The FA Cup & Replays

Nicely put I agree with most of the content.

The likes of the Scouse manks and city have enough players in the squad to put teams out they just need to give the cup a little bit of respect.

Eddie Howe hits the nail on the head about when he was their manager in league 2.

Replays should stay and the primos need to suck it up on my eyes. I think it was Tranmere who had played a lot more games than their illustrious opponents over the last month or so And were knackered after a Thursday/ Sunday program.

I can't stand the Premiership primos and all they stand for in football but I enjoyed your article well done :thumbup: :thumbup:

Good stuff.

My personal gripe with the "big boys" is how they normally start moaning about fatigue and fixture congestion by the first week in September, despite the fact they spend most of July/August chasing the dollar, by playing friendlies in the USA/China/Malaysia etc etc

Its only a matter of time before they get there wish and play in a European League and they ditch their involvement with League and possibly FA Cup anyway. Money wins!

Very good article. Surely as the financial gap grows between the Prem and the EFL, so the relevance and interest by premier clubs in the FA Cup will continue to decline. I know I’m an older generation, but it seems a shame that already cup final day is not the national event it used to be in terms of build-up and interest on the day.

All makes me convinced that following the American sports example, money will ultimately dictate more elite leagues, with no automatic promotion/relegation, so probably some sort of European super league.

This is what I fear. I have a cousin who is a season ticket holder at Barcelona, which you would imagine to be an absolute hot-bed for every game. In fact, he tells me that at most games, with the exception of visits by Real, atmosphere is nil, and the crowd spend most of their time on I phones, occasionally looking up if a ball is around the goal mouth. Crowds for their cup games are very low, and average attendances for their second tier are 3-400. Spanish TV coverage on big games however is immense so, in his opinion, Spanish football is turning into an armchair sport. Hope we don’t follow suit.

Even the so-called winter break is a joke.

Look at the Scottish league, when they have had a winter break for some years.

What happens, the clubs take them away for warm winter training. As the players have to keep fit during the break to avoid another pre-season.

Then the managers and clubs complain, about getting all the games in at the end of the season. Well they wanted a winters break.

Look at the average person, they do a weeks work, normally 9-5 plus, to earn a decent wage, do they get a winters break.

Top players have it easy in the premier league, pampered , well paid, spoilt, now they a winters break.

Total joke.

Also bet you the likes of Kroop, will moan about too many fixtures at the end of the season.

He is also treating the FA cup, with absolute disrespect, like all the premier managers.

As someone else said, it's purely about money. Give £100m to the FA Cup winners and watch the top clubs suddenly start falling over themselves to win it.

Klopp not turning up for the replay is as disrespectful in my eyes as Man Utd not entering the season they had to go to South America.

It’s not all clubs in the Premier League that complain about fixture congestion. It’s predominantly those in the European competitions although fair play to Wolves who must have played more games this season than any other top flight team but don’t seem to be one of those complaining.

At Palace we are out of the cup and that means we now have only three fixtures during the entire month of March. As a supporter that’s a disappointing amount of games.

On Replays, the FA shouldn’t back down to the elite clubs because it won’t stop if they get their way. The schedule will still be congested and they’ll be making further demands such as coming into the FA Cup even later than the third round as happens already in the League Cup for those who are in Europe.

This was on the Debate on Sky last night - some interesting points raised:

1. If clubs drawn together are in the same league then they should have the option to decide if they want replays or reach a conclusion on the night.

2. If they aren't in the same league then replays mandatory

3. In 3rd/4th round the lowest ranked teams should automatically draw the highest ranked teams to generate revenue rather than the traditional luck of the draw. Not sure where i stand on this, agree with the pundits that it would distribute revenue to the smaller teams but also removes the likelihood of a cup run. Guess it depends what everyone sees the FA Cup for, magic or money.

Just get rid of replays but ensure that clubs in leagues 1 and 2 get an additional £500,000 a season from the premier league. 48 teams getting 500k is £24m, so each premier league club would contribute just over £1m extra each. A drop in the ocean for them.

Herts_Green":23i5i3oz said:

Just get rid of replays but ensure that clubs in leagues 1 and 2 get an additional £500,000 a season from the premier league. 48 teams getting 500k is £24m, so each premier league club would contribute just over £1m extra each. A drop in the ocean for them.

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Fans like us could potentially miss out on visiting a top Premier League ground to watch our team, but its ok because the club has another 500k in the kitty. Bol**cks to that, On the rare occasion that Argyle get drawn against one of England's power houses,I want to watch my team in the best possible grounds in the country with the possibility of bringing them back to Home Park under lights.

PlymouthCasual":3fxvtoni said:

Herts_Green":3fxvtoni said:

Just get rid of replays but ensure that clubs in leagues 1 and 2 get an additional £500,000 a season from the premier league. 48 teams getting 500k is £24m, so each premier league club would contribute just over £1m extra each. A drop in the ocean for them.

Click to expand...

Fans like us could potentially miss out on visiting a top Premier League ground to watch our team, but its ok because the club has another 500k in the kitty. Bol**cks to that, On the rare occasion that Argyle get drawn against one of England's power houses,I want to watch my team in the best possible grounds in the country with the possibility of bringing them back to Home Park under lights.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Ask most Argyle fans for a list of highlights from the past decade or so and most would have the Emirates and Anfield on there.

