Once again this month, football has been seen to be shooting itself in the foot. Not only have VAR spun their wheel to see what decisions they’ll be making on any given day, but the football authorities have deemed it fit to remove one of the most romantic aspects of our beautiful game – the FA Cup Replay.
In case you missed the news, the FA made a statement confirming that in conjunction with the Premier League, the current format of not having replays from the fifth round onwards will be extended to the entire competition from 2024/25 onwards, citing player burn out. But in return will make the FA Cup a weekend only competition, and ensure that key dates are blocked off in the rest of the football calendar.
So is this a good thing for football, or a bad thing? Well, let’s break it down, starting with the case for the FA decision. In its statement, head of the FA, Mark Bullingham, stated that player burn out was amongst the key reasoning behind the decision.
He also cited UEFA and the expansion of their competitions, the Champions League new format also kicks in from the 2024/25 seasons, is putting too much of a physical strain on players. This view is certainly shared by some of the top managers in our domestic game. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has backed the FA’s decision saying it was vital to ‘protect the players’ saying: ‘with the calendar that we have in the next few seasons, we have to take the game out for the players’.
Jurgen Klopp, who has called for them to be scrapped for a number of years now, said: ‘The lifelines for small clubs cannot be massive problems for clubs who play every three days’ and ‘we cannot solve all the problems by playing more games. How often did it happen that a smaller club came through because of this extra game?’ before adding ‘I know there is money involved and that’s how it is but you have to find solutions.’
And the money is what the FA are hoping will sweeten the deal. As part of this deal, the Premier League will increase the funding it provides to the English football pyramid, giving an additional £33 million towards developing the grassroots game on top of the £100m per season they already pay out to clubs further down the football pyramid. But does this make up for the potential lost revenue that securing a replay away to a top Premier League club, where gate revenues and TV money is generally given to the smaller side, could bring?
Well, some say it may actually enhance the clubs financially. Looking at it statistically, there’s only been eight times in the last five years where a League One club or below has gone to a Premier League ground in a replay – on average, one and a half times a season. So this money guaranteed to be shared between the 48 clubs each year should be a better guarantee of income.
Not only that, but if there are less cup games to contend with, the so-called bigger teams can keep their best players fresher for the Premier League, which in turn makes the product better, increases worldwide broadcast sales, brings in more revenue, which in turn with the Premier League committed to passing down 15% of this to the EFL, the lower league clubs benefit even more. So it’s a good thing, right? Well, the answer to that might depend on how you view football – business or pleasure.
Because for many of us, the FA Cup has never been about financial rewards, but instead the glory and romance in the sort of situations many commentators like to refer to as ‘the magic of the cup’. If I ask you to think back over some of the incredible moments in the history of the FA Cup, the memories of Ryan Giggs’s wondergoal against Arsenal before twirling his shirt around his head may crop up.
The famous 4-4 Merseyside derby that proved the catalyst for a clearly worn out Kenny Dalglish to announce his resignation. Spurs doing what they do best and going 3-0 up against Man City only to lose 4-3 courtesy of a Jon Macken header in the dying seconds.
If you’re of a certain vintage, arguably the greatest cup upset of them all, non-league Hereford beating Newcastle 2-1 in 1972. Or what about one they argue to be the greatest FA Cup goal of all time, Ricky Villa’s mazy dribble and finish.
All amazing moments, right? Well, guess what – they all happened in replays! You lose them, you lose so much heritage. The so-called ‘Big Six’ of the Premier League can moan all they want to about player welfare and tiredness, but the same situation faces all teams.
The key difference being that the top Premier League clubs assemble multi million-pound squads, with internationals ready to come on and change the game or rotate game-by-game – the League One and Two clubs will often have a small squad and mean the same players have to play time and time again. By season end, Peterborough United will have played 58 First Team games using 26. Tottenham Hotspur, one of the teams this ruling has sought to protect the players of, will have played 41 using 30 players.
In fact, so concerned for the players welfare, Tottenham have agreed to fly out to Australia to play a friendly three days after the season has ended.
As if that didn’t make the lower league teams feel as if they didn’t matter, the way in which the decision was made really hammered home that point. You’d like to think that given the fact that EFL clubs are the ones whom this course of action would impact the most, that they would have been a major player at the discussion table.
Or at the very least have had a say. But no, the EFL Statement released after the news had broken was very damning, saying: ‘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.’
The implication from them really is that the decisions within the game are made solely to impact those at the top table. And you know what? Whether you see the benefits of scrapping the replays, or think it’s a travesty, its hard to disagree with that sentiment.
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