United’s FA Cup dreams still alive
NEWCASTLE United have been handed a huge FA Cup boost as the FA remains committed to completing the final three rounds.
The Magpies reached the quarter-finals for the first time in the Mike Ashley era, and were due to host Premier League champions Manchester City in the televised late kick-off on March 21.
But the future of this year’s competition remains uncertain due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
United players resumed training this week as part of Project Restart’s phased approach with a tentative June return mooted for the Premier League.
With the Magpies comfortably sat in mid-table, the question for many fans has been whether silverware remains a prospect when the season returns.
The FA’s chief executive Mark Bullingham is understood to have told FA Council members at a meeting yesterday that the intention remains to wrap up the knockout competition alongside Premier League action.
Whether the cup final would be the last match of the domestic season was not mentioned.
Bullingham is understood to have told the members that the quarter-finals could be played on a home-and-away basis if the Government and emergency services give their approval for the season to resume that way. The semi-finals and final would be behind closed doors at Wembley.
Bullingham and FA chairman Greg Clarke are understood to have talked again about the costs to the game caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, which they estimated would run into hundreds of millions of pounds across the FA, the Premier League and the EFL if the season cannot be completed.
Clarke is understood to have said he could foresee a situation where fans are not allowed back into grounds because of social distancing requirements for most or potentially all of next season.
He is understood to have talked about the need to support clubs in the football pyramid to effectively ‘hibernate’ until such time as supporters return to provide them with the match day revenue they need to survive, or until it is otherwise viable to operate.
The FA Council was also briefed on changes to the laws of the game for next season by former referee David Elleray, technical director of the game’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB).