On The FA Cup:The FA Cup has become football's greatest guilty pleasure. It's fine to indulge in a spot of knock-out, knock-about fun but, like listening to Dire Straits or watching anything featuring Ben Affleck, it's best to do it in the privacy of your own living room.

And for God's sake don't let the kids catch you: if there's one thing guaranteed to interest social services it's sporting an over-sized rosette and rooting for whichever hapless bunch of estate agents and plumbers happen to have stumbled into the third round.

Well, it's time to come out. My name is Andrew Fifield and I enjoy the FA Cup. My first vivid footballing memories all stem from Crystal Palace's run to the final in 1990: Geoff Thomas bobbling one in from 20 yards against the mighty Cambridge United, Ian Wright leaving Gary Pallister on his backside at Wembley and, even better, Alan Pardew becoming my first sporting hero after bundling in the winner against Liverpool in the semis. After Palace had won 4-3, I spent two hours trying to recreate that moment in my garden but my back wall was no Andy Thorn when it came to flick-ons.

I'm not alone. Thanks to the FA Cup, Palace were able to count on the lifelong support - financial and vocal - of a whole generation of local kids like me. The same goes for Watford, finalists in 1984; Wimbledon, winners in 1988 and Wycombe, semi-finalists in 2001.

The cup gave us all a fleeting, but fabulous, glimpse at what life would be like if our small-time clubs ever made it big. It was the Good Samaritan for football's unfortunates, sustaining those too poor to look after themselves.

But now even the needy have turned their backs. Palace travelled to Watford for a third round tie on Saturday and couldn't even be bothered to send the majority of their first team squad. Apparently we would much rather save ourselves for the really big games, like Wolverhampton Wanderers away on January 12th and Bristol City at home a week later. Ah, the romance.

We have all become grudgingly accepting of the elite clubs treating the FA Cup with contempt, but when relative nonentities start doing the same, the competition really is in trouble.

The attitude was neatly, if sneeringly, summed up by the Reading striker Dave Kitson last week when he was asked whether he was irked by being left out of the squad to face Spurs on Saturday.

"We are not going to win the FA Cup so I don't give two shits about it," he said. "I care about staying in the Premier League."

Kitson is actually one of the more thoughtful inhabitants of Planet Football but this was a rare moment of bone-headedness. Let me spell it out for you, Dave: strange as it may seem in an age where sporting romance has all but withered on the vine, the cup is not just about winning.

It is about glory, about giving the great and good a scare and maybe - just maybe - providing supporters with a day out that would be a hundred times more memorable than 10 seasons slumming it in the nether reaches of the Premier League.

We can't blame Kitson. It's not his fault that he prioritises the Premier League: when even Derby County - possibly the worst side ever to have played in the top flight since its restructuring in 1992 - are guaranteed €40 million for finishing well and truly bottom, the notion of playing for something where the material rewards are relatively meagre must seem peculiar.

Shame. Reading are one of a batch of mid-table clubs who should be targeting a cup run, but if this really is the attitude the competition has to contend with, it needs help.

First, from the FA, who should start affording it the respect it deserves: so, never again must the quarter-finals be played on Mondays or Thursdays - as they were in 2006 - or clubs be allowed to field swathes of spotty teenagers. There's a time and a place for kids to be blooded and, surprise, surprise, it's called the FA Youth Cup.

Next, from the TV companies. Neutrals have no interest in watching Aston Villa play Manchester United in the Premier League, so why the BBC believes that it should be the showpiece game on third-round weekend is anyone's guess. Note to Roger Mosey: the FA Cup is about matches which carry a whiff of the unexpected, not bog-standard all-Premier League ties.

And finally, from the clubs themselves - especially the smaller ones. Have some guts and take the cup seriously. The world needs more Alan Pardews and you might just surprise yourselves.