FA Cup: No no, no no no no, no no no no, no no - There's no replays!

[Silvio Dante]

2 hours ago, SecretSam said:

Or (talking of an actual FA Cup game) would Tins' goal against Liverpool have been immortalised?

Did it involve tents and 10,000 locked out of replays?

Hang on - youre saying if we didn’t have replays, Tinnions goal against Liverpool wouldn’t have been immortalised? And by extension, he wouldn’t have been portrayed as a club legend and engineered his way into a role on more than one occasion where he could bugger the club up from the inside?

Ive changed my mind. **** replays.

[Silvio Dante]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Quite looking forward to the 3rd round draw.

Jules “Matt you’ll be drawing the home teams, Peter, you the away teams”

Matt Le Tissier “no6”

Jules “that’s Birmingham City, they’ve withdrawn,

Matt: That’s just what they want you to think.

Amended.

[Markthehorn]

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

Based on Norwich's press conference from yesterday? I don't buy it. If ever there was a time for "I don't believe it until I see it on the OS", it's now.

Suspect the managers aren’t that fussed as it means less games but then we are Championship sides not lower league ones who are really affected .

[Curr Avon]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Quite looking forward to the 3rd round draw.

Jules “Matt you’ll be drawing the home teams, Peter, you the away teams”

Matt Le Tissier “no6”

Jules “that’s Birmingham City, they’ve withdrawn, that’ll mean a bye for…”

Peter Shilton “no47”

Jules “that’s your old club Southampton, they missed out in the playoffs last season, but their manager insists they are a premier league team really, so they went with the PL decision”

Matt “no8”

Jules “that’s Bristol City, a home tie for the Robins, although they’ve not issued any comms so we’ve no idea if they’re in or out”

Peter “can you raise the bag a bit higher, I’m struggling to reach the ball”

Matt “memories of 86 Peter?”

Peter “no53”

Jules “that’s Wolves, Gary O’Neil possibly going back to his former club”

Matt “no1”

Jules “Arsenal”

Peter “no47”

Jules “Southampton…again?

Peter “oh shit I put that one back in the bag”

Jules “let’s cut to a break”

Matt “memories of 86 Peter?” Brilliant, Dave.

[phantom]

[Roe]

I don't necessarily mind the decision, and would generally welcome far bigger changes to the structure of all comps anyway, but not consulting all the clubs is a disgrace

[phantom]

2 hours ago, northsomersetred said:

City in favour according to this spreadsheet and page

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/119dSeHfdaXguSElRMRA2xTmQm8M8aP0iMjxq7H4JQuU/edit?pli=1#gid=0

 

 

 

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

Based on Norwich's press conference from yesterday? I don't buy it. If ever there was a time for "I don't believe it until I see it on the OS", it's now.

Am I missing something here? 

Where have we said we're in favour? 

It's just a list of clubs who come out and said they're against it 

[phantom]

FSA view on FA Cup replays? Keep them!

Posted on 19th April 2024

 

The FA’s decision to scrap FA Cup replays in all rounds of the competition has been met with what can only be described as anger by many EFL and non-league clubs, football figures and supporters at all levels of the game. 

As well as replays there is real concern across football that many of the things which make the FA Cup special – its history, heritage and tradition – are also under threat.

The level of anger at the decision to scrap replays should not come as a surprise to anyone at the FA as we have consistently made clear, in a number of recent meetings, what supporter feeling is when it comes to this issue. 

In addition we outlined the problems that stretching a “weekend” from Friday to Monday causes travelling supporters but the FA are still pressing on with that scheduling and even extending it during the 4th Round which will run from Friday to Wednesday. More TV disruption for matchgoers.

 

Bottom line – the FSA supports FA Cup replays in all rounds of the competition.

We are not exactly new converts to this either, as it’s something we’ve warned about for decades right back to when we passed a motion supporting replays at our 2004 AGM.

In our submission to the Fan-led Review (July 2021, see p84) we also argued that the remit of an independent regulator should extend to the FA Cup in order to offer another layer of protection and supporter engagement. 

This was not included in the Football Governance Bill which is currently passing through Parliament but we’d certainly support any amendment which proposed it.

 

Wrecking ball to replays? UEFA also to blame

No football competition organiser exists in isolation and, while the FA are rightly being held to account and facing protests, neither UEFA nor the Premier League’s richest clubs should be allowed to dodge the bullet either. Their greed is the catalyst for this decision.

