FA Cup - season 2024-25

[Upside Down]

6 hours ago, Eddie said:

Well, it's not that I don't 'give a toss' - although I don't really care about Tamworth - but my enjoyment of football isn't driven by the concept that a smaller club is getting a payday.

You could easily offset this loss of revenue by offering League 1/2/non league clubs a bonus for taking a tie to extra time.

Easy fix if that is the biggest reason for keeping replays. 

Or just keep the replays and get rid of the pointless international & European games.

[Eddie]

19 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Or just keep the replays and get rid of the pointless international & European games.

But they aren't the same. Replays aren't predictable. You can plan exactly when the international and European games will take place, but you can't truly account for replays. 

If a team were unlucky enough to have a replay in virtually every round then it would potentially ruin their season.

[RevidgeBlue]

20 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Or just keep the replays and get rid of the pointless international & European games.

Hypothetically, if the prize money for winning the FA Cup was significantly more than the Champions League the Big Clubs would be dumping all the meaningless European games like a shot and concentrating their efforts on winning the FA Cup.

[RevidgeBlue]

1 minute ago, Eddie said:

But they aren't the same. Replays aren't predictable. You can plan exactly when the international and European games will take place, but you can't truly account for replays. 

If a team were unlucky enough to have a replay in virtually every round then it would potentially ruin their season.

Why would it do that? They have big enough squads to cope.

[DeeCee]

Millwall/Daggers on ITV4 now for anyone unaware and wanted to watch some football.

Edited 21 hours ago by DeeCee

[Upside Down]

8 minutes ago, Eddie said:

But they aren't the same. Replays aren't predictable. You can plan exactly when the international and European games will take place, but you can't truly account for replays. 

If a team were unlucky enough to have a replay in virtually every round then it would potentially ruin their season.

Then they should put the effort in to win it in normal time. That's the point of the replay.

These players and clubs can't bitch about playing too many matches when they will happily play meaningless internationals and early round European games. Why not protest against these fixtures being constantly piled on rather than bastardising and stripping all value out of the oldest competition in the world?

[speeeeeeedie]

The BBC posted this article which gives a decent overview of how sides think about replays; BBC: scrap FA Cup replays?

The FA Cup seems to me that it still favours match going fans (kick off times aside) due to the knockout format and the chance to play a team who fans may not usually see often, if at all. That needs to be curated.

The big boys notably want "less games", whilst lower league teams need the revenue. Not too long ago if a lower league team got a top tier side at home they'd ask to switch grounds so that they'd get the larger gate receipt revenue. Why did that stop? 

Replays aren't coming back so I'd propose scrapping extra time too. My other idea is that the 3rd round (at least) be seeded with the lower seed given the home tie (or option to?), potentially increasing the chances for a cup upset. The draw would still happen as it does now but the first ball out isn't necessarily the home team. So, if the draw was Wolves first then Rovers, Rovers would automatically get the home game as they are the lower team.

[Upside Down]

May as well not bother having the competition at all. Just put the 6 richest clubs in the bucket an pick out the winner.

Less fixture congestion and they can play even more European matches.

Sorted.

[Mattyblue]

Thought the clubs wanted more games, not less? Sorry that’s lucrative European games and pre season tours they want more of…

[rog of the rovers]

Interesting statistic that the 4th Round meeting between Rovers and Wolves will be the first time the two have met in the competition since the 1960 FA Cup Final.

I was then wondering about the teams we always seem to be drawn against in cup competitions, can you guess who the top 10 are? (since 1992)

There are a host of teams on 4 and beyond. 

Leeds United are on 4, with all 4 clashes coming in the League Cup.

Derby County, Millwall and Queen's Park Rangers all have 3 FA Cup clashes to 0 League Cup

[rog of the rovers]

For those accusing me of recency bias 😄this is the record over the last 50 years (since 1974/75). I never knew we played Portsmouth so many times in the Cups in the 80s!