The end of cup replays

[Grassy Noel]

Another triumph for the Big Boys who dominate all football discussions.

[General]

Grim. Some of my favourite memories of watching fulham in the lower divisions were the replays or cup games against PL teams at the Cottage.

I remember all the cameras, lights and enthusiasm around seeing top clubs play at the ground and just allowing us to dream of what it'd look like to play regularly and then actually being able to see our team and read about fulham in the press.

I imagine there's also a huge amount of cross pollination in terms of lower league clubs own development, the funding they get from match day revenues, from TV broadcasting rights, and also just putting new stadiums and clubs on the map, as well as the ability to level up a clubs infrastructure and personnel and perhaps even promotion ambitions.

It's criminal how lopsided our thinking has become when it comes to determining value and having it be so heavily data and quantitatively driven with a financial end goal.

[St Eve]

So unfair for the smaller teams.

[Lighthouse]

Remember our cup run to the Final and how many replays we had to get through.

 Still its gives the chance for the teams who have qualified for Europe been knocked out, then enter the Europa cup and then being able not to be bothered with annoying replays depleting their 40 man squads while playing Accrington Stanley.

Have to make sure Manchester United and Liverpool have an easier life. Hate to think the incentive of a big money replay for the lower league teams gets in the way of the multi millionaire clubs.

[Fulham1959]

An absolute disgrace.  It doesn't get better than a replay under floodlights, especially big team v. little team.  Having drawn the first match, both teams believe they can win.

In winning the FA Cup in 1959, Nottm. Forest went to a 4th replay (5th meeting) in an earlier round.  That is of course taking it too far but I feel a big part of what made the FA Cup special will have been lost under this new rule.

[Fulham Tup North]

  Absolutely disgusting... all because the top 6 don't want anything to spoil their bigger pay days... and sod the smaller clubs.
If you can get through to round 3 or 4 a well earned draw deserves the night under the floodlights.
The football bosses in this country are an absolute embarrassment. Shame on them all...  

[Nick Bateman]

FA being told by Sky to diminish the worth of their own FA Cup. Remember, Sky have no FA Cup games as they are government-protected to be free-to-air. The FA also bowed to Sky's whim to not have the FA Cup final as the last match.

This is the same FA that allowed the England shirts to change the flag to some dark rainbow design on the national kit. Yet their referees are the worst they've ever been as they look after the "big boys".

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

Disgraceful really. A lot of little clubs will probably disappear.

[Arthur]

Overall, a sensible decision in my view.

The large majority of Cup replays do not involve a minnow at home to a giant. They involve clubs from the same league or one league apart - and, as such, they typically don't generate a huge amount of excitement or a capacity crowd. I can recall a home midweek replay against Sunderland nearly 10 years ago when we were in the Championship and they were P.L. The crowd was under 15,000, we lost 3-1 and my abiding memory is that I could have done without the 400-mile round trip that saw me get home in the middle of night and go to work a few hours later.

So while there will be some occasions when a smaller club's supporters will miss out on an opportunity to see their team at home to a big club, I believe, in most instances, supporters will be happier their team's cup tie was settled on the day with extra-time or penalties than face the prospect of forking out for another game.

[Ludlow Richard]

Disgraceful really. A lot of little clubs will probably disappear.

I don't see why this needs to happen from Round 1. Let's assume a National League South team draws Bolton, manages to draw at Bolton and gets a replay.  The replay is selected to be on TV, the NLS team gets a barrow full of money which changes their future. Why are we denying this chance for the small clubs?

[btffc]

Disgraceful really. A lot of little clubs will probably disappear.

I don't see why this needs to happen from Round 1. Let's assume a National League South team draws Bolton, manages to draw at Bolton and gets a replay.  The replay is selected to be on TV, the NLS team gets a barrow full of money which changes their future. Why are we denying this chance for the small clubs?

Not sure I understand this either. If PL fixture congestion is the motivation then do it from the 3rd round when PL actually enter.

[Asotosyios]

Overall, a sensible decision in my view.

The large majority of Cup replays do not involve a minnow at home to a giant. They involve clubs from the same league or one league apart - and, as such, they typically don't generate a huge amount of excitement or a capacity crowd. I can recall a home midweek replay against Sunderland nearly 10 years ago when we were in the Championship and they were P.L. The crowd was under 15,000, we lost 3-1 and my abiding memory is that I could have done without the 400-mile round trip that saw me get home in the middle of night and go to work a few hours later.

So while there will be some occasions when a smaller club's supporters will miss out on an opportunity to see their team at home to a big club, I believe, in most instances, supporters will be happier their team's cup tie was settled on the day with extra-time or penalties than face the prospect of forking out for another game.

Perhaps you are right. However, the fact that the only reason this has been decided is to accommodate the expanded UEFA and FIFA calendars doesn't sit well with me.

