Now that FA Cup replays have gone that's one less thing for the big clubs to moan about. I suspect that shortly (within the next couple of years) they will turn their attention to pushing to scrap the league cup.
League Cup is the EFL Cup so should only be open to EFL clubs. Throw out the Premier League clubs and see how they will complain about it.
Also these one off games, will they have extra time or go straight to penalties?
Better solution, to meet the requirements of Premier League teams to reduce additional matches:
1. If Premier League teams are drawn against each other, the match goes ahead with 90 minutes, followed by extra time if required, followed by penalties if required.
2. If non-Premier League teams are drawn against each other, one replay is played if the first game ends level. This potentially provides additional income to teams outside the Premier League.
3. Where a Premier League club is drawn against a lower-league team, if the scores are level after 90 minutes, the lower league team goes through.
That way the Premier League team is prevented from the debilitating, unfair requirement that the most expensively-assembled, fittest set of footballers in the country should be required to play another game of football. And if it means they go out to a fluky 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough, Morecambe or Maidstone, then it's tough titty.
All the TV, Betting companies want is Utd vs City FA Cup final, Chelsea vs Spurs League Cup Final . We.have seen how the draws are manipulated, look how we had a midweek trip to Manchester rather then the chance of getting Utd to the Valley. I know we were in the League cup for that fixture.
SKY, has royally £!ck football for the fans that support the lesser teams
Funny how fatigue and fixture congestion never seems an issue when all these big clubs jet off all over the world for pointless pre-season friendlies. I assume they are being scrapped as well?
This is a disgraceful decision. I'm not sure the regulator is the solution but decision making needs to be taken out the hands of the few select clubs who think they run football. They have proven time and time again they have no interest in anything other than serving their own self interests
I think Grimsby will have played more games this season than Man U, yet not heard a peep from them about fixture congestion.
The answer, as supporters, is in our hands. Don't buy tickets for the games. See how the FA get along without their cut of the turnstile income.
I've actually kind of already done this. Don't see the point of paying to see our 2nd eleven - The first eleven are bad enough - perform badly against a lower level team in a cup game. If the club can't take the games seriously, I don't see why I should.
All the TV, Betting companies want is Utd vs City FA Cup final, Chelsea vs Spurs League Cup Final . We.have seen how the draws are manipulated, look how we had a midweek trip to Manchester rather then the chance of getting Utd to the Valley. I know we were in the League cup for that fixture.
SKY, has royally £!ck football for the fans that support the lesser teams
And as a further kick in the nadgers (for those of us unable to attend) it was the first Man Utd cup tie NOT shown live on TV for about 50 years ...
Lots of posters are coming up with imaginative alternative formats. On the surface I've liked all of them but there's something that troubles be about all of them; they all include some form of disparity. Every team in every round should be playing under the same conditions as the other. There's enough inequality in football with some teams having massive budgets and resources whilst others have to function on a shoestring. We shouldn't be looking to introduce other inequalities through the format of our cup competitions. If there is a fixture congestion problem then the solution is quite simple, cut out the meaningless friendlies.
Far too many teams in the champions league resulting far too many games. I understand the reason why so many clubs are now in the champions league, Money Money and Money. Reduce the number of games in the champions league and allow clubs who are in it to not have to compete in the league Cup.
agree, but the champions league is increasing in size next year with more teams.
Lots of posters are coming up with imaginative alternative formats. On the surface I've liked all of them but there's something that troubles be about all of them; they all include some form of disparity. Every team in every round should be playing under the same conditions as the other. There's enough inequality in football with some teams having massive budgets and resources whilst others have to function on a shoestring. We shouldn't be looking to introduce other inequalities through the format of our cup competitions. If there is a fixture congestion problem then the solution is quite simple, cut out the meaningless friendlies.
Lots of posters are coming up with imaginative alternative formats. On the surface I've liked all of them but there's something that troubles be about all of them; they all include some form of disparity. Every team in every round should be playing under the same conditions as the other. There's enough inequality in football with some teams having massive budgets and resources whilst others have to function on a shoestring. We shouldn't be looking to introduce other inequalities through the format of our cup competitions. If there is a fixture congestion problem then the solution is quite simple, cut out the meaningless friendlies.
And how can a competition have some matches played with VAR and some without? Even worse the first match without VAR but a replay with VAR?
All the TV, Betting companies want is Utd vs City FA Cup final, Chelsea vs Spurs League Cup Final . We.have seen how the draws are manipulated, look how we had a midweek trip to Manchester rather then the chance of getting Utd to the Valley. I know we were in the League cup for that fixture.