The start of this process can be traced back to UEFA’s capitulation to the demands of the richest Champions League clubs for whom nothing was ever enough. The competition format never satisfied them as they wanted more and more games (translation – more and more money).

This ultimately led to the expansion in European competition which we will see next season with an extra 4-6 Champions League games per club “thanks” to the Swiss Model – and it’s the FA Cup which has paid the price to free up those additional dates.

We raised awareness at a continental level and lobbied UEFA with our friends at Football Supporters Europe (FSE) for many, many years warning that this could be the outcome and that “the FA Cup would become primarily a midweek competition without replays” if European competitions were allowed to bloat.

Football fans across the continent backed an FSA motion at 2019’s European Football Fans’ Congress (EFFC) which opposed the increase in the number of European fixtures and established six key principles against which any reform should be measured. We were proud to lead that debate and establish something which supporters’ groups from a variety of countries could get behind.

In summer 2022 we were a co-signatory to FSE’s #WinItOnThePitch campaign which argued that “more European games will make the rich richer and undermine competition… the extra pressure on domestic calendars would also endanger domestic cup competitions.”

We predicted that this would happen if football executives were given the sole responsibility of determining the direction of the game. Supporters’ voices across the continent were ignored with greedy owners largely getting their own way on this one.

We have met with the FA a number of times and told them every time that replays were a critical part of the FA Cup’s heritage and the majority of fans would oppose any attempt to scrap them. We pointed to FSA policy and supporter surveys.

It’s yet another example of why an independent regulator is badly needed to rein in the power of clubs and give supporters a real voice in shaping our game and competitions.

While our biggest football institutions argue amongst one another, supporters are left on the sidelines with no voice in the room or votes to cast when these big decisions are taken.

 

How is FSA policy decided?

The FSA supports the retention of FA Cup replays in all rounds of the competition – this is an established policy which was set by members at the 2004 Annual General Meeting (by one of our predecessor organisations the Football Supporters’ Federation) where policies are proposed, debated and voted upon.

We test our headline policies against support opinion on a periodic basis and our National Supporters Survey (released August 2023) asked a range of questions relating to the FA Cup – they showed that support for replays still exists.

69.5% of fans said replays were an important aspect of the FA Cup.

26.1% were in favour of abolishing replays in the FA Cup.

Meanwhile 38.8% of respondents felt that if both clubs agree in advance then they should be allowed to avoid a replay and go straight to extra time and penalties.

Those stats are based on the responses of almost 10,000 individual supporters.

Following that we ran a consultation amongst our member supporters’ organisations to dig into the views of our supporter groups in a little more detail. That work was, by design, more detailed and contextualised the feelings of those groups.

Once again the majority supported the concept of replays with arguments often reiterating the importance of tradition, heritage and the magic of the Cup. Those who were agnostic or opposed replays tended to focus on practical matters – reducing fixture congestion and / or saving on tickets, travel and other matchday expenses

[Curr Avon]

The FA Cup: for the few, not the many.

[Barrs Court Red]

21 minutes ago, phantom said:

I’m broadly in favour of this, but ******* hell the FA have had a shocker. 

[northsomersetred]

30 minutes ago, phantom said:

 

Am I missing something here? 

Where have we said we're in favour? 

It's just a list of clubs who come out and said they're against it 

It's on the spreadsheet along with other teams that have come out in favour or against, the link is to YT vid of the Norwich manager which i've mentioned.

Read it and the comments, it's not rocket science.

 

[exAtyeoMax]

 

[Curr Avon]

8 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

 

The FA can flick off!

 

[WolfOfWestStreet]

Seeing as we have built a shrine in our stadium to a FA Cup replay match, often mentioned as one of the best results in our history ... I would find it somewhat strange if the club ignored this

[Alex_BCFC]

Disappointed no club statement from city coming out against this like many others 

[Snufflelufagus]

How about no EFL club loans any prem players as a protest. No I can't see it happening either.

[Club and Country]

Darren fletcher superb on 5 live at the minute 

Kevin Nolan taking a typical prem stance , forgets WHU were in the mire a few years ago 

[Markman]

1 minute ago, Club and Country said:

Darren fletcher superb on 5 live at the minute 

Kevin Nolan taking a typical prem stance , forgets WHU were in the mire a few years ago 

was just going to post the same - Nolan what a bell end - Premier boys do not give a stuff they want all the money and all the glory

[Maesknoll Red]

17 minutes ago, Club and Country said:

Darren fletcher superb on 5 live at the minute 

Kevin Nolan taking a typical prem stance , forgets WHU were in the mire a few years ago 

Said what most fans of EFL clubs are thinking (Fletch, not Nolan), I wish half the Premier league had buggered off to a European superleague and left the rest of us to get back to football with realistic financial models.

