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[Football] FA Cup Replays Scrapped



Nobby

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2007
2,893
I know I’m going against the grain here but FA cup replays are mainly rubbish. Other than the very occasional one where a lower league team is playing against a Premier league side, there are usually really small crowds and even the lower league teams often make wholesale changes to their team.
Eh?

Oh right, Stoke Poges field a weakened team against Manchester City

Said no one - ever!
 








Jun 2, 2023
17
Awful for the non league sides that make it through to the first round proper; Horsham this season for example had the away tie at Barnsley, at 8:00 on a Friday night which cut the travelling support in half...managed to get a win and bring them back to the CampingWorldCommunityStadium for a sell out midweek replay, in front of the TV cameras, which due to some misfiled paperwork the Hornets won thanks to a late winner scored by administrative error. No replay, no payday, and no memories to look back on in years to come. pity the poor champions league teams and their excessive workloads
 


Nobby

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2007
2,893
I was referring to the lower league teams in round 1 and 2.
There still be national league clubs or below hoping for a scalp and a lucrative replay. (relative to them)
Unless they’re still having replays in rounds one and two?
 




Exilegull

Well-known member
Mar 14, 2024
347
The new deal means PL clubs will give £33m to the Football Foundation not sure how much clubs will lose from lost replays but if the £33m is used well they should have better impact than some clubs winning the lottery of a good replay
 








trueblue

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
10,955
Hove
In a way, I quite like this as it's good to have a cup tie decided on the day and also it gives the smaller clubs a better chance of a shock. Used to love the endless replays but life and football has changed. This makes cup competitions more distinctive. It's just a shame that it's crap for the clubs that really need the money. They should definitely reach a compromise that gives the smaller clubs a much bigger wedge of the takings.

** Just read a bit more about it. Agree the process has been very poor (typically) and the decision to play the Final before the league season ends is disgraceful.
 
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trueblue

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
10,955
Hove
Awful for the non league sides that make it through to the first round proper; Horsham this season for example had the away tie at Barnsley, at 8:00 on a Friday night which cut the travelling support in half...managed to get a win and bring them back to the CampingWorldCommunityStadium for a sell out midweek replay, in front of the TV cameras, which due to some misfiled paperwork the Hornets won thanks to a late winner scored by administrative error. No replay, no payday, and no memories to look back on in years to come. pity the poor champions league teams and their excessive workloads
Except they got through on a technicality. They might have had even better memories to look back on from the first tie if it had gone to penalties.
 


Cheshire Cat

The most curious thing..
Large

Club News

Club Statement: FA Cup replays​

3 Hours ago
51157 views


Tranmere Rovers condemn the disgraceful decision taken by The FA and the Premier League to change the format of the FA Cup, including the scrapping of replays.
There was no consultation with Football League clubs, National League clubs or grassroots clubs to whom the competition represents not only their best opportunity to create life-long memories for supporters but also a hugely important source of income. We also understand that FA Council members were not consulted about the changes.
The decision, and the way it was taken, demonstrate a total lack of respect for the football pyramid and its fans. Football belongs to all of us and decisions should not be taken in back room deals in which only the very wealthiest clubs are allowed to participate. It is yet another eloquent example of the 19th-century governance that means that football simply cannot regulate itself and needs the Independent Football Regulator to have real teeth.

We condemn the changes wholeheartedly and urge The FA to suspend them immediately until all stakeholders in the game are properly consulted.


https://searchability.co.uk/
 




Dave the OAP

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
46,762
at home
I really hope we didn’t agree to this but I wouldn’t put my house on it
 


Shooting Star

Well-known member
Apr 29, 2011
2,883
Suffolk
I know I’m going against the grain here but FA cup replays are mainly rubbish. Other than the very occasional one where a lower league team is playing against a Premier league side, there are usually really small crowds and even the lower league teams often make wholesale changes to their team.
100% agree. I'd be eager for somebody with the time and inclination to work out the statistics of how often a lower-ranked team wins the replay (either home or away). I'd imagine it's extremely low.

I, for one, am really pleased. Replays are an utter waste of time for me. With very little football financial knowledge (and the fact that Darragh MacAntony (so?) from Posh is outraged may invalidate my point), I'm convinced that lower-ranked clubs would make more money from winning the tie on pens (rather than it going to a replay) and then making it through to the next round, with the money that comes with it, the media prestige etc.

I'll take Colchester Utd for an example, a club I follow since moving to South Suffolk. The COVID season saw them play Palace in the second round of the League Cup at Selhurst. It went to pennos and they won. There's a much higher chance that they'd have lost to Palace in a replay, even at home. Next round, they played Spurs at home. I went to the game and it was magical, the U's winning on pens, sparking a pitch invasion. It's still talked about today at the club. I'm even more convinced that if the tie had gone to a replay at the Tottenham Stadium they'd have been trounced. Before someone says "but their fans would have got their big day out and the money etc", the U's went on to beat Creepy Crawley in the next round and set up a Quarter Final tie with United at Old Trafford. 5000 U's fans went. In total, they must have made substantially more money making it through the rounds, than if they'd had a replay at home in the second round against Palace.

I fully understand that this is probably not the heart with which Premier League clubs pressed this decision, but nevertheless as a lifelong fan of a Premier League club in Albion, but also a follower of a League Two Club now (and obvs Albion have been a Football League club the majority of my 32 year life), it makes me more excited for the FA Cup.
 


jonny.rainbow

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2005
6,847
Evolve or die.

The FA Cup has changed in several significant ways since it was established in 1871. Replays weren’t even in the tournament rulebook for the first season! BOTH teams progressed in the event of a draw. The cup holders once had a bye to the final. Penalties weren’t introduced until the 1991-92 season.

Those looking back nostalgically on the days when we could have limitless numbers of replays forget that a lot of those games were dull goalless affairs unlikely to draw big crowds. It is much more exciting to have a one game shot at getting through and going full blood and thunder at getting that moment of history.

It might make some of the big six think twice about resting so many of their squad as well.
 


















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