Fa Cup Replays Scrapped

[SilentWitness]

FA Cup replays scrapped from the first round onwards


The FA and the Premier League have reached a new agreement which means the FA Cup format will change for the 2024-25 season.

Starting next season, FA Cup replays will not take place beyond the first round.

 

[Red Star One]

better late than never

 

[Rood]

makes sense - the only argument for it was the money it often generated for smaller clubs

 

[FujiVice]

Another revenue stream dies for lower league clubs. What a game this has turned into.

 

[Fr. Todd Unctious]

Final now on the penultimate weekend of the season

 

[Utd heap]

Another kick in the bollocks for the uniqueness of the cup.

 

[Raw]

Final now on the penultimate weekend of the season

God that's shite.

 

[UnitedSofa]

Devastating for the EFL & only helps the big clubs. Horrible decision

 

[Oranges038]

For all of the 5 or 6 times PL clubs are impacted by games going to replays, it seems worth it to screw lower league clubs out of a chance to earn an extra bit of money.

 

[brian017]

The mid season break is also scrapped to allow for a longer summer break

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Thank feck. Replays are stupid. Time for the FA Cup to move into the modern era

 

[BorisManUtd]

Would rather see League Cup abolished like in France. Fa Cup replays seem to help 'smaller' clubs earn more money so with that in mind it's not as good decision as I thought before reading others' posts in here.

 

[MancunianAngels]

Imo, should have been kept for third round (and the two previous).

Provides something unique when you get a Non League team playing a Premier League side.

Also worth noting that the Premier League clubs voting for this will be sending their players to all corners of the world in pre season (shortly after a large % of them have played in the Euros). Its a bit rich to then start talking about one or two extra cup games having a huge impact on their welfare.

 

[Chipper]

I see there's other stuff too.

- 5th round no longer midweek
- FA Cup exclusive windows from the 4th-6th round with no PL matches taking place at the same time
- £33m extra to grassroots football

The FA are saying it's strengthening the position of the cup, not sure I'd agree with that.

I like replays for the smaller teams, can be financially huge for them as others have said. It's not like top teams don't often field squad players in these games anyway a lot of the time so I'll be sad to see the replays go.

I'm glad the 5th round is moving back to weekends, made it feel like the League Cup when it was midweek. Mind you, "weekends" has a funny definition for the FA. 4th round weekend will now be from Friday to Wednesday.

Not sure why they're scrapping the replays in the 1st and 2nd rounds after speaking with the Premier League when PL clubs aren't even in it at that stage. A 5th tier or lower team earning a replay against a bigger League One club in front of 15,000 people could still be very nice for then financially.

Used to love replays in general as a kid, but back then the FA Cup was much more important. I remember us having two replays against QPR in the late 80s and listening to 1st replay on the radio. Deiniol Graham scored to make it 2-1 in extra time in the first replay and I was going mental jumping up and down on my bed only for QPR to equalise. Beat them easily in the 2nd replay after getting Bryan Robson and a few back from injury, think that was 88/89. Couldn't have that now of course, but the cup was so important it didn't matter how many matches had to be played. Fans and players just wanted to still be in it no matter what.

When it was more important a first match and a replay or two could be great if two rivals played each other, not just for the smaller teams. Was also the sort of thing that could create rivalries.

 

[FootballHQ]

Final now on the penultimate weekend of the season

Hated that when it started to happen a decade ago. Don't really understand why it's been put back a week when the domestic season still ends a week later. If there's a lack of midweek dates just make the league cup SFs one leg.

Not a shock replays have gone but personally I'd have kept them for 3rd round, possibly 4th aswell.

 

[Rood]

Didn't realise that EFL clubs weren't consulted on this, just assumed they had agreed to it - that's not right at all, no wonder they are pissed off

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[Judas]

Disgusting decision showing only care for the elite clubs who simply don't need the hassle of replays.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

Next thing you know they’ll be talking about a breakaway super league….

 

[Fergies Gum]

Disgrace of a decision. It went under the radar but the decision to move the games away from free to air TV (BT Sport are taking over) will be the decision that will kill off this tournament in a few years time.

