Football Governance Bill | Page 2 | Vital Football

Football Governance Bill

I don’t like the scrapping of replays, but without checking the facts of this, we probably average about ten crappy away replays for every half decent pay-day replay. Does a crappy replay away at, say, Carlisle (which I think we had quite recently?) get us any money, or do we make a loss? On the basis we’ve not had a big FA Cup replay whilst in the third or fourth tier since 1985 (?), I’d hazard a guess that replays have probably cost us more than we’ve brought in during that time (especially as we usually lose them!).

Cue everyone reminding me about more lucrative ties we’ve had. I don’t count Leeds in 2003 as we were only about 15 places below them in the league at the time.
 
PuB said:
The EFL released a statement the day it was announced that they hadn’t been consulted, it was a decision made by the FA with the PL.
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I remember the story of Exeter City a few years back.
Fan owned but on the verge of bankruptcy when they drew Man Utd in the cup at St. James Park.
They got a draw and with the additional money from the Old Trafford replay, it literally saved the club.
Now, doing ok in league one.
It really can and does make a difference.
An inconvenience for the Premier League is a lifeline to lower clubs.
 
nibbles said:
They are talking about the big boy replays but removing replays takes away all replays (from R1 onwards) not just the financially lucrative ones.

I do wonder how non league fans feel about retaining replays for the qualifying rounds - can imagine for the really small teams the proposition of playing twice against the likes of Oldham might seem attractive but other than that are they more a pain in the arse - can imagine most would again be loss making.
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I know the FA cup starts off regional in the early qualifying stages. Perhaps a extension of that could be tried .Each county could perhaps have at least one representative in the 3rd or 4th qualifying round for example. This would of course cut down travelling costs and make the non league representation more national. In my area for example they could find the Suffolk club then the next round be against the Norfolk county club representative. This should greatly increase crowds and local interest.The stronger Counties could have allocated more spaces perhaps depending on past records in the competition.
Not sure weather the same idea would be well received at 1st and 2nd round stages?
 
NathanH_GFC said:
I don’t like the scrapping of replays, but without checking the facts of this, we probably average about ten crappy away replays for every half decent pay-day replay. Does a crappy replay away at, say, Carlisle (which I think we had quite recently?) get us any money, or do we make a loss? On the basis we’ve not had a big FA Cup replay whilst in the third or fourth tier since 1985 (?), I’d hazard a guess that replays have probably cost us more than we’ve brought in during that time (especially as we usually lose them!).

Cue everyone reminding me about more lucrative ties we’ve had. I don’t count Leeds in 2003 as we were only about 15 places below them in the league at the time.
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Now I’ve caught up, it seems others are ahead of me in the assumption of loss-making FA Cup games! 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
Away from replays. VAR should be looked at. Every round from beginning to end should either have VAR or not, don't just bring it in for Prem clubs.
 
shotshy said:
I remember the story of Exeter City a few years back.
Fan owned but on the verge of bankruptcy when they drew Man Utd in the cup at St. James Park.
They got a draw and with the additional money from the Old Trafford replay, it literally saved the club.
Now, doing ok in league one.
It really can and does make a difference.
An inconvenience for the Premier League is a lifeline to lower clubs.
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Same goes for Lincoln when they were national league too
 
Breckland said:
The key point here is that the decision which affects hundreds of clubs has been taken by just the top 20 - purely out of self -interest. It's entirely undemocratic and against the very nature of the FA cup.
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Exactly, it's the only point here.

Scrapping replays might have had universal popularity and obvious benefits throughout the pyramid (although clearly it doesn't) but it still wouldn't make a decision made by a tiny number of clubs, without the input/consideration of the hundreds of affected clubs, any more acceptable.
 
Aside from the lack of consultation issues, to me its not really about money, but more about history and tradition. Its evolved over the years due to uniqueness and curiosities (where else in the world do they have replays) making it one of the most famous competitions in the world. Sadly the FA seem so out of touch they don't even realise what they have, so intent on sticking their heads up the backside of the elite few!
 
An innovative idea: no replays but give the team lower in the football pyramid the opportunity to decide whether to play at home or away.

If we drew ManUtd it would you pick OT or Priestfield?
 
Trashbat said:
An innovative idea: no replays but give the team lower in the football pyramid the opportunity to decide whether to play at home or away.

If we drew ManUtd it would you pick OT or Priestfield?
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Great idea.

But only if you want to treat the FA Cup as a charity event. This would be far further removed from the traditions of ‘the world’s oldest cup competition’ than merely scrapping replays.
 
Trashbat said:
An innovative idea: no replays but give the team lower in the football pyramid the opportunity to decide whether to play at home or away.

If we drew ManUtd it would you pick OT or Priestfield?
Click to expand...
Isn’t one of the biggest draws of the FA Cup supposed to be that the very smallest teams can earn the opportunity to compete with the biggest on an even (as possible) basis?

You get your number pulled randomly and play the fixture as drawn, except in very exceptional circumstances where this may not be practically possible.

Any other manipulation of the fixtures that sometimes get thrown about - letting teams choose where to play, deliberately keeping teams apart on a league placing or geographical basis, etc - seems entirely at odds with the ‘magic of the FA Cup’ that people supposedly want to preserve, much more so than scrapping replays.
 
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