Gone from next season in all rounds from the first round.

Final will be played on the penultimate Saturday of the Premier League season with no PL games to be played on the Friday or Saturday to give the final exclusivity.

No rounds will now be played in midweek.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:36 am

Gone from next season in all rounds from the first round.

Final will be played on the penultimate Saturday of the Premier League season with no PL games to be played on the Friday or Saturday to give the final exclusivity.

No rounds will now be played in midweek.

That will suit Man U Man C Liverpool Arsenal and Tottenham. The other 800 clubs were presumably outvoted.

It’s a bit of a nonsense to announce there will be no midweek rounds, but in the same update announce that the fourth round window will be extended to cover Friday to Wednesday. By my definition, that means the fourth round will have some midweek games.

They do seem like positive changes though to be fair to give the FA Cup the highlighting it deserves.

With all the European competition games and the need to fit in the international fixtures this sounds like a sensible move. Even the lower league teams rest players for the early rounds of the cup so removing the need for pointless replays gets my vote

Sad day I think to see the end of replays - particularly for the smaller clubs in the competition. Just imagine a League Two club holding a top team to a draw at home and not having the money coming in from the replay.

Another nail in the FA Cup coffin for me is this.

How to systematically destroy the biggest cup competition in the world

The one change pretty much everyone wants is to stop playing semis at Wembley, but that's the elephant in the room for the FA. Easier just pandering to big clubs.

Sad day for the 'little' clubs wanting a day out a big club after holding them at home.
Used to be a huge part of what the FA Cup once was.

Devils_Advocate wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:44 am

With all the European competition games and the need to fit in the international fixtures this sounds like a sensible move. Even the lower league teams rest players for the early rounds of the cup so removing the need for pointless replays gets my vote

Nice easy Tap In for you there, DA

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:46 am

Sad day I think to see the end of replays - particularly for the smaller clubs in the competition. Just imagine a League Two club holding a top team to a draw at home and not having the money coming in from the replay.

Another nail in the FA Cup coffin for me is this.

When I first saw the news I thought exactly the same.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:46 am

Sad day I think to see the end of replays - particularly for the smaller clubs in the competition. Just imagine a League Two club holding a top team to a draw at home and not having the money coming in from the replay.

Another nail in the FA Cup coffin for me is this.

Do you think this will lead to smaller clubs who get home ties against big clubs requesting that the venue be switched in order to try and make more money from gate receipts if the possibility of a replay is gone? Or is that practice not allowed?

Devils_Advocate wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:44 am

With all the European competition games and the need to fit in the international fixtures this sounds like a sensible move. Even the lower league teams rest players for the early rounds of the cup so removing the need for pointless replays gets my vote

The FA agreed:

The current format, which has no replays from the fifth round onwards, has been extended throughout the ‘Competition Proper’ in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded UEFA competitions.

The 2 changes that should have been made are semifinals away from Wembley and the final being after the season finishes

But again the, the changes made are to favour the “big clubs”.

A “small” club holding out for a replay is one of the good things about the FA Cup

It is a shame for the cup to change format in favour of the few clubs who play in Europe. But it also isn't, and shouldn't be, the purpose of the FA Cup to make lots of money for a few clubs who draw at home to big clubs. Glad to see the back of replays personally, extra time and pens is clearly a more interesting way to deal with ties.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:46 am

Sad day I think to see the end of replays - particularly for the smaller clubs in the competition. Just imagine a League Two club holding a top team to a draw at home and not having the money coming in from the replay.

Another nail in the FA Cup coffin for me is this.

The positive though could be that if a League 2 club has held a big club to a draw then the big club is clearly having an off day and could then progress to the next round that day.

Would the scrapping of replays include an option for smaller clubs to transfer their game to a big clubs ground if they wanted?

Why not have no replays before the 1st round proper? Might help relieve fixture backlog for non league.

Can't decide if I like this move or not from a personal point of view.

Had there been no replays in previous years I wouldn't have 2 of my favourite cup memories. The Shrewsbury away replay and also the 2 trips to Derby. On the other hand if we were drawn at home in the cup and get a draw it is hard to get to bothered about a replay midweek at the majority of clubs we would play.

aggi wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 12:27 pm

The FA agreed:

The current format, which has no replays from the fifth round onwards, has been extended throughout the ‘Competition Proper’ in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded UEFA competitions.

The FA Cup is the oldest national football competition in the world. 732 clubs entered the competition this year, including giants like Barnoldswick Town and Padiham. Why we've allowed it to be railroaded by the Premier League, UEFA and the big six I don't know (well, let's not mess around, money I suspect).

