How great were the FA Cup pioneers — and were Wanderers the first truly great cup team?

In this special episode of By Far The Greatest Team, Graham Dunn and Jamie Rooney are joined by brilliant football history guest Phil Craig to travel right back to the birth of the FA Cup — from its Victorian amateur origins to the moment football began its journey from gentlemanly pastime to national obsession.

This is the story of the world’s oldest football competition before it became the FA Cup we know today: no fixed pitch markings, teams changing ends after goals, clubs withdrawing at will, replays, byes, railway journeys, public-school networks, and a cast of extraordinary football pioneers. At the centre of it all stands Charles Alcock, the organiser and visionary behind the competition, and Wanderers, the wandering, aristocratic, brilliantly connected team who dominated the earliest years of the Cup.

But this episode is about much more than one club. Graham, Jamie and Phil explore the rise of early FA Cup giants like Royal Engineers, Oxford University, Queen’s Park, Old Etonians, Marlow, Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Olympic and Blackburn Rovers, tracing how the competition evolved from an amateur southern gentleman’s tournament into the proving ground for professionalism, northern power and the modern game.

From the first FA Cup final in 1872 to the symbolic working-class breakthrough of Blackburn Olympic in 1883, this is a story of changing rules, changing tactics, changing class structures — and football slowly becoming the people’s game.

Were Wanderers simply the best connected team of their age, or should they be remembered as one of football’s first great sides?

The FA Cup was chaotic from the start
The early tournament featured withdrawals, walkovers, replays, unusual rules and teams who barely resembled modern clubs.

Wanderers were football’s first cup specialists
With five FA Cup wins in the competition’s first seven seasons, Wanderers became the defining team of the FA Cup’s earliest era.

Charles Alcock helped invent football’s competitive future
His vision for a national knockout tournament gave football one of its most enduring institutions.

The Cup tells the story of football’s social shift
From public schools and old boys’ networks to mill towns, factories and northern professionalism, the FA Cup became a mirror of Victorian Britain.

Blackburn Olympic changed everything
Their 1883 victory over Old Etonians marked one of the great symbolic turning points in football history.

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!

How Great Were Leyton Orient 1994–1995? | Football Club for a Fiver, John Sitton & Football’s Rawest Documentary

What happens when a football documentary captures not the glory of the game, but the collapse — emotional, financial, tactical and human — of a club fighting for survival?

Most football fans remember the trophies, the great teams, the title races and the last-minute winners. But sometimes, the most revealing football stories are found far away from the glamour — in failing dressing rooms, broken boardrooms, empty terraces and lower-league clubs trying desperately to stay alive.

In this episode of By Far The Greatest Team, Graham and Jamie are joined by London regular Stuart Burgess to explore one of the most infamous, raw and unforgettable football seasons ever captured on film: Leyton Orient 1994–95.

Centred around the legendary documentary Orient: Club for a Fiver, this is the story of a club in crisis, a young filmmaker given extraordinary access, and a manager, John Sitton, whose emotional dressing-room rants became some of the most quoted — and most uncomfortable — moments in football documentary history.

But this episode is about far more than one infamous team talk. We dig into Leyton Orient’s wider history, from their East London roots and multiple name changes to their unlikely highs of the 1970s, FA Cup adventures, near-misses, financial instability and long struggle for identity in the shadow of bigger London clubs.

We ask why Club for a Fiver still matters. Was it a brutal but honest snapshot of lower-league football? Was John Sitton unfairly exposed by a new kind of fly-on-the-wall filmmaking? And did the documentary reveal something football had spent decades trying to hide: that behind the romance of the game are real people, fragile careers, chaotic ownership structures and clubs permanently walking a financial tightrope?

This is not a tale of greatness in the traditional sense. It is a story of survival, humiliation, loyalty, desperation and documentary immortality. Leyton Orient 1994–95 may not have been a great team — but they became part of one of football’s greatest cautionary tales.

Takeaways

• Why Orient: Club for a Fiver remains one of football’s most authentic documentaries
• The story behind John Sitton’s infamous dressing-room breakdown
• How Leyton Orient’s 1994–95 season became a symbol of lower-league football chaos
• The club’s deeper history, from Clapton Orient to Leyton Orient
• Why Barry Hearn’s arrival matters in understanding the documentary
• How the episode reflects football before the modern media-trained era
• Whether this disastrous season deserves a place in the Greatness Index conversation

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!

How great were Brighton & Hove Albion 1982–1983?

In this episode of By Far The Greatest Team, Graham Dunn and Jamie Rooney are joined by South Coast Jamie Wilson to tell the story of one of English football’s great contradiction seasons: Brighton & Hove Albion 1982–83.

This was a campaign that ended in relegation from the First Division — but also took Brighton to the first FA Cup Final in the club’s history. A season of struggle, chaos, colour, character and one immortal Wembley moment.

We look back at Brighton’s wider journey through football history, from their formation in 1901 and Southern League roots, through the Brian Clough interlude, the Alan Mullery era, Peter Ward’s goals, and the rise that carried the club into the top flight.

Then we focus on 1982–83 itself: Jimmy Melia’s unlikely FA Cup adventure, the key players who carried Albion to Wembley, and the unforgettable final against Manchester United. The first game ended 2–2, giving Brighton one of the most famous near-misses in FA Cup history: “And Smith must score…”

Was Gordon Smith’s chance the moment that defined Brighton’s past? Or has it unfairly overshadowed a remarkable achievement from a team fighting battles on every front?

With players like Steve Foster, Jimmy Case, Michael Robinson, Gary Stevens, Tony Grealish, Graham Moseley and Gordon Smith, Brighton 1982–83 may not look like an obvious candidate for greatness. But sometimes greatness is not just about trophies. Sometimes it is about story, identity, resilience, and how close a team came to changing everything.

So where do Brighton & Hove Albion 1982–83 belong in our Table of Greatness?

Takeaways

• Brighton’s rise from Southern League roots to the First Division
• The importance of Alan Mullery, Brian Clough and Peter Ward in the wider Brighton story
• Why the 1982–83 season was both a disaster and a fairytale
• Jimmy Melia’s colourful and chaotic FA Cup run
• The key players behind Brighton’s Wembley journey
• The 1983 FA Cup Final against Manchester United
• Why “And Smith must score” remains one of the great FA Cup moments
• Whether a relegated side can still be considered great

Listen now and join us as we decide whether Brighton & Hove Albion 1982–1983 were truly one of football’s greatest teams.

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!