Quite what the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi made of Man City's 3-0 FA Cup embarrassment against Forest is anyone's guess.
But it was the result the FA Cup had yearned for.
A result which proved there is an alternative to the money which fuels the Premier League.
A result which pushed the transfer window out of the headlines for a weekend at least and let us take a peep at what the game really should be all about.
True, £10million Wayne Bridge, the first of what could be many City signings, was paraded at Eastlands before the match but, if anything, his presence only highlighted the desperate state of affairs at City as manager Mark Hughes attempts to appease Arab billionaires who profess patience but sooner rather than later will want trophies for their money.
Not this season. City are in a relegation battle. They are out of the Carling Cup, out of the FA Cup and now have been given a lesson in pride and passion by a club struggling in the Championship.
Yet City are not the first club to be humbled in the finest traditions of the FA Cup. Nor were they the only one on a third round day when football's little men did the game proud.
In League One Hartlepool's slaying of Premier League Stoke.
In Peter Clarke's injury-time equaliser for Southend, a club 55 league places below Chelsea, but who gave World Cup-winning manager Luiz Felipe Scolari another perplexing day at Stamford Bridge.
In Bristol City, who take cup holders Portsmouth back to the west country for a replay and non-league Torquay who beat Championship side Blackpool and Peterborough who held Premier League West Brom at The Hawthorns.
In non-league Forest Green, too, in the third round for the first time in their 118-year history but who laced their Gloucestershire outpost in FA Cup fantasy when they went 2-0 up against Derby, then led 3-2, only to lose valiantly 4-3.
All wonderful performances which proved industry and commitment can on any given day be a match for talent, however richly remunerated.
There was more. The FA Cup needed to rise above the lack of respect it had been shown in recent years by football's big boys.
And it did, in the main, with Premier League teams fielding strong teams.
Not least league leaders Liverpool, for whom Steven Gerrard shrugged off one of the most traumatic weeks of his career to do what he does best. That is, inspire Liverpool to another victory. This time 2-0 at Preston, although only after a frantic second-half battle.
Clearly, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez wanted to profess his trust and faith in his captain, who was charged this week with assault.
He also showed a desire to keep the momentum rolling in a season which is beginning to promise great things. So no wholesale rotation. Rather a reliance on star men such as Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Jamie Carragher and Fernando Torres, the latter who came on to score off the substitutes' bench. A reliance on genuine class and respect.
That perhaps was the most refreshing aspect of an invigorating third round.
(source espnstar.com)
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