Taking the FA Cup seriously is a topic of heated debate every January, as the big guns wheel out their nearly and never-quite-will-be men to do battle with nervous minnows and upstart Championship sides. Sometimes it's enough; sometimes custard covers the face of the Premier League's great and good. (I see Alan Pardew wiping himself down, for instance). Supporters aren't sure whether to bother. It should mean something. It does mean something, but we're never quite sure how to treat it these days.

- Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Watford
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Manchester City, however, are clearly taking this competition very seriously. Apart from the inclusion of giraffe-like Costel Pantilimon denying Joe Hart a chance to make his 200th appearance for the Blues, this was pretty much a full-strength side to take on Watford. The supporters also took it seriously, with nearly 47,000 inside the Etihad and 6,000 enthusiastic visitors from Hertfordshire giving the cup the kind of atmosphere it deserves, until near the end when they decided to support Manchester United instead of Watford in an odd moment of geographical disorientation.

My memories of Watford in the Cup take me way back to 1986 and a tricky all-first-division encounter with Graham Taylor's straight-down-the-middle, fast-playing side, who reveled in the purists' catcalls as they rose from the fourth to the first in record time, banging it high, walloping it and leathering it. True they had the silken skills of Barnes and Callaghan and the goal prowess of Luther Blissett, but it was basic route one stuff most of the time.

By the time the two sides clashed in '86, however, Watford were the stronger side, with the likes of ex-Arsenal and Ipswich cup-winner Brian Talbot, plus John Barnes and later-to-be-City 'keeper Tony Coton in the early stages of pomp and circumstance. City in contrast had Mark Lillis, Gordon Davies and Neil McNab, with big Mick McCarthy cleaning up at the back.

Strange to recall, although the cup was very much part of the fabric of our everyday football psyche in the '80s, the attendances for what turned out to be a three-game marathon in the fourth round between the two sides were 31,000, 19,000 and 27,000 respectively. But at least some of that lethargy could be put down to the three-headed monster stalking '80s football: violence, poverty and ill-equipped stadia. I was not violent, but was poor and certainly didn't give any thought to the state of the grounds as I went to all three of these cup ties, enjoying the splendour and excitement of the FA Cup at close quarters.

That City went out after a second replay, a missed penalty and a run around from a loose Jack Russell terrier confirmed to me that I'd be back for more the season after, and more importantly, I'd be back for more Manchester City the weekend after against Queen's Park Rangers. It was gripping, vital stuff.

Football has moved on a touch since those simple unreconstructed days of yore, but it can still hold us and the Cup can still throw up stories to warm the heart. There were a number of obvious ones at the Etihad, including the return to relative normalcy of Mario Balotelli after an end to the week when he trailed the entire North West paparazzi fleet wherever he went, a brief cameo from 17-year-old Marcos Lopes, which ended with the kid from Benfica becoming one of City's youngest ever scorers, and the continuing form of Gareth Barry in the midfield anchor role. Barry has been a revelation in recent weeks, adding flair and guile to the trusted blocking and hoovering he seems to be able to do with his eyes shut. Many talk disparagingly of him, a chugging midfield drone forever tarred by that moment in the World Cup when he couldn't get out of second gear and Mesut Ozil went past him like a Mercedes swatting a Morris Minor, but the quantity and quality of work he gets through is quite an eye-opener. The answer to whether today's partner in tricks, Javi Garcia, can help us all forget the absence of Yaya Toure is lost in the post, unfortunately, but you can bet your bottom dollar on Barry being there in the middle of the action.

With Oldham Athletic and Macclesfield Town providing some of the Cup's major sparks Saturday afternoon, the chance of a mouth-watering derby in the fourth round remains a possibility. If that were to transpire, the Etihad would once again be ringing to the sounds of an FA Cup full house.

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