 

[tentan]

Final now on the penultimate weekend of the season

That is annoying

 

[Red in STL]

Would rather see League Cup abolished like in France. Fa Cup replays seem to help 'smaller' clubs earn more money so with that in mind it's not as good decision as I thought before reading others' posts in here.

My view is something along these lines

The league cup should be Championship down + PL academy sides with a couple of over age players maybe

PL sides should not play another PL side in the 3rd round, no replays after the 3rd round should be a good compromise and the Final should revert back to being the last match of the deomestic season

 

[MancunianAngels]

Scrapping the replays without even engaging with the EFL clubs is a disgrace. They can be a financial lifeline for those clubs and its like on or two extra games for the PL sides and not even every season. Mot exactly a massive undertaking. Replays for United tend to happen once every 10 years?

Clubs have also presumably voted in changes to the European competitions which are an extra 2 matches so not like player welfare was high on their agenda.

People also saying we should scrap the League Cup? Why ? It's a great competition. What do people want exactly? It feels like they (and many fans) want to make irreversible changes to the domestic game to suit the needs of the big Premier League sides, who again will be aiming to compete in the extended Club World Cup and also taking part in massive pre season tours.

This decison is down to sheer greed. I hope those outside the Premier League come together for a massive protest.

 

[Grande]

My view is something alomg thes elines

The league cup should be Championship down + PL academy sides with a couple of over age players maybe

PL sides should not play another PL side in the 3rd round, no replays after the 3rd round should be a good compromise and the Final should revert back to being the last match of the deomestic season

This dorsn’t sound too bad.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

Just modify it so that whenever a non-PL or Championship club play a PL side, they automatically play the fixture away for the gate receipt? Seems like a workable compromise, give them a higher cut as well.

While I understand the importance of replays for small clubs finances, in reality they don’t even happen all that often nowadays due to the disparity in resources, and conceptually they are a bit shit, just play ET and pens, like many other tournaments already did.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

My view is something alomg thes elines

The league cup should be Championship down + PL academy sides with a couple of over age players maybe

PL sides should not play another PL side in the 3rd round, no replays after the 3rd round should be a good compromise and the Final should revert back to being the last match of the deomestic season

Hmmmm. I’d go the other way.

Top 6 PL Clubs play each other in the first round of the League Cup and FA Cup that they enter. Get rid of 3 of them immediately. Also, all teams in Europe get away draws in all League Cup games.

If they’re so pissed off about having more games, let’s guarantee that they play less.

Taking away replays for the rest of the pyramid, who had no fecking problem with them, just to service a cartel of big teams is disgusting.

They did it with the Super League and they’re doing it again. They are not football decisions. They’re not player welfare decisions. It’s vampiric greed from Billionaire owners that think they’re above it all.

 

[izak]

They talk about the pyramid when the Super League wanted it their way.

Then they proceed to ignoring the smaller clubs who depend on the pyramid scheme to generate revenue?

 

[roonster09]

Scrapping the replays without even engaging with the EFL clubs is a disgrace. They can be a financial lifeline for those clubs and its like on or two extra games for the PL sides and not even every season. Mot exactly a massive undertaking. Replays for United tend to happen once every 10 years?

Clubs have also presumably voted in changes to the European competitions which are an extra 2 matches so not like player welfare was high on their agenda.

People also saying we should scrap the League Cup? Why ? It's a great competition. What do people want exactly? It feels like they (and many fans) want to make irreversible changes to the domestic game to suit the needs of the big Premier League sides, who again will be aiming to compete in the extended Club World Cup and also taking part in massive pre season tours.

This decison is down to sheer greed. I hope those outside the Premier League come together for a massive protest.

Good post. I will understand people wanting league Cup to be removed. It's a good competition, if club thinks it's too many games then they can just play their young players.

All these decisions with only PL's CL, Europa participating clubs is just nonsense. Like you said I hope other PL clubs and non PL clubs protest these greedy decisions.

 

[Samid]

The league cup should be Championship down + PL academy sides with a couple of over age players maybe

Isn’t that just the Johnston Paint Trophy or whatever it’s called that no one cares about?