SKY, has royally £!ck football for the fans that support the lesser teams
Cool story - Can you tell me how the draws are manipulated please
All the TV, Betting companies want is Utd vs City FA Cup final, Chelsea vs Spurs League Cup Final . We.have seen how the draws are manipulated, look how we had a midweek trip to Manchester rather then the chance of getting Utd to the Valley. I know we were in the League cup for that fixture.
SKY, has royally £!ck football for the fans that support the lesser teams
Cool story - Can you tell me how the draws are manipulated please
or just post a link with this evidence
Trevor Brooking does it by telekinesis, obvs. Not sure how you can prove it though.
The PL clubs have much instigated this, but it has to be said far too many EFL clubs (including our own) have shown far too much disregard for the cup in both team selections and actual attendances over the past 20 years, that there now outrage at this decision is far too late in making the importance of the cup a priority.
PWR all the comments but I suspect the PL hasn’t necessarily fully thought this through. I doubt any PL club plays their full strength side for an FA Cup match and will rely upon the opposition to do the same unless it’s a L1 or lower club that they either believe their kids can beat or at least get a replay. They are going to need to rethink that approach and put out more or less full strength sides or risk taking an early exit. The next few FA Cup winners could turn out to be teams that are not playing in Europe, challenging to finish in a European qualifying spot or fighting relegation. Who knows, next season could be the year Curbs is finally proven right and ‘why not Charlton’ actually happens 😁
We have listened to the concerns expressed over the last 24 hours, and would like to outline the approval process which was undertaken for the 2024-25 professional game football calendar.
We have been discussing the calendar for the 2024-25 season with the Premier League and EFL for well over a year.
Removing Emirates FA Cup replays was discussed in the early meetings and all parties accepted that they could not continue. The discussions then focused on how to make all of our competitions stronger, despite having fewer dates available and wanting to maintain player welfare.
The changes to the Emirates FA Cup achieve this by returning it to a weekend competition on every round, and ensuring that we have exclusive broadcast slots in an increasingly congested calendar.
To clarify, we have also increased the number of Emirates FA Cup matches that will be broadcast in the early rounds, which will lead to additional guaranteed broadcast revenue for EFL and National League teams. Additionally, we review the prize money annually for the competition, together with representatives from the EFL and Premier League and will do the same for the 2024-25 season.
The calendar for next season was approved last month by the Professional Game Board, which consists of four EFL representatives and four Premier League representatives and then by the FA Board, which includes Premier League, EFL, National Game and grassroots representation. This is the process we undergo every year to approve the calendar.
We understand the concerns expressed over the last 24 hours, and we will be sharing more details with clubs very shortly to explain the additional revenue opportunities in the early rounds.
We will keep this under review as the new calendar begins to ensure that EFL and National League clubs do not lose out.
The EFL wishes to clarify further its position in respect of yesterday’s Premier League and Football Association bi-lateral announcement over the removal of FA Cup replays and the role of the League’s representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB).
The agreement which now sees the abolition of replays from the competition format was agreed solely between the Premier League and FA. Ahead of the deal being announced there was no agreement with the EFL nor was there any formal consultation with EFL Clubs as members of the FA and participants in the competition.
In September 2023, the EFL did initially discuss with Clubs potential changes to the FA Cup format but only as part of a wider and more fundamental change to financial distributions. As is now clear, there has been no movement in this area since September.
This latest agreement between the Premier League and the FA, in the absence of financial reform, is just a further example of how the EFL and its Clubs are being marginalised in favour of others further up the pyramid and that only serves to threaten the future of the English game.
The EFL today calls on both the Premier League and the FA, as the Governing body, to re-evaluate their approach to their footballing partnership with the EFL and engage more collaboratively on issues directly affecting our Clubs.
A separate issue is the role of the EFL representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB) in agreeing to the 2024/25 overall fixture calendar. PGB is there to make technical decisions across the game as opposed to key policy decisions such as competition changes or formats.
Any decisions taken on the calendar involving EFL representatives are in no way an endorsement of the joint deal agreed between the FA and Premier League that imposes changes to the FA Cup competition format in isolation.
