Leicester 10 changes and Derby 8 for the fourth round replay tonight follows nearly every team putting weak sides out in the last round. If nobody wants to play in this cup shouldn't we just bin it?
This should have been added years ago but the PL don't want to give that place up for the battle for 4th.
Mebbe not but I reckon winning a properly challenged FA Cup might be comparable to finishing a distant fourth. After all, they call it the Champions League not the Also Rans League
Any **** team with a **** manager and a nice easy draw can nearly win the Cup. They shouldn't represent us in the champions league. FACT
Winning 6 games where you could meet teams from a lower division in every round is not going to ever win a place in the Champions League decided on 38 games. Our FA might consider , though I doubt it as clubs wouldn't vote for it by a large enough majority, but EUFA wouldn't. Maybe they should scrap the European League and bring back the Cupwinners Cup. Of course they won't,far more games and money to be extracted from TV deals not to mention a second chance for any of the big clubs who **** up in the. Champions League.
A complete new design of the comp is needed, like this: R1 48 league 1 and league 2 sides, plus 40 non league = 88 teams, 44 games R2 44 winners, plus 24 Championship sides = 68 teams, 34 games R3 34 winners, plus 10 Premier League sides, ie those who finished 11 to 17 inc the previous season and the three promoted from the champ = 44 sides, 22 games R4 22 winners, plus 10 Premier League sides ie those who finished 1 to 10, the previous season = 32 sides, 16 games R5 last 16 and so on.. No replays..Drawn games go to pen shoot out. FA Winners play the team that finished fourth in the Prem for a Champions league place.
The FA Cup was the most valued cup competition , with all it's history. It's still probably watched in many countries. Is there any European place of any kind on offer now? Part of specialness went when replays no longer decided games, that showed how it was no longer thought important.
If every paricipating club took the competition seriously with full strength teams, as used to be the case, the cream would rise to the top in most instances and be equipped to participate in the CL. The occasional "minnow triumph" such as the Jim Montgomery/Ian Porterfield/ Sunderland experience of 1973 simply adds to the beauty of the competition and would add interest to the CL.
You'd think by now Savage's agent would have told him that other pundits treat him like a needy or special needs kid, and that he needs to make a sea change in terms of improving his insight, analysis and presentation.
Cup winning history show that isn't necessarily the case going back to when teams really did want to win the Cup. Why would our Cup winners add interest to the CL? All the other countries would have no interest in whether our Cupwinners were in the CL. As for Cupwinners being equipped for the CL, in 39 seasons our clubs only won it 8 times despite a lot of countries not taking their Cup competitions as seriously as ourselves and some pretty weak teams being in it.
The competition was well and truly devalued when Man U opted out in 1999 in favour of another competition.