Slowly but surely it's lost all it's best elements; replays being one of them (who can forget Derby 1992!). The reward for a smaller club battling hard for a draw against a much bigger opponent has been removed.

Semi Finals should still be played at neutral grounds and the day of the FA Cup Final itself should be after the end of the League season! It's gone from being a proper occasion to an after thought and it's a huge shame. It should be held up by the FA as the premier club competition in the country. Instead it's been allowed to rot away.

JohnDearyMe wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 12:24 pm

Do you think this will lead to smaller clubs who get home ties against big clubs requesting that the venue be switched in order to try and make more money from gate receipts if the possibility of a replay is gone? Or is that practice not allowed?

It’s against the rules

The agreement for this is between the FA and the Premier League but no agreement with all the other leagues whose clubs play in the competition.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 1:16 pm

The agreement for this is between the FA and the Premier League but no agreement with all the other leagues whose clubs play in the competition.

Andy Holt said the announcement was the first he'd heard of it.

Next it'll be a seeded competition to get more preferable quarter final onwards ties for the viewing TV "fans"

Still it'll save them heating some the balls up I suppose

Unfortunately, the FA Cup is always taken from a big club and a negative point of view.

Replays are great if you're an underdog.
Just because a lower-league side beat your team doesn't mean your teamgg doesn't take it seriously.
Just because you've got a **** draw against a team in the same league as you doesn't mean the FA Cup has 'lost its magic'
Just because teams outside the Premier League are in the later stages doesn't mean the FA Cup doesn't mean competition is losing its value.
Fixture congestion is the penalty for success.

It always gets me when fans say they don't care when they get knocked out of the League Cup / FA Cup in the early rounds, but Wembley is always packed with the winning team going mental and chugging champagne from the trophy.

So bored of the PL & the moneymen systematically ruining our great game.

Why didn't they scrap the League Cup?
Isn't a moneymaker until the latter stages when the big boys return from European competition, they could even merge it with the EFL Trophy and have it for EFL sides only...all 3 divisions.

To ensure a reduced workload for players, how about banning these mickey mouse preseason tournaments in faraway places

An awful decision when do little clubs get their replay pay day which kept many teams afloat
Why not have a European cup for teams that actually won their league not this nonsense league system .Also let's have only 2 international breaks this seasons 4 hold ups was a joke

I agree with those saying that it’s another nail in the coffin of the oldest cup competition in the world.

The final should be after the end of the league season, always at 15:00 on a Saturday and the winners should receive automatic Champions League qualification, reducing the places offered to the Premier League, if a different club were to win the FA Cup.

The semi finals should be at a neutral venue, as near as possible to being equidistant between the two clubs playing.

Replays should happen, giving the smaller clubs the opportunity for a pay day and the fans a chance to visit grounds that they usually wouldn’t be able to see their team play at. The FA Cup is all about upsets and this just reduces the likelihood.

If the bigger clubs are in European competition, so be it. Their squads are big enough and costly enough for them to be able to manage the game time.

They’ve already got their increased substitute allowance and too much game time is never an issue when it comes to their money making tours across the globe.

The only thing I might change would be for the clubs in Europe to be allowed to select a couple of players from their under 21’s, should they wish to do so.

Wilder absolutely nails it
https://x.com/SkySportsPL/status/1780942736394264709

It is really tough for the top 6 with their small resources and squad sizes.

They're gonna have to super heat and cool them balls lest they accidentally end up with the big boys away vs a small venued team!

aggi wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 1:25 pm

Andy Holt said the announcement was the first he'd heard of it.

It really is shocking when Football League club chairmen don’t even know about it.

The FA Cup competition has gradually been dismantled and aberrantly dismissed. Replays were always welcomed especially if there was a possibility of a giant killing in the offing. Gone. The draw was broadcast on radio around 12.25 on the Monday after the previous round. Gone. The draw was a serious piece of business conducted by responsible individuals. Gone. The final was always played on the first Saturday in May. Gone. Just absolutely incredible.

They will soon bring up the number of teams in the premier league and will want it reduced.

Just imagine if as part of the announcement it was agreed that no VAR would be used in ANY off the rounds including preliminary rounds to make the competition rules equal for ALL sides playing in the competition.

The Football League aren't happy

Football and non league clubs should boycott it. A shame that European Super League didn’t take off.

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 4:20 pm

Football and non league clubs should boycott it. A shame that European Super League didn’t take off.

