‘Scrapping FA Cup replays will kill us’
The dirty word that threatens to destroy FA Cup dreams like this...
DOING away with FA Cup replays would kill lower league teams, according to the manager gearing up for a windfall tie against Manchester United. Premier League clubs are discussing how to cut the number of fixtures they play, but when asked what axing replays would mean to a club like League One Shrewsbury Town — who host United on Monday — boss Micky Mellon said: ‘That would kill us. We could lose clubs. Replays keep clubs afloat. I don’t know many at this level making money.’ Mellon also believes getting rid of replays would spoil the romance of the FA Cup, adding: ‘If you take away that chance of playing at those big stadiums, English football loses a massive thing.’
In WHAT has thus far been a good season for the FA Cup, it may be about to have a rather bad week. This weekend will, for example, see its plum tie downgraded by Manchester City’s understandable but regrettable decision to field a significantly understrength team in their game at Chelsea.
Round five’s other most beguiling game, meanwhile, has been shoved up so hard against next week’s European action that it would surprise nobody if shrewsbury and Manchester united ran out to the strains of UEFA’s Champions League anthem on Monday night.
More disturbing than any of this, however, is news from within English football’s high corridors that reform is in the air. When it comes to institutions like the FA Cup, that word tends to spell only bad news.
Although there are currently no official proposals, it is understood that FA and Premier League members have had tentative discussions about finding ways to reduce the fixture congestion which is a feature of the football calendar around this time of year. This in itself is reasonable news. in terms of English teams’ chances in the Champions League and indeed the national team’s prospects in summer tournaments, the number of matches played by our best players between January and the end of the season is undoubtedly influential.
suggestions, however, that meddling with the FA Cup and its format could be a way of negotiating a path through the fog are very alarming indeed.
scrapping replays and/or moving the competition wholesale to midweek nights makes the hairs on the arms stand up for all the wrong reasons.
despite the growth of the Premier League and the expansion of Europe’s two club competitions, the FA Cup has, on the whole, survived with its reputation, dignity and importance intact. it remains relevant.
Winning it remains important to the clubs and the public have also not wished to let it drift towards inconsequence. Perhaps that tells us everything about why the guardians of our domestic game should handle it with extreme care.
THERE are actually a couple of steps the FA could take to increase the attractiveness of the competition — one rather obvious and one rather more radical. Moving the semi-finals from Wembley — which we know will not happen — would please everybody except those who sanctioned the spending of £750million on its refurbishment in the first place.
Of all the decisions recently taken in the reshaping of the game, moving the FA Cup semi-finals away from classic neutral venues such as Villa Park and Old Trafford stands out as among the more regrettable.
Giving the lower-ranked team in each tie home advantage, meanwhile, would increase the possibility of upsets in an age when the gap between the Premier League and the rest has grown too wide.
This would encourage the smaller clubs, terrify the big ones and excite the TV audiences.
What is there not to like about any of that?
What would place the future of the competition at risk, however, would be to remove elements that have helped make the FA Cup what it is over the years.
The competition must certainly retain its place as a saturday and sunday competition. spreading FA Cup weekends from Friday through to Monday to satisfy broadcasters has already felt a little uncomfortable.
if we were to sanction its complete shift to Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it essentially becomes the Capital One Cup Mk ii, only with a better trophy. Replays, meanwhile, are a more moveable feast. Would the competition wither without them? no. Would it lose some of its magic without them? Yes. That one is perhaps worthy of further exploration at least. Maybe.
But the true context of these discussions should not be lost. These are conversations that are taking place at the behest of our top teams. self-interest is involved.
it is pertinent, therefore, to remind ourselves that the FA Cup remains, at its heart, a competition for all of the association’s 736 member clubs who entered this time round.
The competition does not start in January, it starts during the summer holidays.
This time, for example, 368 teams played in its extra preliminary round on August 15, teams such as Penrith, Rothwell Corinthians and London Tigers beginning a journey that, for some, lasted only one day but remains special.
This is part of why the FA Cup is unique, part of the reason why elements of its make-up should be ring-fenced.
And if England’s biggest clubs really wish to play fewer games, they could always propose a reduction in the size of the Premier League. That would free up three or four saturdays.
We will not hold our breath.