 

[AndySmith1990]

Quite right. We must do all we can to protect the rich Premier league clubs. The greatest league in the kingdom could be ruined beyond repair if these clubs are forced to fully utilise their expensive 25 man squad + academy, at the risk of tiring their precious and brilliant players, who quite frankly are too important to waste 180 minutes kicking a ball about with losers from lower leagues

 

[Rood]

Isn’t that just the Johnston Paint Trophy or whatever it’s called that no one cares about?

That's actually League One, League Two and random youth teams

Anyway the League Cup is a big revenue generator for the EFL so no way it's going, obviously they need the PL clubs in there for the TV money

 

[Matt Varnish]

Personaly I think it's disgusting, the FA is so full of itself.
Someone explain to me how this is good for football and players welfare, jetting around Europe and sometimes the world with very little recovery time is more detrimental than playing Maidstone on a wet Thursday nght in March.
Just think, we'd never of heard of John Motson if it hadn't have been for an FA Cup replay

 

[strandty]

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[Matt Varnish]

Quite right. We must do all we can to protect the rich Premier league clubs. The greatest league in the kingdom could be ruined beyond repair if these clubs are forced to fully utilise their expensive 25 man squad + academy, at the risk of tiring their precious and brilliant players, who quite frankly are too important to waste 180 minutes kicking a ball about with losers from lower leagues

Totally agree, it's because of replays the Premier League isn't represented in the ECL semi-finals this year.

 

[Adz_99]

Keep seeing about smaller clubs losing out on replay revenue but let's be honest here, what they're talking about is the dream scenario where you draw United/Liverpool/Arsenal at home and then draw to get the big gate money in the replay. How many times has that actually happened in recent memory?

If anything this might help smaller clubs get further in the competition and earn the big matches because they just have to survive 120 minutes then win on penalties.

 

[SilentWitness]

That's total muck in terms of not consulting the lower league clubs. They really do make an arse of themselves time and time again.

Keep seeing about smaller clubs losing out on replay revenue but let's be honest here, what they're talking about is the dream scenario where you draw United/Liverpool/Arsenal at home and then draw to get the big gate money in the replay. How many times has that actually happened in recent memory?

If anything this might help smaller clubs get further in the competition and earn the big matches because they just have to survive 120 minutes then win on penalties.

Not just PL clubs though. It can also help if a conference club goes on a run and gets a Championship or League 1 side in a replay. Some of them have big stadiums too now.

 

[africanspur]

makes sense - the only argument for it was the money it often generated for smaller clubs

So surely that's quite a big argument then?

Football isn't just about making things as comfortable as possible for the biggest clubs.

 

[africanspur]

Keep seeing about smaller clubs losing out on replay revenue but let's be honest here, what they're talking about is the dream scenario where you draw United/Liverpool/Arsenal at home and then draw to get the big gate money in the replay. How many times has that actually happened in recent memory?

If anything this might help smaller clubs get further in the competition and earn the big matches because they just have to survive 120 minutes then win on penalties.

It doesn't have to be a British mega club. 13 clubs currently in the league have an average attendance of at least 30k. 15 clubs in the championship with at least 20k. Even a few league one clubs with around that level.

Pretty galling really.

 

[SilentWitness]

So surely that's quite a big argument then?

Football isn't just about things as comfortable as possible for the biggest clubs.

Indeed, especially as it comes into place in the First Round which PL clubs aren't even involved with.

 

[diarm]

This is stupid.

The last 10-20 years has ruined the FA Cup while for some reason, improving the status of the League Cup. So instead of having one great cup comp and one nothing one, we now have two mediocre comps.

If I was in charge, I'd make the League Cup for all clubs except the 5-7 that have qualified for European football with no replays. Makes it a more winnable comp for most, rather than just something that's won by the City B team 3 out of every 4 years, and helps with the fixture congestion of the big clubs.

Then I'd keep the traditions of the FA Cup in tact - keep it on free to air TV and bring it up a level by giving the 4th CL spot to the Cup winner. It would help alleviate this nonsense of top 4 being a trophy and make an underdog run through the rounds absolutely magic.

 

[MancunianAngels]

Changing the rules of a competition but only asking 20 teams for their opinion isn't a great look for the FA.