Unfortunately the gun is loaded in favour of the big boys and eventually they'll get their way. The FA Cup is already unofficially an U23 comp for Premier League clubs, and it's only a matter of time until that is made official.

The Champions League rules the roost. In fact, it's funny that as English football moves towards globalisation and closer European ties, the country itself retreats away.

WoodsyGreen":1lasj3q9 said:

PlymouthCasual":1lasj3q9 said:

Herts_Green":1lasj3q9 said:

Just get rid of replays but ensure that clubs in leagues 1 and 2 get an additional £500,000 a season from the premier league. 48 teams getting 500k is £24m, so each premier league club would contribute just over £1m extra each. A drop in the ocean for them.

Click to expand...

Fans like us could potentially miss out on visiting a top Premier League ground to watch our team, but its ok because the club has another 500k in the kitty. Bol**cks to that, On the rare occasion that Argyle get drawn against one of England's power houses,I want to watch my team in the best possible grounds in the country with the possibility of bringing them back to Home Park under lights.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Ask most Argyle fans for a list of highlights from the past decade or so and most would have the Emirates and Anfield on there.

Unfortunately the gun is loaded in favour of the big boys and eventually they'll get their way. The FA Cup is already unofficially an U23 comp for Premier League clubs, and it's only a matter of time until that is made official.

The Champions League rules the roost. In fact, it's funny that as English football moves towards globalisation and closer European ties, the country itself retreats away.

Click to expand...

Yes the FA cup is like an u23 tournament for those teams now and that won’t change unless those clubs are able to play less games. Get rid of replays, scrap the league cup and give lower league teams more money. Neither of our trips to Anfield or the Emirates were replays - there would still be the opportunity for us fans to see our team at stadiums like that.

How special will the replay be for Shrewsbury fans given that none of Liverpool’s senior players or even the management team will be there? Would it not be better to reduce the amount of games and mandate that top clubs play x number of first team players. Wouldn’t that help to restore some of the magic of the cup. At the moment it’s nearly dead on its feet.

Perhaps I can throw in another idea & totally reinvent the FA Cup! For some years now have thought:

From round one onwards, do away with the draw but instead make the highest ranked club play away against the lowest.
Means non league clubs at round 1 draw a league side & then at round 3, lowest ranked get (today) Liverpool at home etc etc. Means that the lowest ranked & therefore probably most in need of a cash injection get it & also means they increase their chances of success. Will also get today's prima donnas back onto pitches such as Tranmere thus again levelling up the tire & increasing chances of upsets.....if you do away with replays, this is more achievable but if you keep replays, base next round on league position of highest team in the match to be replayed.

May appear difficult but actually very easily achieved, gives a cash injection to lower league teams & may bring back the magic of the cup!
This could work for all cup competitions, not just FA Cup.

What annoys myself about all this is the elite clubs are happy to vote to expand the champions league and play extra matches so it kills any arguments they have about replays.

It’s just all about money.

Eventually we shall have a premier league two. The route to that will either be shut or invitational to smaller clubs that they may feel will get them more money than one or two other clubs.

If you think lm over the top, maybe. Yet just think for a second now about academy’s and players who are sixteen and under and the pitiful amount top clubs have to play lower leagues for players not signed on pro terms.

People like the glaziers don’t care about football. They don’t even care about Manchester Utd. Except it’s a free way of printing money for them as they keep taking out of that club.

The hierarchy’s will kill football.

3pm Saturday tv blackouts when people can already illegal stream the games need to change. It could make extra revenue for the lower league clubs. It’s outdated rules like this where football hasn’t moved with the times. That’s because the bigger clubs are making the money already so that why you see them moan about fa cup replays and not about something like this. It’s never been about the fans. Otherwise you wouldn’t have ridiculous kick off times for away fans.

WoodsyGreen":s0f9wncv said:

PlymouthCasual":s0f9wncv said:

Herts_Green":s0f9wncv said:

Just get rid of replays but ensure that clubs in leagues 1 and 2 get an additional £500,000 a season from the premier league. 48 teams getting 500k is £24m, so each premier league club would contribute just over £1m extra each. A drop in the ocean for them.

Click to expand...

Fans like us could potentially miss out on visiting a top Premier League ground to watch our team, but its ok because the club has another 500k in the kitty. Bol**cks to that, On the rare occasion that Argyle get drawn against one of England's power houses,I want to watch my team in the best possible grounds in the country with the possibility of bringing them back to Home Park under lights.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Ask most Argyle fans for a list of highlights from the past decade or so and most would have the Emirates and Anfield on there.

Unfortunately the gun is loaded in favour of the big boys and eventually they'll get their way. The FA Cup is already unofficially an U23 comp for Premier League clubs, and it's only a matter of time until that is made official.

The Champions League rules the roost. In fact, it's funny that as English football moves towards globalisation and closer European ties, the country itself retreats away.

Click to expand...

Did you also know that the Champions league, control our fixture schedule as well.

If there is a Champions League WEEK, then no other Premier league game can be played on that same night.

For example if Man City were at home in the Champions league, then a fixture , or even a rearranged fixture, like say Everton V Aston Villa, could not go ahead, as their fixtures take preference over everything.