The F.A.Cup thread

To be honest, I think they should keep replays. Sure it's a pain in the ass travelling up and down and it's not like it was in the original years of The F.A. Cup when a side like Crystal Palace [The ORIGINAL one] couldn't afford to travel to play a game. For teams like Crawley Town, Accrington Stanley and other non-league clubs it's a chance to either go and play at a big stadium like Old Trafford or score a draw against them and have their town/village/whatever getting something out of it.

It would be like the Champions League without group stage.
 
I just think with the way the calender is these days replays have become redundant. Sure it's a nice extra payday for the smaller clubs but there are benefits of not having replays. In fact here's how I would restructure the FA Cup.

I would play the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds on a midweek. That way you would free up 3 extra weekends which could be used for League fixtures. They would be a straight knockout as opposed to replays so the interest would be heightened because every game would have that feel of there must be a winner. This would also allow for a Winter break.

I'd also scrap the League Cup, it's not needed. One domestic cup is enough.
 
Springsteen said:
I just think with the way the calender is these days replays have become redundant. Sure it's a nice extra payday for the smaller clubs but there are benefits of not having replays. In fact here's how I would restructure the FA Cup.

I would play the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds on a midweek. That way you would free up 3 extra weekends which could be used for League fixtures. They would be a straight knockout as opposed to replays so the interest would be heightened because every game would have that feel of there must be a winner. This would also allow for a Winter break.

I'd also scrap the League Cup, it's not needed. One domestic cup is enough.
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unless your a stoke,norwich or sunderland.....clubs which see it as a realistic chance of silverware
 
Yeah but those teams are never in the final, nor anywhere near it. The last time a club outside the bigger status quo won it I would say were Middlesbrough, in 2004. Wigan reached the final in 2006 but never looked like winning it. Only we have two domestic cups, Spain don't, Italy don't, Germany don't. In fact to make it more interesting you could potentially enter all the clubs in round 1 of the FA Cup. Here would be my dates for the FA Cup in that situation.

1st round - 9th/10th November
2nd round - 15th/16th December
3rd round - 12th/13th January
4th round - 25th/26th January
5th round - 8th/9th February
Q/Finals - 12th/13th March
Semi finals - 9th/10th April
Final - Week after the season ends (Which would be earlier because the season ends earlier)
 
I wouldn't play earlier FA cup ties on a week night, could be the biggest tie in a little clubs history and might mean a load of their supporters miss out if it's an away tie with loads of travelling. Think the smaller clubs should be the ones you want to make life easier for. Who cares if the likes of Man Utd have a big fixture congestion? They only use the cups to give their reserves and youth team players a run out anyway.
 
Fixture congestion should be met as a challenge. If clubs like United, Chelsea or any big club have got the top players to play week-in week-out then fixture coongestion shouldn't be problem. Be thankful we don't have double replays or multiple replays like there used to be years ago.
 
Springsteen said:
I'd also scrap the League Cup, it's not needed. One domestic cup is enough.
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tell that to the 40 plus thousand brummies that saw they're team pick up some real silverware yesterday

Springsteen said:
Yeah but those teams are never in the final, nor anywhere near it. The last time a club outside the bigger status quo won it I would say were Middlesbrough, in 2004.
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dont forget the brummies;)
 
Another big day in the FA Cup. We play Arsenal later. I think we'll win but the team will be interesting considering we also have a European game in 3 days. Interestingly if the game is drawn, the replay is next weekend, so that's why we could do with not drawing, same with the Birmingham/Bolton match right now, as we play Bolton next week. That's 1-0 at the moment to Bolton.
 
He's just like a young michael owen in my eyes, quick, small and a goalscorer. a poacher and a great finisher.

yes he'll grab goals as a sub, but you give that boy more minutes, he'll grab you more goals!
 
Currently 2-0 up against Arsenal, we haven't been that great but taken our chances unlike Arsenal. Van Persie's looked their biggest threat. Fabio and Rooney with the goals and in really positive news, Antonio Valencia has come on a sub for his first appearance since September after that horrific injury against Rangers.
 
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