Anthony Brown: No cure for the cup hangover

But if there's an overly-used term I can't find fault with, it's the one about the "cup hangover". It is, of course, a phrase commonly used when a club's league form slumps following success in a cup competition. We see it all too often but it's one aspect of football that leaves me utterly bemused.

Birmingham were the latest team to fall victim when they lost at home to West Brom on Saturday in their first game after winning the Carling Cup. The Blues hardly ever lose at home, while the Baggies had won only one of their previous 13 games. Yet most of us could envisage West Brom winning on Saturday simply because we've become accustomed to teams flopping after cup joy.

We saw Leeds imploding after beating Man United in last season's FA Cup and Hibs losing at home to a struggling Hearts team the week after they won the 2007 League Cup, while, astonishingly, a Ross County player was quoted in November saying his team were still hungover from reaching the Scottish Cup final the previous May.

Surely the Birmingham players weren't literally hungover from their victory celebrations when they took to the field against the Baggies. I've had some belting hangovers after a night on the tiles, but I'd like to think I'd be fresh for action by Saturday after partying the previous Sunday and Monday.

They talk about cup success taking your eye off the ball but if you're a player in the heat of battle, you're surely not going to hesitate when you go to win a header or make a tackle, and think, 'oh I won the cup last week so I don't need to try as hard to win this ball'. Likewise, why should your passing, shooting or workrate suddenly waver in the wake of cup success? If anything it should give a team extra confidence.

But, for reasons unknown to me, it seems as long as there are cups, there will always be hangovers.

Hats off to . . .

...Darren Fletcher on earning his new four-year deal at Manchester United. Now established as one of the most important players at Old Trafford, it wouldn't surprise me if Dalkeith's finest is being lined up for the captaincy if and when Nemanja Vidic moves on. West Ham manager Avram Grant also deserves credit for the way he's brushed off speculation he was going to be sacked in January to haul the Hammers out of the bottom three.

Not a fan of . . .

... Sir Alex Ferguson moaning about referees again. Having been so successful in the game, you'd think the Man United manager would have grown out of these tiresome outbursts about officials whenever his team lose. When it comes to handling defeat magnanimously, he could do with taking a leaf out of the books of Walter Smith and Craig Brown.

Real Mackay

AS everyone in the Capital knows, there's hardly a name more synonymous with Hearts than Gary Mackay.

He is, of course, the Jambos' record appearance holder and still offers his insightful views on the club he loves in these very pages.

There would certainly be no end of intrigue, then, if Hibs' reported interest in Airdrie youngster Gary Mackay-Steven was to come to anything. Imagine the headline: Gary Mackay scores for Hibs against Hearts. What do you mean it happened 20 years ago? Sorry Gary.

Theo's not Rotten, just a Toff

Poor Theo Walcott. Just when he looks to have silenced critics such as Chris Waddle and Alan Hansen, along comes Arsenal fan and Sex Pistols legend John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) to take the England winger to task - for being a posh boy. "I think the tattoos on his arms give the game away," said Lydon. "He's a little upper class really, isn't he? He needs a bit more working class in him. That's the trouble with football now - football academies are producing toffs.

"He runs like a ****ing antelope but it's a shame he passes like ****ing Bambi. But I love him to death."

Despite being "a toff", Walcott hasn't exactly got the physique for rugby but, in the unlikely event that his football career were to hit the buffers, I'm sure he wouldn't look out of place in boyband JLS.

Gann yersel

Upon hearing the entertaining story about Port Vale manager Jim Gannon, pictured, being forced off the team bus at a service station following his bust-up with assistant Geoff Horsfield en route to Aldershot last week, my first thought was how would the players have reacted to this bizarre turn of events? Would they have been shocked and disappointed at the disruption to their match preparations? Or would they have lapped it up and seen the funny side as a manager they recently held a mutiny against unravelled in spectacular fashion? This belter of a tweet from Vale goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson pretty much provided the answer. "Awesome events on the team bus." He then added: "Someone has left the bus." Clearly not overly perturbed at the demise of the controversial former Motherwell boss then.