenge would be madness.
Therein lies the conundrum. As much as fans would love a cup run, priorities for the management and the club are in the league especially when you are team like Albion forever hovering between the top of the Championship and bottom of the Premier. So year on year evidence gathers of not taking the cup competitions seriously by continually playing a weakened team and sowing the seeds of always looking like concentrating on the league. Seemingly absurd to the outside, but wholly representative of the make up of modern football and its financial structure.
Is this likely to change in the future? As a football fan you never give up hope. Good luck to Newcastle and their vociferous army of 5,000 travelling fans making an awful lot of noise on a Tuesday night over 200 miles from home. For Albion it is the hope that the jinx may end at fifty one. In the meantime it's fifty years and counting, although the immediate future focusses on that all important promotion push and the proverbial 'ten cup finals' remaining of the 2019-20 season.