If they had come out and said something like "We think that most replays are pointless and there is too much football anyway; fewer games will save fans money and also allow the players some extra rest", I would respect it more, even if I still disagreed. I don't think though that doing away with tradition in favour of more European/International games is going to help football in any way - obviously apart from the pockets of the big clubs and UEFA/FIFA.

For a lot of people, the FA Cup used to be magical - I dare to say even more for the non-English among us, as it was truly an extraordinary moment (I still remember watching my first final Wimbledon v Liverpool as a 9-year-old back in Greece). There is no magic anymore - just an opportunity to rest the regulars and give a game to the reserves, as most teams treat it as a burden between their European or league games.

[Somerset Fulham]

I think that Asotosyios and Arthur have it here.

The truth is there aren't many of these magical replays these days and I don't know if there ever really were that many of them to be honest.  Lower league clubs are all struggling and long midweek away replays in front of sometimes only hundreds of people are not what these clubs need, so it does make sense to me from that angle, as Arthur says.

However, this appears to be a by-product of the real reasons behind cutting replays as Asotosyios alludes to in his post, it is purely to aid and abet the usual suspects, and quite frankly that sucks.

This competition used to be such an incredible affair, with wall to wall coverage all day long for the final it was truly magical, I genuinely used to look forward to it all year long from the Sunday after the actual final itself. 

Now I have barely more interest in it than I do the Charity Shield (or whatever it is called), greed has killed this old lady off, and killed her well and truly. That is a crying shame.

[Twig]

Another nail in the coffin of real football. The entire game worldwide is run by a corrupt elite of clubs and suits. I'm sick of it all.

[SuffolkWhite]

Football will eat itself and this is a huge disrespect to the none league and smaller clubs.

I hope the top clubs crack on with a European super league and leave the rest of us alone.

[Nick Bateman]

Another nail in the coffin of real football. The entire game worldwide is run by a corrupt elite of clubs and suits. I'm sick of it all.

Twig said it perfectly!

[Somerset Fulham]

Neil Harris has some strong words about it all.

🚨 FA Cup replays have been scrapped. They will not take place from the first round onward from next season❌

Millwall boss Neil Harris was not too pleased with the decision...

🗣️ "It is absolutely ridiculous. European football is a joke. It's all about money!"#Millwall pic.twitter.com/MNOLq4XMm0

— BBC Sport London (@BBCLondonSport) April 18, 2024

[Free Elvis Hammond]

There's such an obvious solution out there too - allow clubs to opt out of a replay if they both agree in advance. Everyone wins.

[Arthur]

Perhaps you are right. However, the fact that the only reason this has been decided is to accommodate the expanded UEFA and FIFA calendars doesn't sit well with me.

If they had come out and said something like "We think that most replays are pointless and there is too much football anyway; fewer games will save fans money and also allow the players some extra rest", I would respect it more, even if I still disagreed. I don't think though that doing away with tradition in favour of more European/International games is going to help football in any way - obviously apart from the pockets of the big clubs and UEFA/FIFA.

For a lot of people, the FA Cup used to be magical - I dare to say even more for the non-English among us, as it was truly an extraordinary moment (I still remember watching my first final Wimbledon v Liverpool as a 9-year-old back in Greece). There is no magic anymore - just an opportunity to rest the regulars and give a game to the reserves, as most teams treat it as a burden between their European or league games.

I think there are many reasons why the F.A. Cup is not the magical competition of old - and they are not all to do with pandering to the half-dozen biggest clubs.

When I started watching football back in the 60s, there were only two domestic professional matches each season that took place at Wembley: the F.A. Cup final and the League Cup final. Even the Charity Shield took place in a league stadium back then. For most supporters, the chance to see your team play at Wembley was an unfulfilled dream and this, above all, in my opinion, was the foundation of the F.A. Cup's magic. Added to this, domestic football was two up, two down between Divisions One and Three with no play-offs. Only four clubs played in European competition. Consequently, come the New Year, many more clubs were marooned in mid-table with no hope of finishing in the important places at the top of their league and no concerns about slipping out of it at the bottom. It was no surprise, therefore, that the 3rd Round of the F.A. Cup was so widely anticipated.

Nowadays, league football interests the supporters of more clubs for more of the season. Moreover, the proliferation of domestic matches at Wembley means that many more clubs' supporters have now fulfilled that dream. It is inevitable, it seems to me, that these changes will have had an effect on the popularity of the F.A. Cup. (A personal gripe is that the semi-finals are at Wembley. To me, this devalues the importance of the final and diminishes the competition itself.) Further still, if scrapping replays allows the big clubs to satisfy their hunger for European football without the need to breakaway from the P.L. and this, in turn, ensures their continuing participation in the F.A. Cup, then the magic of a minnow being drawn against a giant remains a possibility - one that might no longer exist were the big clubs to be inclined to join a European Super League.

[St Eve]

Had it not been for the amount of replays we played in 1975 we probably would not have made the final.
The decision is disgraceful. If the top teams are concerned about fixture congestion I have an idea. Only the premier league winners qualify for Europe. Just like old times. Problem resolved!