Comment: The FA Cup remains of utmost importance to Shrewsbury Town

Premier League and Championship teams see the competition as a distraction in its early stages, a chance to rest the big guns and blood the kids. Even winning the FA Cup seems to mean precious little to the ‘big six’ these days.

You won’t find such arrogance at Shrewsbury Town. They love the competition – well, the fans do at least.

And you won’t find many clubs in League One or below who don’t treasure and cherish the oldest national knockout competition in the world.

There is no such arrogance here.

Tomorrow’s visit of ambitious non-league flag bearers Salford City may be a potential banana skin for Shrews chief John Askey, but it is also a welcome breath of fresh air away from the rigours of the League One schedule. Askey said in the week that Town fans would not be happy if he made changes and fielded a weakened side against the Ammies tomorrow lunchtime.

He is 100 per cent right there. There have been few reasons to cheer in the league so far this season, so a Cup run could be just the ticket.

The slog of a league campaign, with fixtures set in stone at grounds fans have visited on dozens of occasions, can be arduous.

There are times, take last season for example, where matches cannot come quickly enough. But these require consistent success on the pitch.

The FA Cup first round is a day in the Football League calendar that allows supporters to potentially enter the unknown.

It’s not a weekend for glamour. Quite the opposite. It’s for terrace standing, for ticking off trips to new places.

Town were drawn at home so there is more of a sense of familiarity, but no Shrewsbury fan can say they have seen their team take on Salford City before. It is, however, a fixture that has league potential in seasons to come.

This is as important as a league game for Askey. It is for that reason that Town must forget their visitors are ranked two divisions and 33 places below.

Askey’s men must give the 100 per cent required to win a match in League One if they are to be successful here.

Because for Graham Alexander’s Salford players, their excitable travelling fans and their wealthy, ambitious ownership this is one of the biggest games of their season. Their Cup final.

If Town don’t have enough desire and commitment it could be a painful day. Salford are as talented as non-league clubs come and they will hurt a less-than-committed Town.

And if Askey’s ranks do not give enough to the shirt then the crowd inside Montgomery Waters Meadow will vent their frustration at the players and the management. Although, nothing less than full commitment should be a prerequisite of any fixture in any competition, it should not fluctuate for the cups.

But if there are any ideas about individuals taking their feet off the gas because it’s ‘only the first round’ or ‘only Salford’, then things could get precarious.

The FA Cup has created some of the best memories Town fans have.

An older generation remember a run to the sixth round replay at Molineux in 1978/79, taking down Manchester City en route.

Then, three seasons later, Town downed a glamorous Ipswich side before losing 5-2 at Leicester in a breathless sixth-round tie.

Then there was Nigel Jemson and that game with Everton in 2003.

The younger generation will fondly recall the last-gasp 2016 win over Sheffield Wednesday, setting up a date with Manchester United.