FA Cup Changes

[Stranded]

Changes to the FA Cup have been announced today.

- All rounds to be played on weekends again - though 4th Round will stretch from Friday through Weds to allow more games to be shown live.
- 4th, 5th and 6th round weekends will see no Premier League games played
- No replays at all from 1st Round onwards
- Cup Final Day will have no PL games on the same day nor will there be a PL game on the Friday before but may be played Sunday/Monday
- Cup Final will not be the last weekend of the season but will be before the final round of PL games

[NathStPaul]

Having no replays is madness. Lower league/non league side who are lucking enough to make it past round 1 need that income.

[WestYorksRoyal]

This change has been a long time coming, but doesn't change the fact it's an outrage. Clubs like City and Liverpool clearly have the squads to handle an FA Cup replay.

[Winston Biscuit]

changes for everyone just to satisfy 'the big 6'

[Greatwesternline]

On the plus side, its easier for a giant killing over 1 leg than it is over 2.

So you may see more giant killings and smaller clubs progressing further and get more prize money that way.

[NathStPaul]

[Stranded]

Having no replays is madness. Lower league/non league side who are lucking enough to make it past round 1 need that income.

Completely agree however, this is a knock on of the UEFA land grab, adding 2 extra games to the group stage.

There are now CL and Europa Cup group games scheduled for 21/22 Jan and 29th Jan.

The EFL have not scrapped 2 leg semi finals in their cup so these will also need to fit in January as well - so likely be the 7th/8th and 14th/15th Jan.

And oh look - there are no midweeks available for 3rd round replays in Jan.

Then you have the new CL/Europa Play-off rounds in mid Feb and there goes the gap for 4th round replays and a midweek 5th round if any English teams are in that.

Honestly wouldn't surprise me if the 3rd round gets brought forward as well. No need to have a month between rounds 1 and 2 with no replays - so play on the 1st and 3rd weekend of November - you can then stick the 3rd round in in early December. If they don't do that then the 4th round will likely go out to the first weekend of Feb as that is really the only time the calendar will allow the long weekend they have announced.

[Stranded]

So whilst they are dressing this up as a "good thing" it is clearly just a result of those clubs playing in Europe saying, we simply can't do replays any more - so scrap them on we may not enter next year. So they've just scrapped them across the board to make it look like that isn't the reason,

[Stranded]

Also, if scrapping replays, scrap them altogether. What is the point in making say Thatcham potentially have to travel to Marine (or vice versa) on a Weds night when they are part time players with jobs but there is no intention to make, say Doncaster, travel to say Yeovil for a midweek replay?

[NathStPaul]

Having no replays is madness. Lower league/non league side who are lucking enough to make it past round 1 need that income.

Completely agree however, this is a knock on of the UEFA land grab, adding 2 extra games to the group stage.

So why have they taken replays away for round 2? I kinda get taking the replays away after round 3, nobody really needs to see West Ham v Brighton in a gripping 4th round replay.

Its clubs in League 1 and below I feel sorry for. Say by some miracle Gateshead go away to Newcastle in round 3 and get a draw. They could then take Newcastle back to their place, sell it out and finance their entire club for about 6 months off the back of one game.

For me this move kills whatever magic was left of the FA Cup.

[Whore Jackie]

PL winter break binned off too.

Hate the scrapping of replays. Sack them off from Round 4, by all means, but not before.

[RFCMod]

The PL are trying to use the sweetener of " oh well we're going to invest £33 million into grassroots football just to make ourselves look like we actually care about anyone outside of the top flight"

Having no replays is madness. Lower league/non league side who are lucking enough to make it past round 1 need that income.

Completely agree however, this is a knock on of the UEFA land grab, adding 2 extra games to the group stage.

So why have they taken replays away for round 2? I kinda get taking the replays away after round 3, nobody really needs to see West Ham v Brighton in a gripping 4th round replay.

Its clubs in League 1 and below I feel sorry for. Say by some miracle Gateshead go away to Newcastle in round 3 and get a draw. They could then take Newcastle back to their place, sell it out and finance their entire club for about 6 months off the back of one game.

For me this move kills whatever magic was left of the FA Cup.

[Sanguine]

On the plus side, its easier for a giant killing over 1 leg than it is over 2.

So you may see more giant killings and smaller clubs progressing further and get more prize money that way.

Ask an EFL club that has drawn 1-1 at home to City over 90 minutes whether they'd rather chance their arm in extra time - oh, and City will bring on five players worth £50m each - or take a replay at the Etihad. This year, fourth round winners took prize money of £120k. Shared gate receipts from a tie against a PL club are worth £1m or more.

[Winston Biscuit]

'how come the cup match between Wealdstone Vs Boreham Wood isn't going to a replay?'

'because the American owners of one of the wealthiest Premier League clubs wanted less low revenue games for their club, so that they can focus more on extra games in the Champions League, the Club World Cup and their pre season tour of China'

' '

[Greatwesternline]

On the plus side, its easier for a giant killing over 1 leg than it is over 2.

So you may see more giant killings and smaller clubs progressing further and get more prize money that way.

Ask an EFL club that has drawn 1-1 at home to City over 90 minutes whether they'd rather chance their arm in extra time - oh, and City will bring on five players worth £50m each - or take a replay at the Etihad. This year, fourth round winners took prize money of £120k. Shared gate receipts from a tie against a PL club are worth £1m or more.

True, but on the one hand, fans blame the authorities for only ever thinking about the money, and then when they announce something that is not based on the money, people blame them as not thinking about the money.

[Pepe the Horseman]

They should just play the whole tournament in one day.

[NathStPaul]

They should just play the whole tournament in one day.

5 minute halves.

[Pepe the Horseman]

They should just play the whole tournament in one day.

5 minute halves.

Could put on a bbq and have a bouncy castle for the kids.

[Sanguine]

Call it 'The Ninety'.

[Sutekh]

changes for everyone just to satisfy 'the big 6'

While it might mean more "shocks" as little clubs prove better at penalties it's just another step in destroying the oldest domestic cup competition in the world but then it's already badly devalued with clubs playing partly Academy sides and inconsistencies with VAR being used in some ties and not others. Perhaps they should look at putting the prize money up for winning through a round though to try and counter the loss of replays.

Meanwhile the stupid 2 legged LC semi finals remain