The end of an era and all those wonderful memories

[Bluemike]

FA Cup replays have been scrapped from round one onwards from next season.

A new six-year agreement between the Premier League and FA will see replays now not be played in the competition proper having been scrapped from the fifth round in the 2017/18 season.

The FA Cup qualifying rounds in which teams from the fifth to the 10th tiers take part will continued to have replays.

The move will be controversial as a break with tradition and with replays lucrative to smaller clubs, although some Town fans may welcome no longer having to make midweek trips to the likes of Barrow and Oldham as has been the case in recent years.

The new arrangement will also see all rounds of the tournament played at weekends exclusive of Premier League fixtures, fifth round games having been scheduled for midweek for the last five years. The fourth round will have an extended window from Friday to Wednesday in which FA Cup ties will be played on consecutive days.

The FA Cup final will now be moved to the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season with no top-flight matches that day or on the Friday before in order “to allow focus on the build-up to the showpiece event”.

The Premier League will increase its funding to grassroots football by £33 million.

“The FA Cup is our biggest asset,” FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said. “This new agreement between the FA and the Premier League strengthens the FA Cup and gives this very special tournament exclusive weekends in an increasingly busy calendar.

“We have also agreed new funding for the grassroots game, disability football and the women's and girls' game.

“All football begins at the grassroots, and this is recognised by the Premier League with very welcome additional financial support.”

Premier League chief executive, Richard Masters, added: “The Premier League is proud of the investment it provides to all levels of the game and this new agreement with the FA will see us enhance our support into grassroots football.

“This will improve facilities for communities and lower league clubs across the country, through the Football Foundation and Premier League Stadium Fund.

“Throughout our discussions, both parties have been committed to enhancing the scheduling of the Emirates FA Cup, a hugely important domestic competition with a storied history.

“The FA and the Premier League have worked in partnership to deliver more exclusive weekends without compromising the excitement of knockout football and this has been achieved at the same time as allowing us to ease fixture congestion generally.”

The Premier League has also scrapped its mid-season break to allow the season to start in mid-August, allowing players to get a consecutive three-week break in the summer, following expert advice from medical and technical departments.

Just another sad decision, where would we be without those wonderful memories of our Three games against Leeds Utd back in the day. Some will agree with it, I think its tragic.

[Denny61]

Its only football...its not tragic..to lose a Life is tragic. All that should be used in this instance.. is DISAPPOINTING.!!!!

[Bluemike]

It's tragic in relation to football, nothing to do with world affairs or any other bullshit going on in the world, so yeah for me, in the context I'm talking about, it's tragic

[Ricco]

That is tragic, embarrassing and exasperating (if you want another couple of adjectives).

[Andym]

It’s a shame that potential money-spinners for so many clubs is being removed. But to my mind the biggest issue is the way the decision has been made; jointly by the FA and the premier league. I dung know the number but there must be several hundred teams that enter the FA cup every year, but the FA have chosen to discuss and reach agreement with just 20 of them. That is a bloody scandal, so I’m more angry about that than the actual decision.
Also, unless I’m mistaken (in which case I’m sure someone will correct me), at least half the premier league don’t qualify for Europe and so only play 38 league games. So if one of those gets through to the final, they are still playing fewer matches than any team from outside the Prem. They are professional footballers, in a branch of the entertainment industry. They should get off their arses and entertain.
I’ve said before that I would love to see a maximum wage for each division topped up by appearance money - so a player could earn more in a lower division than by being a rarely-used squad player in a higher division. Introduce that system and then see if the players want to play fewer matches - I think they would change their minds.

[Ricco]

And how many fan opinions did they consider as well Andy. I've always said, even if you have to make a decision that upset everyone, you have to consider and listen to everyone's opinion. It's an entertainment sport, without fans there is no money.

[Bluemike]

I had fallen out of love with the FA Cup years ago really, however the early rounds and excitement of minnows and lower league sides taking bigger fish to replays etc still had me interested, they've ruined it completely now.

The days of knowing every cup winner for years and remembering which year so and so won it are long gone, soon you won't have the memories of the likes of Ronnie Radford, Mickey Thomas, Ian Porterfield & many many more to think back to fondly, the days of waking up on cup final day was a special day, hours of swap shop and Grandstand with all the build up, halcyon days indeed. I wonder how many years it will be until its league teams only and then beyond that just the elite. It will probably come.

[hallamblue]

I do think replays are a waste of time, given that most clubs from championship upwards don’t even field their strongest teams in the competition anymore. It’s just a money spinner, and fans pay enough to watch their teams already. Take it down to extra time and pens and be the end of it. And move onto the next round.

