One look at the list of FA Cup winners and finals this century should lay to rest the myth that EPL clubs don’t care about it. Most do, including the big hitters, they just want to use their squads efficiently in reaching the latter stages.
At the risk of upsetting the Paliosi, I think the smaller clubs‘ moaning about the suggestion of scrapping replays in rounds 3 and 4 is both vastly exaggerated and, being motivated mostly by money, somewhat hypocritical.
There are generally only a few replays anyway - last season there were six in each of these two rounds, and fewer than half of those dozen could be argued to have any connotations with the ‘romance of the cup’. Further, only one In each round involved a PL club anyway - Wolves v Liverpool (which only supports the PL‘s stance, as neither club would’ve wanted it) and Sunderland v Fulham.
Also smaller clubs tend to have a better chance of winning a one off tie against superior opponents than after a replay. I wonder if, say, Boreham Wood and Chesterfield would've preferred a crack at extra time or penalties in their first games at home to Accrington and WBA to try and see them off, rather than travel away for midweek replays knowing their best chance of glory had probably gone.
Of course, for us, there’s the likes of the Watford replay (which, incidentally, we earned thanks in no small part to that ‘product of the enormous wealth and litigious culture of the Premier League‘, VAR
) which MP always cites. And of course it’s a fair argument. But there‘s plenty of fair counter-arguments too in the grand scheme of things, which is why I not only expect replays will be scrapped but why I also expect only a tiny minority will still be lamenting their passing after a year or two.