Fifa are to blame with their international tournament scheduling.
But ultimately the nail in the coffin was the added time this season… they really couldn’t understand that increasing each game time by 10% is the equivalent of 10% more games in a season.
Worst part about the FA Cup thing is the actual amount of replays is ridiculously small for the top flight teams.
Trading in the soul of the game for £. Only we care about tradition.
What makes me laugh about this is the top teams could field a second string 11 in an FA cup replay which would still be made up of international standard players. Yet they’re still bitching about it.
Those replays have sometimes saved clubs from bankruptcy all for getting a tie against a PL team at home. But oh well the top PL clubs apparently don’t have the capability to rotate anymore.
It’s not saving the European clubs anything though, with the extra 2-4 European games they may be playing now, but that’s ok.
How about scrapping pointless international friendlies instead of FA Cup replays. Should only play a few friendlies before any international tournaments. And the Euro League crap should be scrapped too.
This PL/CL duopoly has killed every other tournament to the point where clubs view them as worthless.
Surely now, the League Cup and FA Cup are identical except for the two legged semis. The League Cup is already known to be the lesser cup, so it is time to scrap it and try to give the FA Cup a boost and also solving the fixture overload problem.
Give the cup a Champions League spot, especially if we get a 5th spot in a season. People have talked about it for years and it has been the obvious solution but we haven’t done it still. It means Premier League clubs are 4-6 games away from a CL spot (depending on who wins and makes the final) and the boat load of money that comes with it, which also solves the problem of teams playing weak teams.
If this is really going to happen, we should take the Coup de France route and let the lower league sides choose if they’d rather play against home or away.
More money for the already wealthy.
It is simply disgusting that the replays have been scrapped. For what?
To save a premier league club the trouble of having to go through it all again they’ll instead put clubs through the agony of extra time and a penalty shootout.
With the added agony that the bigger sides will no doubt progress because they simply have bigger and more quality within their squads and can just field other players without dropping quality as the match progresses.
So we’ll be far less likely to see a lower division side in the finals of the FA Cup ever again.
Add to this these replays have frequently saved league and non league clubs alike from bankruptcy!
Great one premier league, just destroy football traditions and clubs!
Next a super league or world league will be put about and they will warm towards having a league with no promotion or relegation risk playing games in different continents and countries all over the world.
We’ve allowed American led ownership of sides and this has tainted the league now to such an extent that they are now dictating their demands and putting them through as they now control the bulk of the premier league votes.
They bought in FFP to stop Newcastle spending, that’s had the added effect of causing the bulk of English sides to fall down the European pecking order and England to lose out in the race for an extra champions league place due to its bite.
They now want to bring in salary caps too again most likely to stop the likes of Newcastle which they are scared witless will become a monster, basically this will mean that English sides will then be unable to compete with other European sides as thee sides won’t be limited to what they can pay players.
They are effectively destroying what led to the English game becoming so good.
It was the lack of limits in the premier league that made it so exciting.
That clubs could spend whatever they wanted with no limitations has allowed this league to flourish.
Bringing in limitations is all well and good if it is for genuine reasons of safeguarding the longevity of clubs.
But in the instance of FFP it has been to hold back clubs from being able to catch up with those at the top of the pile and the more legislation they bring in the worse this will get.
Effectively these owners want to do to the premier league exactly what they had planned in a super league no movement.
They’re doing this by simply making sure unless you are part of the establishment or the establishment in some way deems you worthy you can’t possibly catch up.
For clubs such as Newcastle who have owners rich enough to put money in from their own pockets it should be allowed.
FFP should be changed so that it allows for owners to put money into clubs as long as that money comes from a legitimate source and is not leveraged against the club in some way or coming from debts.
Effectively FFP should be there to guarantee clubs won’t go bankrupt due to owners spending money the club or they don’t have but it shouldn’t stop an owner from spending they money they do have or a club from spending what it can.
As long as clubs are run sustainably and owners can afford to put in this should be allowed because this is what has made the English leagues become so great in the first place.
Whilst money and spending shouldn’t be the aim for all clubs it also shouldn’t be something that can’t be done, Blackburn, Man City, Chelsea etc would never have won things in the premier league if they hadn’t been allowed to spend. If that had been the case then the premier league would probably have just ended up being Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd all the way and imagine the loss of excitement and how boring it would all be.
Corruption in football is rife it is like a cartel, if fans (real fans) want football and our leagues especially the English leagues to go from strength to strength we have to stand up and demand that our owners and the leagues make things work right.
Things have to work for the good of clubs and fans, owners should be able to spend what they want if that money is from legitimate funds not linked to crime or debt etc and not leveraged in any way on the club.
That is after all money and the money is what made the English leagues so great in the first place, if we limit spending on wages and players etc we destroy the very ethos of what made this league.
Can you imagine watching transfer deadline day and seeing PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid etc etc breaking records whilst the English sides don’t/won’t spend because they are scared to go over FFP ? How uneventful for all of us.
So it’s the American owners fault, but poor Newcastle are just a plucky underdog trying to survive are they? I broadly agree scrapping replays is awful however.
They’ve saved a game or two a year at the behest of bigger competitions, which will fill that gap with something lucrative for them. Nothing new, etc., etc.
I like the cups and would love to see my team win one, given that it’s been almost 30 years, but clearly something needs to change before both of them sink into irrelevance.
Scrapping the League Cup just means one less opportunity for sides below mid-table to win something. Limiting entry to clubs that aren’t playing in Europe might be better. It’d increase the excitement for the sides involved given that the winner goes into the Europa Conference League qualifying round – a new side in Europe guaranteed.
The FA Cup will be given a boost by being the one domestic cup on offer for the ‘big’ sides, and replays should be retained for the good of the lower league sides.
15 comments
For large piles of cash.
