FA Cup Revamp - Right or Wrong?

[Lord Bamber]

So thanks to plummeting FA Cup *attendances, the FA are looking at ways of arresting the slide in time for the new television agreement next year.

Ideas include:

*Seeding teams from the third round in a bid to ensure the top teams do not draw each other in the early stages.

*Scrapping replays.

*Playing all FA Cup ties in midweek.

*Handing the winners a Champions League berth if UEFA grant English clubs a fifth place in Europe’s top club competition.


Am I the only one who feels this is just about getting the rich richer & the poor poorer?

The only thing I would change about the FA Cup is to reduce the Champions League places to 3 for league positions and give the FA Cup winner a spot. This would keep it real.

 

[clippedgull]

You didn't include the proposed 5:30pm kick off for the cup final.

TV dictates football, and most sport these days. As you say, its about the cash.

 

[Horsham Gull]

Playing ties midweek would only see further plummeting attendance

 

[Superphil]

I don't agree with any of those points for the FA Cup.

I do agree though that the Champions League should be for Champions only, and then the 2 runners up, plus the cup winners go into the Europa League.

 

[n1 gull]

The Premier League won't give up their 4th spot.

I do think the replay might be looked at, most teams don't want one, if we get a replay against Stoke it
might really get in the way.

I'm not a traditionalist, the cup isn't what it once was, so they need to do something as attendances are poor
and there's not any buzz about it.

The FA will cop a load of flack if they do make changes but if they don't it will just drift and become even more
irrelevant

 

[Thimble Keegan]

Other than handing the winners a European Cup place then all of the above ideas are utter, utter shithouse...If they really are interested in 'arresting the slide' then the best thing they could do is stop dicking about with the FA Cup and leave it with the traditions which makes it the best knockout competition in world sport.

Oh and whilst they are at it they can remove the semi-finals from Wembley as well...

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Littlehampton BHA

 

[The Ringleader Returns!]

Only put the final on T.V and nothing else.

 

[Marc]

best thing for the FA Cup is to bin the League Cup and make the FA Cup Winners a guaranteed Europe spot, leave everything else the same....job done!

 

[The Large One]

And while they're at it, they could take that yappy little gobshite Jim Rosenthal off the FA Cup draw - jabbering away like a pissed-up chimpanzee as the balls are drawn by a couple of D-List stars of yesteryear.

 

[fire&skill]

You forgot binning 'Abide With Me' and replacing it with 'Love Machine' by Girls Aloud to bring in the younger element

 

[n1 gull]

Other than handing the winners a European Cup place then all of the above ideas are utter, utter shithouse...If they really are interested in 'arresting the slide' then the best thing they could do is stop dicking about with the FA Cup and leave it with the traditions which makes it the best knockout competition in world sport.

Oh and whilst they are at it they can remove the semi-finals from Wembley as well...

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Littlehampton BHA

Good point about the semi-finals, it was the FA who f*cked it up in the first place.
There would be a lot more interest in semi finals at Villa Park etc - especially if they were
mid week, cracking atmospheres and good telly

 

[Lord Bamber]

Oh and whilst they are at it they can remove the semi-finals from Wembley as well...

best thing for the FA Cup is to bin the League Cup and make the FA Cup Winners a guaranteed Europe spot, leave everything else the same....job done!

I like these ideas.

 

[SurreySeagulls]

The Premier League would never give up a Champions League place, christ they will not even give up the much derided Europa League place.

I would agree with scrapping replays but totally disagree with seeding. That has always been the magic of the cup for me.

 

[Curious Orange]

Other than handing the winners a European Cup place then all of the above ideas are utter, utter shithouse...If they really are interested in 'arresting the slide' then the best thing they could do is stop dicking about with the FA Cup and leave it with the traditions which makes it the best knockout competition in world sport.

Oh and whilst they are at it they can remove the semi-finals from Wembley as well...

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Littlehampton BHA

Spot on.

Half of those ideas would make the FA Cup no better than the League Cup.

 

[Nottseagull]

When will the FA get it into its thick head that it is the changes it has already made that have led to its demise. It started off with moving fixtures to accommodate live TV, then televising the draw (and moving its traditional Monday lunchtime slot). Then, second replays were allowed to be staged at one of the club's ground instead of a neutral venue. We had football celebrities making the draw, with flippant comments allowed. Semi-finals were switched to Wembley, thereby demeaning the final itself. The abolition of unlimited replays in favour of the penalty shoot-out was sacriledge itself.
And now even more changes are being proposed.
RIP The FA Cup, the competition I used to love.

 

[sten_super]

I would have little problem with scrapping replays, and think that handing a champions league place to the winners would be excellent (but will never happen). Playing midweek only is ludicrous and would only see attendances fall even further. Don't get me started on the idea of seedings, I cannot think of one example where they are beneficial to any sport

 

[Stat Brother]

Alan Davies (celeb Gooner) will always bang on about the FA cup actually meaning something, as opposed to Champs League group stages.
But sadly the FA cup because of money, it will always be so low down on the priority list.

Financially winning The FA Cup is equivalent to finishing 18th in the premiership, and that's without taking all the other money into account.

 

[WhingForPresident]

Really do reckon the League Cup should be scrapped and the Europa position added to the Premiership, taking one CL spot away for the FA cup winners.

 

[Lord Bamber]

Actually, is there something more intrinsic underlying here and that is we should just have one governing body for all elements of football not just the Premier League, The Football League, The FA?

Everyone is out for their own gain but in the end, its all about cash and power and the Premier League trumps all!

 

[Marc]

Actually, is there something more intrinsic underlying here and that is we should just have one governing body for all elements of football not just the Premier League, The Football League, The FA?

Everyone is out for their own gain but in the end, its all about cash and power and the Premier League trumps all!

yeah cos FIFA does so well.....

very good point about the semis, they should NEVER be played at Wembley