As part of the discussions the EFL representatives did challenge the position and were told that Clubs would be comfortable with no replays. They were effectively advised that, as a result, of it being an FA competition, the fixture list needed to be agreed as presented. It is also important to note that this matter was not discussed by the FA Cup committee, a separate group that oversees the competition across the professional and national game
I wonder what the ratio of times those clubs currently in the PL have actually won it to those not currently in the PL have won it. Probably shouldn’t be too difficult to work out given the likes of Palace, Luton, Bournemouth currently residing in the PL
Replays stopped being interesting when they went from being next Tuesday to Tuesday week so that the police had time to polish their helmets or whatever they have to do.
Replays stopped being interesting when they went from being next Tuesday to Tuesday week so that the police had time to polish their helmets or whatever they have to do.
Comments
How can they make these decisions without everyone who enters being involved?
Awful.
1. If Premier League teams are drawn against each other, the match goes ahead with 90 minutes, followed by extra time if required, followed by penalties if required.
2. If non-Premier League teams are drawn against each other, one replay is played if the first game ends level. This potentially provides additional income to teams outside the Premier League.
3. Where a Premier League club is drawn against a lower-league team, if the scores are level after 90 minutes, the lower league team goes through.
That way the Premier League team is prevented from the debilitating, unfair requirement that the most expensively-assembled, fittest set of footballers in the country should be required to play another game of football. And if it means they go out to a fluky 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough, Morecambe or Maidstone, then it's tough titty.
Members of the EFL board on the panel, including Parry and Steve Kavanagh.
I've actually kind of already done this. Don't see the point of paying to see our 2nd eleven - The first eleven are bad enough - perform badly against a lower level team in a cup game. If the club can't take the games seriously, I don't see why I should.
or just post a link with this evidence
We have listened to the concerns expressed over the last 24 hours, and would like to outline the approval process which was undertaken for the 2024-25 professional game football calendar.
We have been discussing the calendar for the 2024-25 season with the Premier League and EFL for well over a year.
Removing Emirates FA Cup replays was discussed in the early meetings and all parties accepted that they could not continue. The discussions then focused on how to make all of our competitions stronger, despite having fewer dates available and wanting to maintain player welfare.
The changes to the Emirates FA Cup achieve this by returning it to a weekend competition on every round, and ensuring that we have exclusive broadcast slots in an increasingly congested calendar.
To clarify, we have also increased the number of Emirates FA Cup matches that will be broadcast in the early rounds, which will lead to additional guaranteed broadcast revenue for EFL and National League teams. Additionally, we review the prize money annually for the competition, together with representatives from the EFL and Premier League and will do the same for the 2024-25 season.
The calendar for next season was approved last month by the Professional Game Board, which consists of four EFL representatives and four Premier League representatives and then by the FA Board, which includes Premier League, EFL, National Game and grassroots representation. This is the process we undergo every year to approve the calendar.
We understand the concerns expressed over the last 24 hours, and we will be sharing more details with clubs very shortly to explain the additional revenue opportunities in the early rounds.
We will keep this under review as the new calendar begins to ensure that EFL and National League clubs do not lose out.
EFL Statement
The EFL wishes to clarify further its position in respect of yesterday’s Premier League and Football Association bi-lateral announcement over the removal of FA Cup replays and the role of the League’s representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB).
The agreement which now sees the abolition of replays from the competition format was agreed solely between the Premier League and FA. Ahead of the deal being announced there was no agreement with the EFL nor was there any formal consultation with EFL Clubs as members of the FA and participants in the competition.
In September 2023, the EFL did initially discuss with Clubs potential changes to the FA Cup format but only as part of a wider and more fundamental change to financial distributions. As is now clear, there has been no movement in this area since September.
This latest agreement between the Premier League and the FA, in the absence of financial reform, is just a further example of how the EFL and its Clubs are being marginalised in favour of others further up the pyramid and that only serves to threaten the future of the English game.
The EFL today calls on both the Premier League and the FA, as the Governing body, to re-evaluate their approach to their footballing partnership with the EFL and engage more collaboratively on issues directly affecting our Clubs.
A separate issue is the role of the EFL representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB) in agreeing to the 2024/25 overall fixture calendar. PGB is there to make technical decisions across the game as opposed to key policy decisions such as competition changes or formats.
Any decisions taken on the calendar involving EFL representatives are in no way an endorsement of the joint deal agreed between the FA and Premier League that imposes changes to the FA Cup competition format in isolation.
As part of the discussions the EFL representatives did challenge the position and were told that Clubs would be comfortable with no replays. They were effectively advised that, as a result, of it being an FA competition, the fixture list needed to be agreed as presented. It is also important to note that this matter was not discussed by the FA Cup committee, a separate group that oversees the competition across the professional and national game
Fuck all difference for the big clubs