That was the biggest let down of it all, when the greedy 6 basically bottled it within 24 hours of agreeing to it. Football would be far better with none of them in our leagues.

Apparently this decision is linked to an extra £31m being made available to EFL Clubs from the Premier League ... If you're going to make a major change like this, then they should ...

a) Regionalise the first two rounds proper, save on travel costs for Clubs/Fans and someone brighter than me could calculate the CO2 savings spread over the two rounds. This was the case until 1997.

b) For the 3rd - 5th Rounds, give any Club drawn against a higher division side the option of venue. Again, something similar to this was in place until 2003 ...

If there’s a draw, they should compensate the clubs for what they would have made from a replay , whether it be from the “gate” or TV replay money.

I’d prefer they did away with all the 2 leg European games and the Europe Conference League.

Boss Hogg wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 5:49 pm

I’d prefer they did away with all the 2 leg European games and the Europe Conference League.

I'd prefer it if teams didn't fall out of the CL into another European competition, but then again, I don't think you should be in a competition called the Champions League, after you've finished fourth in your domestic league in the first place.

I think it's about time the cups had restructures. Especially off the back of this.

For me-

Fa cup- no joining at round 3. Everyone in at round 1. At least some of the big boys might draw each other and go out and some of the smaller clubs might get easier routes to the final.

League cup- no one in European cup competitions (champs league, super leagues, Europe) should be involved. All they do is complain they have too many games and mock the competition by fielding teenagers. There's also a double win because some of those kids that are poached and play in cup games only might suddenly start wanting to stay at smaller clubs in order to play games at a competitive level rather than reserve team games.

If none of the Euro-playing teams were involved, you could bring back replays.

I was thinking about this earlier and it was the obvious answer.

Football is dead.

I know I am on my own with this, I don't mind it, mainly because:

1) Forces a winner takes all 1st game and no one playing for a replay.
2) Surely lower league teams would fancy their chances in a game with a shoot out at the end than another game against a team likely to be beat them (ie how often do you see a team draw, get the replay and then get tonked)
3) Less costs

Are these not positives?

Petersa wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 2:14 pm

Why didn't they scrap the League Cup?
Isn't a moneymaker until the latter stages when the big boys return from European competition, they could even merge it with the EFL Trophy and have it for EFL sides only...all 3 divisions.

To ensure a reduced workload for players, how about banning these mickey mouse preseason tournaments in faraway places

Each season for the League Cup remove the 7 Premier League sides who qualified for Europe the previous season and replace these with the top 7 of the National League from the previous season.

Allows clubs in National League to make more revenue, eases fixture congestion for the clubs competing in Europe and allows "lesser" clubs more chance of a cup run/winning the cup and thus qualifying for Europe the season after.

boatshed bill wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:48 pm

Football is dead.

The sad thing is that it has thrown itself on the floor.

Of course, it is fine for people that don't go to games but just watch it on TV or stream it etc.

I still enjoy going to watch lower league and non-league, but really can't be arsed with the rest. I'll be at totton on Saturday, a new ground for me. No var. Rarely any parking problems. Less skill, OK, but there will be enough on display for me if Fraser Thomas is playing.

Awayfromburnley wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:58 pm

I know I am on my own with this, I don't mind it, mainly because:

1) Forces a winner takes all 1st game and no one playing for a replay.
2) Surely lower league teams would fancy their chances in a game with a shoot out at the end than another game against a team likely to be beat them (ie how often do you see a team draw, get the replay and then get tonked)
3) Less costs

Are these not positives?r

I'd not mind the lack of replays so much if it went:-
a) 90 minutes
b) extra time or golden goal
c) if still level, the lower placed side in the national league system goes through.

Penalty shootouts are not something that belongs in the fa cup. Ever. We are not in the US and have no trouble dealing with a draw. Option (c) above would mean that the lower league side effectively have an extra 1/2 goal in extra time, and one or other side would have to go for it rather than **** about hoping for a shootout 50-50. We've seen enough of that on the world cup, and that only happens every four years.

Could do the same for the play-offs while we are at it.

timshorts wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:22 pm

I'd not mind the lack of replays so much if it went:-
a) 90 minutes
b) extra time or golden goal
c) if still level, the lower placed side in the national league system goes through.

This is a good shout but we could simplify it even further and get rid of options a and b. Basically just make draw and the lowest placed team in each fixture goes through. Imagine all the shocks we'd get doing it this way and it would stop the same big clubs winning the cup season after season

Club statement from Tranmere Rovers, hope others get on board with this.

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.