FA Cup Replays

[Rockford's Love Child]

The financial elements and the debate regarding the very character of the domestic game are interwoven.

The replays will not be replaced with anything worthwhile in terms of supporter experience, at either end of the spectrum. Any additional money given to lower division clubs only has benefit if the gaps between the various levels are reduced. I don't see the EPL getting a bigger cake and ending up poorer relative to the EFL clubs below them.

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

The replays will not be replaced with anything worthwhile in terms of supporter experience, at either end of the spectrum.

That’ll boil down to whether supporters feel the lost experience of a tie being unresolved until eventually settled by a midweek, middle of winter, often sparsely attended affair will be outweighed by the new experience of a one-off tie, typically on a weekend, that has to be decided one way or another on the day.

My guess is that many, but by no means all, fans will readily accept that, if not immediately then over time. I suppose the younger ones will embrace it more readily than, say, those of us who are old enough (or more!) to have attended those Southampton games….23 years ago.

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

Interestingly, and posting here in the interest of balance, the EFL also issued a statement yesterday which addresses some of the issues raised in the FA‘s statement (#9) and the subsequent points of governance we’ve been discussing on here: https://www.efl.com/news/2024/april/19/efl-statement--fa-cup-replays/

To all intents and purposes they’re saying their representatives in the decision making or approval processes were blind-sided, which obviously raises serious questions.

However, their bottom line isn’t an appeal to reinstate replays, it’s this: “The EFL today calls on both the Premier League and the FA, as the Governing body, to re-evaluate their approach to their footballing partnership with the EFL and engage more collaboratively on issues directly affecting our Clubs”.

So again, the furore about replays is merely a means to this end, not an end in itself. Which is probably wise.

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

For any arguments in favour of the scrapping of FA Cup replays, just remember Tranmere 4 Southampton 3 would not have happened.

Or it might have happened in a one-off tie instead, rather than the bore draw we somehow forced at the Dell. We’ll never know.

In any case, by the same token, Sunday was an example of the merits of a one-off tie. Until that other great innovation, VAR, ruined it!
(The same VAR that played a major role in us taking Watford reserves to a replay. A replay which our owners sometimes use as an example to back up their argument for keeping replays. Funny old game!)

Incidentally, the National League has come out in support of the abolition of replays in the competition proper. Another illustration that the real argument that the FA, EPL and EFL have got themselves into here isn’t about the merits of replays at all, but about the powers at play behind the decision and, of course, money. The fact that a not-insignificant proportion of supporters do still feel an affinity to replays is just being used as a pawn in that power game.