This World Cup and the FA Cup in England

[TomtheOwl95]

Football is fine as it is. All they need to do in my opinion is move the FA Cup semi finals to neutral venues and the National team around the country. Leave Wembley for finals.

[nevthelodgemoorowl]

 

[Buxtongent]

For over a  hundred years, the Fa Cup ws a major attraction.and run happlily alongside the Football League. The Qualifying rounds were  used to thin out the huge number of minor / non league clubs, unil the lower divisions were entered at Round 1 Proper. This led to theappearance of some 'giant-killers' who could upset the normal balance of things, and gave them  some hope of playing on a bigger stage.. Atround 3 the 'big boys' entered, and there were always upsets with some large teams falling by the wayside.. The semi-final stage was four clubs, competing for a place in the final, and played at a neutral grund (often Hillsborough) for the priviledge of meeting at the hallowed turf of Wembley. The decline in the FA cup started with the introduction of the League Cup . Forbid it that the 'blazers' of the FA, whch represents ALL clubs, shpuld be able to tell the bankers of the League Clubs how to do anything on their own. From that moment, the clubs would have their own private competitioj, and the grass root clubs of soccer - the Farsley Celtics , the Blyth Spartansa  and many more were ignored. Woe betide anybody who looked liketaking peference over their forays into Europe. . Then MONEY raised its ugly head again, and tthe semi's were moved to Wembley.

If we want to bring back the majic of the cup, reinstate it as it was. If the big ckubs don't want to play ball - so be it.. There was a great fuss when the mighty Manure refsed to play in it because they could play in the World Champions Club  fixture.. Did the  Cup fail?  Not b****y likely.

Stop fiddling aboutwith bthe FACup. It is a sacred pat of our footballlng history

[Utah Owl]

It would be an interesting experiment, however I would run it slightly differently.

 

For starters, all the qualifying rounds etc could take place as usual until we get to the 3rd round. The 3rd and 4th rounds have always been blank Saturdays for the top two flights anyway, so these could be moved to the end of the season with regular fixtures taking place in the slots previously reserved for these games so the regular season would finish two weeks earlier.  Then play the FA Cup over 3 weeks from May 1st as follows:

 

1st Saturday in May - 3rd Round

Midweek - 4th Round

2nd Saturday in May - 5th Round

Midweek  - 6th Round

3rd Saturday in May - Semi Finals

4th Saturday - Final

 

All games to be played to a finish on the day. Possibly also introduce Golden Goal into the extra time element.

 

An alternate way would have to be found to schedule play offs though which might mean a couple more midweek fixtures so the league could finish earlier in April to create additional space.

[Rogerwyldesmullet]

The big boys take the FA Cup more seriously than Championship clubs these days. I still haven’t forgiven Jos for that team selection v Swansea - no amount of late season Atty strikes will remove my deep reservations. 

 

It used to be one of the few live matches screened one of the few chances to go to Wembley and unless we had a club in a European final, normally the last game of the season. Multiple ways of getting to Wembley,  Championship teams pushing for play offs and Premier League teams involved in late stage European action - it has been diminished and marginalised.

 

In 1993 it was still a game that (just about) stopped the nation. By the noughties, when Michael Owen had just scored a double to win it for Liverpool in Cardiff, the interviewer asked him about the “big game next week” which would determine whether they would get into the Champions league. Owen disbelievingly and rightly said “we’ve just won the FA Cup” but by then the Media had decided what the priorities were and the FA Cup was no longer it. 

 

Over televised and over exposed - no wonder it had lost its mystique. If I had any tears left (the ducts finally seized up when we sold Chris Brunt), I would shed them - a sigh is the best I can manage.