Newport v Leicester

[RailwayRowdy]

The FA Cup is dead.

 

Liverpool’s team tonight shows exactly what clubs now think of the world’s oldest competition.

 

For the older generation, the FA Cup was the highlight of the season. Now, I even forget it’s 3rd Round weekend.

 

Whilst it’s still good to see lower league teams beating their more illustrious counterparts, where is the satisfaction in beating basically a reserve team ?

 

The much vaunted “magic” of the FA Cup disappeared into the ether many years ago. It’s a pity that the Greed Is Good League could not follow in similar fashion.

[melv]

The FA Cup is dead.

 

Liverpool’s team tonight shows exactly what clubs now think of the world’s oldest competition.

 

For the older generation, the FA Cup was the highlight of the season. Now, I even forget it’s 3rd Round weekend.

 

Whilst it’s still good to see lower league teams beating their more illustrious counterparts, where is the satisfaction in beating basically a reserve team ?

 

The much vaunted “magic” of the FA Cup disappeared into the ether many years ago. It’s a pity that the Greed Is Good League could not follow in similar fashion.

 

The FA cup has certainly devalued by the so called bigger teams.Yes it’s good to see the younger players to be given a go(Class of 92).But the reason that the younger players get given that chance is because these bigger teams have devalued the FA cup.I had an idea years ago (When Fergie was at Utd)These bigger teams should be given an option to decide if they want to be in the FA cup or not.But IF they decide they don’t want to take part in it . Then that club is not allowed to take part in it for a set period (3 or 5 years).The draw could still be made as it is now.But the team that got drawn against the bigger cant be bothered team then gets a bye to the next round

[pjg1876]

If Sjoke beat Shrewsbury, home to Wolves in next round. We play Carlisle at home on same day. Wonder if league games will still take preference then ?

[RailwayRowdy]

The FA cup has certainly devalued by the so called bigger teams.Yes it’s good to see the younger players to be given a go(Class of 92).But the reason that the younger players get given that chance is because these bigger teams have devalued the FA cup.I had an idea years ago (When Fergie was at Utd)These bigger teams should be given an option to decide if they want to be in the FA cup or not.But IF they decide they don’t want to take part in it . Then that club is not allowed to take part in it for a set period (3 or 5 years).The draw could still be made as it is now.But the team that got drawn against the bigger cant be bothered team then gets a bye to the next round

 

I hear what you say Melv.

 

But my understanding of the rules of the competition are that all Geeed Is Good and EFL clubs HAVE to compete. Most PL clubs would not enter if they had a choice, hence their weakened sides.

 

But, the sheep mentality thereby follows when virtually every league club competing does the same thing.

 

We now see clubs reducing prices like you would for a pre season friendly, but still fans won’t go to the games in the numbers they used to. Why ? Because even fans now see it as a second rate competition. And that’s a shame.

 

And all thanks to a Knight Of The Realm in the shape of the Cheshire Cat that is Sir Alex Bloody Ferguson.

[melv]

I hear what you say Melv.

 

But my understanding of the rules of the competition are that all Geeed Is Good and EFL clubs HAVE to compete. Most PL clubs would not enter if they had a choice, hence their weakened sides.

 

But, the sheep mentality thereby follows when virtually every league club competing does the same thing.

 

We now see clubs reducing prices like you would for a pre season friendly, but still fans won’t go to the games in the numbers they used to. Why ? Because even fans now see it as a second rate competition. And that’s a shame.

 

And all thanks to a Knight Of The Realm in the shape of the Cheshire Cat that is Sir Alex Bloody Ferguson.

 

Ironically they have wormed their way in to the Checkatrade trophy to the detriment of the lower level teams

[darren1810]

Puts the recent PVFC vs Oldham game into a bit of context.

 

in what respect?

[The Kalamazoo Kid]

If Sjoke beat Shrewsbury, home to Wolves in next round. We play Carlisle at home on same day. Wonder if league games will still take preference then ?

 

Stoke v Wolves would possibly not be a Saturday 3pm game anyway, with some FA Cup games getting switched to Sunday for that BBC Live Score thing they do, where they follow 6-8 games, showing goals as they happen (our game at Exeter was on it!)