[phantom]

2 hours ago, northsomersetred said:

It's on the spreadsheet along with other teams that have come out in favour or against, the link is to YT vid of the Norwich manager which i've mentioned.

Read it and the comments, it's not rocket science.

 

The "rocket science" you refer to is the fact we've not come out in favour of it 

Where did you add a comment? 

[cityexile]

2 hours ago, Barrs Court Red said:

I’m broadly in favour of this, but ******* hell the FA have had a shocker. 

Agree with that. I am open minded actually as to if this is a good or bad idea. I am not open minded as to whether this is a decision that should be made purely by the FA and Premier League. Arrogant sods.

[LondonBristolian]

2 hours ago, northsomersetred said:

It's on the spreadsheet along with other teams that have come out in favour or against, the link is to YT vid of the Norwich manager which i've mentioned.

Read it and the comments, it's not rocket science.

 

Spreadsheet has now been corrected to clarify it was Norwich and not us in favour.

[Roadrunner]

Still waiting for this club to make a statement, as have many clubs outside the premership.

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

6 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

I was wondering earlier, will any Championship sides make a statement . Would the perspective or ex Prem sides feel they have to tow the Party line ?
When you get down to it, it's the top sides that have been pushing for fewer domestic games , the ones that want more Euro involvement or lucrative tours . Dress it up how you want , they are all about the money and don't care about the vast majority of Clubs. 

They don't really want less games. They want space in the calendar so they can sod off to the Emirates or South East Asia for lucrative exhibition games. No real concern for their players or, given the air miles, the global environment. 

[Dredd]

Bit hypocritical we've not come out and made comment on this yet considering we've made on pitch presentations this season for TWO fa cup replay wins. 

[Harry]

5 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Hang on - youre saying if we didn’t have replays, Tinnions goal against Liverpool wouldn’t have been immortalised? And by extension, he wouldn’t have been portrayed as a club legend and engineered his way into a role on more than one occasion where he could bugger the club up from the inside?

Ive changed my mind. **** replays.

And we wouldn’t have had our tinpot celebration days this season!! 

[Harry]

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Here we go!

 

That EFL statement in horrendous. 
They just don’t get it. 
All they mention in there is that things were previously discussed but there were no financial agreements. 
Basically they are saying that if they get some more money they’ll agree to it. 
They don’t appear to mention anything about the joy of the competition and how enticing and exciting it can be for fans of non prem teams to be drawn against superior opposition. The chance of a battling draw at home to be given the opportunity of a lifetime for some players and certainly of fans to visit the top teams and stadiums. 
There is zero connection to any emotions in that statement. It’s just all financial. 
And we’re expected to believe that the likes of Parry, Ridsdale and Moxey sat there and said nothing! Yeah right. 

[Kid in the Riot]

Just now, Harry said:

It’s just all financial. 

Condensed version. 

[Markthehorn]

59 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

They don't really want less games. They want space in the calendar so they can sod off to the Emirates or South East Asia for lucrative exhibition games. No real concern for their players or, given the air miles, the global environment. 

Speaking of too many games I presume Spurs and Newcastle will be sending youth teams to play their post season games in Australian as the stars will need a rest before the Euros ?

[Atticus]

1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:

Still waiting for this club to make a statement, as have many clubs outside the premership.

I'm guessing it ain't happening. Very very disappointed with our silence on this. You'd think we would be kind of pissed off too since we with all the others weren't consulted. 

I hope we are not bowing down to those above. 

 

The state of what is happening in general is depressing. I just cannot stand the hypocrisy and lies. 

 

It's not about player welfare. It never has been. They wouldn't stay quiet about Europe expansion if it was. Or friendlies on the other side of the world. Against teams in the same damn division. 

It makes me sick, how the game is being eroded because of the rich wanting to be richer. The game is borked. Has been going this way since the introduction of the premier league. Give them an inch. They will always take a mile. Until we genuinely fight back. Nothing will change. They will not change. 

We give them no replays from 5th round onwards. Not enough. Give them 5 subs. Not enough. A winter break. Not enough. 

Nothing will ever be enough until every game they play is a huge money spinner. Preferably in a far away country. 

 

I'm glad we aren't in that horrible money driven and obsessed league. Don't get me wrong, I want us to win every game. But the thought of being with those elitist greedy ******* doesn't excite me.