[Mauswara]

When ManU thought they were too big for the FA Cup. Since then ...

[number 9]

I do think replays are a waste of time, given that most clubs from championship upwards don’t even field their strongest teams in the competition anymore. It’s just a money spinner, and fans pay enough to watch their teams already. Take it down to extra time and pens and be the end of it. And move onto the next round.

I love the FA Cup, but I completely agree with you Hallam. And I still believe the minnows will have their chances.

[Shed on tour]

The FA Cup will always hold some of the best and worse memories for me following ITFC. The 4 games against Leeds, went to the home game when the record crowd was set (38,010) and the 4th game at Filbert Street where Clive Woods finally settled the tie with his banana shot. Will never forget the semi-final win against West Brom, which for me was even better than the Final itself as it confirmed Town were going to play in a FA Cup final. I was fortunate enough to be at both games.
The lows were the semi final replay in 75 against West Ham at Stamford Bridge, the most down I have ever felt coming out of a ground as I was sure that was going to be our year after beating Liverpool and Leeds in previous rounds. The other was the semi final defeat against Man City at Villa Park in 81. Still have that Paul Power free kick lodge somewhere in the memory box now.
As has already been said it is just not the same competition now.

[Rodenbach Ex-pat]

Why not go a step further? Here in Germany teams from the third division downward automatically get the home right when drawn against first or second division clubs. This season third division Saarbrucken knocked out Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach before losing in the semi-final to second division Kaiserslautern.
Gives the minnows a better chance of an upset and encourage the big teams to put out a stronger team. The downside, probable loss of revenue but a chance of regaining some of that in the next round. Last word - I'm a traditionist but open to new ideas.

[marko69]

.....the days of waking up on cup final day was a special day, hours of swap shop and Grandstand with all the build up, halcyon days indeed......

Yep, very true, cup final Saturday was awesome. Hope I am not he only one here who used to get into trouble for using all of mums tin foil. Wrapping up card board FA Cups. Loved those days. But the cups now, (2016 aside) couldn't care less.

The FA Cup will always hold some of the best and worse memories for me following ITFC. The 4 games against Leeds, went to the home game when the record crowd was set (38,010) and the 4th game at Filbert Street where Clive Woods finally settled the tie with his banana shot. Will never forget the semi-final win against West Brom, which for me was even better than the Final itself as it confirmed Town were going to play in a FA Cup final. I was fortunate enough to be at both games.
The lows were the semi final replay in 75 against West Ham at Stamford Bridge, the most down I have ever felt coming out of a ground as I was sure that was going to be our year after beating Liverpool and Leeds in previous rounds. The other was the semi final defeat against Man City at Villa Park in 81. Still have that Paul Power free kick lodge somewhere in the memory box now.
As has already been said it is just not the same competition now.

Can only dream of having memories like those. Absolutely fantastic stuff.

Why not go a step further? Here in Germany teams from the third division downward automatically get the home right when drawn against first or second division clubs. This season third division Saarbrucken knocked out Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach before losing in the semi-final to second division Kaiserslautern.
Gives the minnows a better chance of an upset and encourage the big teams to put out a stronger team. The downside, probable loss of revenue but a chance of regaining some of that in the next round. Last word - I'm a traditionist but open to new ideas.

That is superb. But from that info, can only assume the Germans value the German Cup even lower than the British teams value theirs. Because that is some run that Saarbrucken team went on. Be like Chesterfield or The Mighty Loons getting to the semi finals --->> which did happen!

[Charnwood]

FA Cup replays have been scrapped from round one onwards from next season.

A new six-year agreement between the Premier League and FA will see replays now not be played in the competition proper having been scrapped from the fifth round in the 2017/18 season.

The FA Cup qualifying rounds in which teams from the fifth to the 10th tiers take part will continued to have replays.

The move will be controversial as a break with tradition and with replays lucrative to smaller clubs, although some Town fans may welcome no longer having to make midweek trips to the likes of Barrow and Oldham as has been the case in recent years.

The new arrangement will also see all rounds of the tournament played at weekends exclusive of Premier League fixtures, fifth round games having been scheduled for midweek for the last five years. The fourth round will have an extended window from Friday to Wednesday in which FA Cup ties will be played on consecutive days.

The FA Cup final will now be moved to the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season with no top-flight matches that day or on the Friday before in order “to allow focus on the build-up to the showpiece event”.

The Premier League will increase its funding to grassroots football by £33 million.

“The FA Cup is our biggest asset,” FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said. “This new agreement between the FA and the Premier League strengthens the FA Cup and gives this very special tournament exclusive weekends in an increasingly busy calendar.

“We have also agreed new funding for the grassroots game, disability football and the women's and girls' game.