[Howjy04]

I hear what you say Melv.

 

But my understanding of the rules of the competition are that all Geeed Is Good and EFL clubs HAVE to compete. Most PL clubs would not enter if they had a choice, hence their weakened sides.

 

But, the sheep mentality thereby follows when virtually every league club competing does the same thing.

 

We now see clubs reducing prices like you would for a pre season friendly, but still fans won’t go to the games in the numbers they used to. Why ? Because even fans now see it as a second rate competition. And that’s a shame.

 

And all thanks to a Knight Of The Realm in the shape of the Cheshire Cat that is Sir Alex Bloody Ferguson.

 

The FA CUP winners qualifying for the Champions League ,instead of the fourth placed finisher in the Prem,may put the competition back to its former level.

[For Us All]

I hear what you say Melv.

 

But my understanding of the rules of the competition are that all Geeed Is Good and EFL clubs HAVE to compete. Most PL clubs would not enter if they had a choice, hence their weakened sides.

 

But, the sheep mentality thereby follows when virtually every league club competing does the same thing.

 

We now see clubs reducing prices like you would for a pre season friendly, but still fans won’t go to the games in the numbers they used to. Why ? Because even fans now see it as a second rate competition. And that’s a shame.

 

And all thanks to a Knight Of The Realm in the shape of the Cheshire Cat that is Sir Alex Bloody Ferguson.

 

Changing kick-off times to 12.30 hasn't helped the competition either.Only 10 of the 32 games kicked off on the Saturday at 3pm.

[smithie]

Weakened teams, shafted kick-off times, semi's at Wembley, marginalisation of the Cup by the FA, negligible coverage by some newspapers and TV channels, the 10-day rule for replays.....stick all that together and that's why the FA Cup is crap now.

 

When we lost to Enfield and when we beat Spurs, it was national news and back-page headlines the day after both games. Now any Cup upset gets a short mention, especially if there's a game of global interest taking place in the Premier League (Bournemouth v Watford for example ).

[For Us All]

The number of changes made for FA Cup games,especially by PL teams needs to be controlled but I doubt that the FA have the ***** to do anything?

[valiant steve]

The FA CUP winners qualifying for the Champions League ,instead of the fourth placed finisher in the Prem,may put the competition back to its former level.

 

Spot on, great idea.

[Fosse69]

The FA CUP winners qualifying for the Champions League ,instead of the fourth placed finisher in the Prem,may put the competition back to its former level.

But call it the European Cup, since it is not restricted to Champions.

[RailwayRowdy]

The FA CUP winners qualifying for the Champions League ,instead of the fourth placed finisher in the Prem,may put the competition back to its former level.

 

In theory Howjy that sounds a good idea.

 

However, in the 26 FA Cup competitions since the formation of the Greed Is Good League, the winners and times they have won it is as follows,

 

Arsenal(8), Chelsea(7), Utd(5), Liverpool(2), Citeh(1), Everton(1), Portsmouth(1), Wigan(1)

 

So what’s my point ? Well my point is quite simple.

 

Apart from Everton, Wigan and Portsmouth, all the winners are teams who are already in the mix to qualify for the Champions League through league position automatically, so qualifying for the Champions League by winning the FA Cup would only have made a difference in 3 out of 26 occasions !

 

The worrying thing about these stats is that even with reserve, or at least extremely weakened teams, the big boys who don’t even give a toss, still win it anyway !

 

Arsenal, Chelsea & Utd have won 20 out 26 tournaments ! And this is supposedly the trophy that “anyone” can win !

 

Staggering. Quite staggering !

[RailwayRowdy]

A look at the last 26 FA Cup winners prior to the Premier League makes interesting reading by comparison.

 

Liverpool(4), Spurs(4), Utd(4), WHU(2), Arsenal(2), & WBA, Citeh, Chelsea, Leeds, Sunderland, Southampton, Ipswich, Everton, Coventry and Wimbledon all one apiece.

 

So in the 26 year Premier League era, we have had only 8 different FA Cup winners, but in the last 26 years of the old system we had 15.

 

Interesting.