THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/remember-when-manchester-united-killed-the-fa-cup

Ignore the whinging about going to London on a weeknight. It is the bit half way down that the FA forced Man Uniteds hand as Ferguson was convinced by David Davies and the government that it would derail the 2006 World Cup bid as if United hadn't have gone it would have been Bayern going instead. Considering United were FA Cup champions and have a good pedigree and in hindsight the Germans won the bid (apparently in controversial circumstances) anyway I don't think there is any precedent there from a United perspective. I mean United's hand seem like they were bound. If anything the FA destroyed the integrity of their own competition so they have previous by the sounds of it.

I only meant in terms of clubs pulling out of the FA Cup without attracting any legal action as a result.

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It's Pete's train set, and we should all feel honoured to be granted the privilege of paying to play with it.

All it says is you are automatically accepted if you are Premier League, EFL and step 1-5 of non league so long as your ground meets standards and if you are non-league you are in the Trophy or the Vase. So surely if you politely decline you won't be punished. I mean it costs £100 to enter the FA Cup so don't pay you can't enter. Stupid thing is they announced the scrapping of replays after the cut off for registering for next years competition (1st April) knowing full well there is bollocks all the clubs that have paid to enter can do about it. I think the plot thickens on this one. I mean if you are a non-league club it is £175 at least two enter those contests. Makes it even more bullshit what they have done TBH. That is the dodgy bit for me.

I don't agree with it - I can KIND OF see the thinking.

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#DonYourWhite

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Should Coventry and Chelsea be playing a replay this week?

Who remebers the epic Chelsea Leeds final (s) ? never to be repeated.

D50 does, and doesn't think it was an epic. Thinks its a disgrace and that's not how football should ever have been played and we should look back on it in horror not joy

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Yep. That "United dismissively devalued the FA Cup" is a huge myth.

As the article says, the FA wanted United to go to the Club World Cup to avoid derailing the world Cup bid. United also still wanted to participate in both and field a weakened, but potentially strong enough to get through, side in the FA Cup 3rd round as they'd have been back.for the 4th round - the same as Liverpool did a couple of years ago in the League Cup (though it was up to QF's by then and they lost heavily to Villa). However at that time fielding a weakened team wasn't a done thing in the FA Cup and wasn't deemed an acceptable solution by the FA so they had to pull out instead as the FA also wanted them not to miss the Club World Cup.

Why the FA thought United pulling out would be better for the competition than fielding a weakened side for one round - who would genuinely be trying to win the game - I don't know? But that was their stance and, like our history with AFC, people have believed and repeated the false narrative about United devaluing the Cup so much that it's just widely regarded as true despite the situation / facts being very different.

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I can understand the reasoning for ending replays. And it's seemed increasingly inevitable for a good while.

Almost all other European countries have one main cup competition, not two. And even with one I think most don't have replays? They also have winter breaks rather than a busy Christmas and New Year schedule but that's another issue.

Sticking to our different 'traditions' is fine, when possible in an ever changing and increasing footballing calendar. But with so many new / extended competitions being introduced, for clubs and countries, and so much more running demanded with each generation, then the physical demands of the top / international players has to be reduced somewhere. I'm sure that's why we're seeing more muscle injuries, and more players collapsing with heart issues, despite the players being fitter and more athletic than they've ever been.

I think replays could have been kept for the first couple of rounds, to benefit non-league clubs getting ties at comparatively big league one and two grounds, or getting TV money. However for the international players of the top two divisions, especially the top-flight, those players are pretty much playing all year round and all over the world. More and more games are being created either for club or country and something has to give for player safety and welfare. Falling in line with most other countries and removing replays was always likely to be one of the first steps. Either that, or keep the FA Cup replays but fall in line with most other countries and abandon the second Cup entirely and open up free time that way?

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The FA have always been an enigma to me. I hark back to our FA Cup game v Chesterfield that we lost but had to replay due to them fielding in ineligible player from Wolves IIRC, and then we lost the replay. Yet Barnsley got kicked out for fielding an ineligible player albeit in a replay and Forest Green Rovers did the same and had to replay cause it wasn't a replay. I am assuming now that no replays means that clubs are kicked out immediately, which should have happened to all clubs admin error or not. Again, the FA love to devalue their own competition by being so inconsistent. This is one of the reasons that since then i have struggled to take the FA Cup seriously and what nonsense they are pulling now is just so dense, but as people have paid their entry fee the FA Cup will continue regardless. They knew what they were doing. Get the teams in then sucker punch them with the no replay bollocks.