“All football begins at the grassroots, and this is recognised by the Premier League with very welcome additional financial support.”

Premier League chief executive, Richard Masters, added: “The Premier League is proud of the investment it provides to all levels of the game and this new agreement with the FA will see us enhance our support into grassroots football.

“This will improve facilities for communities and lower league clubs across the country, through the Football Foundation and Premier League Stadium Fund.

“Throughout our discussions, both parties have been committed to enhancing the scheduling of the Emirates FA Cup, a hugely important domestic competition with a storied history.

“The FA and the Premier League have worked in partnership to deliver more exclusive weekends without compromising the excitement of knockout football and this has been achieved at the same time as allowing us to ease fixture congestion generally.”

The Premier League has also scrapped its mid-season break to allow the season to start in mid-August, allowing players to get a consecutive three-week break in the summer, following expert advice from medical and technical departments.

Just another sad decision, where would we be without those wonderful memories of our Three games against Leeds Utd back in the day. Some will agree with it, I think its tragic.

It was actually 4 games against Leeds Mike and I went to three of them, two at Filbert Street Leicester where a 17yr old Johnny Wark made his debut in the 3rd replay, and what a player he turned out to be. Unfortunately I missed the first replay at Leeds where Duncan McKenzie scored a late equaliser, after the first match at Portman Road which was drawn 0-0.

As I recall it wasn’t a huge crowd on the Thursday night as I guess fans were running out of money and the ability to take time off work. In the 70’s Leeds were a pretty much disliked team and the Leicester fans sided with Ipswich and boosted our support and were well rewarded with a brilliant game of football.

For me no replays is another nail in the FA Cup coffin and further evidence of the Premiers League's dominance over English football. A sad day for the English Football League.

[Charnwood]

The FA Cup will always hold some of the best and worse memories for me following ITFC. The 4 games against Leeds, went to the home game when the record crowd was set (38,010) and the 4th game at Filbert Street where Clive Woods finally settled the tie with his banana shot. Will never forget the semi-final win against West Brom, which for me was even better than the Final itself as it confirmed Town were going to play in a FA Cup final. I was fortunate enough to be at both games.
The lows were the semi final replay in 75 against West Ham at Stamford Bridge, the most down I have ever felt coming out of a ground as I was sure that was going to be our year after beating Liverpool and Leeds in previous rounds. The other was the semi final defeat against Man City at Villa Park in 81. Still have that Paul Power free kick lodge somewhere in the memory box now.
As has already been said it is just not the same competition now.

Apologies for not reading this before my previous post which has been sitting in my drafts box all day as I was distracted before I finished.

I was at all these games too Shed plus the 2rd replay at Filbert Street two nights earlier which I think also ended goal less. Like you I enjoyed the Semi Final v WBA at Highbury far more than the Final itself, I think it was just the sheer emotion of knowing we were going to Wembley. It one thing singing ‘We’re on our way to Wembley” but something very different when you know it’s actually going to happen.
My birthday is 4 Jan and when I was younger my Birthday treat was always to go to the 3rd Round FA Cup tie wherever Town played and continue watching every game until we were knocked out. It was a fun thing to do and I kept it up for a long time.

[number 9]

Unfortunately no matter how you perceive it, penalties are part of the game now. World Cup, Euro Championships, Champions League etal all come down to penalties. Why should the FA Cup be different?

[number 9]

Maybe it will entice managers to put out stronger line ups?

[arana peligrosa]

They've made so many changes, alterations and f*cked around with the whole concept of competition in recent years this doesn't really strike as any great surprise. Some would argue it's unfortunate and regrettable but the idea this tournament was ever considered as being the greatest elimination competition in world 'football' fell apart or held no ground a long time before this decision was ever called upon or imposed.

For us and many older fans in particular it's kind of immaterial as never again will I witness any Town team winning the damn thing once more so then you're just looking at other club names and what they can hope to achieve. There's no real tradition anymore. The signs were there (that) things were on a downward spiral ever since last four games were played at a national stadium and not neutral venues. Been no Final replays for 30 years, it's too bad they had to end it and continue into a second game to find a winner and progressively it's been in decline since.

Don't think this implementation is permanent, if read right it's only for a few seasons ahead and even (before) then some indecisive fool may just endure a change of heart and revert it back to it's natural order. Think someone else stated there's far more important matters out there to concern over but all said while it's a pity and ill-advised many would do well to realize or remember they've messed around with the format of competition so much in recent time many just won't view this as anything overly shattering or some disaster epic.

[NWS]

No mention of Sam Corne in those posts.

Hope you make the prem though.

We get Aveley at home in the play offs on Wednesday.