Money. Next question
Fifa are to blame with their international tournament scheduling.
But ultimately the nail in the coffin was the added time this season… they really couldn’t understand that increasing each game time by 10% is the equivalent of 10% more games in a season.
Worst part about the FA Cup thing is the actual amount of replays is ridiculously small for the top flight teams.
Trading in the soul of the game for £. Only we care about tradition.
What makes me laugh about this is the top teams could field a second string 11 in an FA cup replay which would still be made up of international standard players. Yet they’re still bitching about it.
Those replays have sometimes saved clubs from bankruptcy all for getting a tie against a PL team at home. But oh well the top PL clubs apparently don’t have the capability to rotate anymore.
It’s not saving the European clubs anything though, with the extra 2-4 European games they may be playing now, but that’s ok.
How about scrapping pointless international friendlies instead of FA Cup replays. Should only play a few friendlies before any international tournaments. And the Euro League crap should be scrapped too.
This PL/CL duopoly has killed every other tournament to the point where clubs view them as worthless.
Surely now, the League Cup and FA Cup are identical except for the two legged semis. The League Cup is already known to be the lesser cup, so it is time to scrap it and try to give the FA Cup a boost and also solving the fixture overload problem.
Give the cup a Champions League spot, especially if we get a 5th spot in a season. People have talked about it for years and it has been the obvious solution but we haven’t done it still. It means Premier League clubs are 4-6 games away from a CL spot (depending on who wins and makes the final) and the boat load of money that comes with it, which also solves the problem of teams playing weak teams.
If this is really going to happen, we should take the Coup de France route and let the lower league sides choose if they’d rather play against home or away.
More money for the already wealthy.
It is simply disgusting that the replays have been scrapped. For what?
To save a premier league club the trouble of having to go through it all again they’ll instead put clubs through the agony of extra time and a penalty shootout.
With the added agony that the bigger sides will no doubt progress because they simply have bigger and more quality within their squads and can just field other players without dropping quality as the match progresses.
So we’ll be far less likely to see a lower division side in the finals of the FA Cup ever again.
Add to this these replays have frequently saved league and non league clubs alike from bankruptcy!
Great one premier league, just destroy football traditions and clubs!
Next a super league or world league will be put about and they will warm towards having a league with no promotion or relegation risk playing games in different continents and countries all over the world.
We’ve allowed American led ownership of sides and this has tainted the league now to such an extent that they are now dictating their demands and putting them through as they now control the bulk of the premier league votes.
They bought in FFP to stop Newcastle spending, that’s had the added effect of causing the bulk of English sides to fall down the European pecking order and England to lose out in the race for an extra champions league place due to its bite.
They now want to bring in salary caps too again most likely to stop the likes of Newcastle which they are scared witless will become a monster, basically this will mean that English sides will then be unable to compete with other European sides as thee sides won’t be limited to what they can pay players.
They are effectively destroying what led to the English game becoming so good.
It was the lack of limits in the premier league that made it so exciting.
That clubs could spend whatever they wanted with no limitations has allowed this league to flourish.
Bringing in limitations is all well and good if it is for genuine reasons of safeguarding the longevity of clubs.
But in the instance of FFP it has been to hold back clubs from being able to catch up with those at the top of the pile and the more legislation they bring in the worse this will get.
Effectively these owners want to do to the premier league exactly what they had planned in a super league no movement.
They’re doing this by simply making sure unless you are part of the establishment or the establishment in some way deems you worthy you can’t possibly catch up.
For clubs such as Newcastle who have owners rich enough to put money in from their own pockets it should be allowed.
FFP should be changed so that it allows for owners to put money into clubs as long as that money comes from a legitimate source and is not leveraged against the club in some way or coming from debts.
Effectively FFP should be there to guarantee clubs won’t go bankrupt due to owners spending money the club or they don’t have but it shouldn’t stop an owner from spending they money they do have or a club from spending what it can.
As long as clubs are run sustainably and owners can afford to put in this should be allowed because this is what has made the English leagues become so great in the first place.
Whilst money and spending shouldn’t be the aim for all clubs it also shouldn’t be something that can’t be done, Blackburn, Man City, Chelsea etc would never have won things in the premier league if they hadn’t been allowed to spend. If that had been the case then the premier league would probably have just ended up being Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd all the way and imagine the loss of excitement and how boring it would all be.
Corruption in football is rife it is like a cartel, if fans (real fans) want football and our leagues especially the English leagues to go from strength to strength we have to stand up and demand that our owners and the leagues make things work right.
Things have to work for the good of clubs and fans, owners should be able to spend what they want if that money is from legitimate funds not linked to crime or debt etc and not leveraged in any way on the club.
That is after all money and the money is what made the English leagues so great in the first place, if we limit spending on wages and players etc we destroy the very ethos of what made this league.
Can you imagine watching transfer deadline day and seeing PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid etc etc breaking records whilst the English sides don’t/won’t spend because they are scared to go over FFP ? How uneventful for all of us.
So it’s the American owners fault, but poor Newcastle are just a plucky underdog trying to survive are they? I broadly agree scrapping replays is awful however.
They’ve saved a game or two a year at the behest of bigger competitions, which will fill that gap with something lucrative for them. Nothing new, etc., etc.
I like the cups and would love to see my team win one, given that it’s been almost 30 years, but clearly something needs to change before both of them sink into irrelevance.
Scrapping the League Cup just means one less opportunity for sides below mid-table to win something. Limiting entry to clubs that aren’t playing in Europe might be better. It’d increase the excitement for the sides involved given that the winner goes into the Europa Conference League qualifying round – a new side in Europe guaranteed.
The FA Cup will be given a boost by being the one domestic cup on offer for the ‘big’ sides, and replays should be retained for the good of the lower league sides.