Clumsy Chelsea hand back damaged FA Cup which needed 80 hours of work to get it ready for the final

The FA Cup has undergone some careful TLC ahead of the show piece final at Wembley on Saturday after Chelsea handed the trophy back with a number of dents.

The FA Cup silversmith Thomas Lyte got the famous trophy into shape ready for Manchester City's clash with Wigan.



The FA allow the holders to keep the trophy for a year and last year's winners Chelsea handed it back with it needing some last-minute maintenance.

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Ready for the final: Kevin Williams, Master Silversmith at Thomas Lyte works on the FA Cup Trophy ahead of the final

Hammer time: Kevin Williams bangs out the dents in The FA Cup



Kevin Williams, Thomas Lyte’s master silversmith explained how the maintenance process - which cost around £3,000 - takes place.



Williams said: 'It was pretty well damaged - so many people wanted a piece of it.

'This year it took probably 70 to 80 hours of restoration and polishing, where you would normally allow more like 38 hours to make sure everything's all right.'



He added on FATV: 'The FA, to their credit, let the [winning] club keep The Cup, so [it] gets a year of going round, being celebrated so it’s therefore going to get knocked and dropped and dented and it’s my job to take those out.

'This year there was a reasonable amount of damage, some big creases, and we managed to get it back to the condition that everybody knows it as The FA Cup.

Ready to go: The FA Cup is ready to be handed to either Manchester City or Wigan on Saturday

'It’s a fragile old thing now. It’s had lots of knocks and bumps and so when we repair it the metal gets thinner, so we’re at a very precarious stage that when you’re working on it, you’ve got to be careful that you don’t get it to the point where it’s beyond repair.

'It’s a craft that I absolutely love being involved in and have spent my life doing.'

Careless: Frank Lampard and John Terry lift the FA Cup last year and the trophy was handed back with a number of dents

The FA will be relieved that Chelsea are not contending this year's final as the London club have a bit of a reputation when it comes to damaging trophies.



During a staff party after glory in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich last May, one of the handles on the European cup was broken and needed to be repaired.

VIDEO: Watch Silversmith Thomas Lyte repair the FA Cup for Manchester City vs Wigan

