Consideration by the Fa and premier league to ruin the competition by making it midweek with no replays to ease fixture congestion. Personally I think its a crap idea. Part of the magic of the fa cup is giant away days. A move to midweek will move the competition down to the same level as the league cup and ruin it l.
Good video on BBCs website last night showing the greatest replay moments which included Ryan Giggs wonder goal and Ronnie Radfords famous goal for Hereford against Newcastle- Yes, magic moments, but very rarely these days do we get an upset- The FA Cup is a distraction to the big clubs until the business end of the competition, and as was the case when Exeter played Liverpool down this part of the world, the locals got all excited only to see a Liverpool team that other than Benteke, had no one in there that had played more than 4 games- There were 7 debuts in all if I remember. We had out chance v West Brom but quite frankly, a smaller club has to do it on the day as they very rarely win the replay. Who knows, we might have won that game at West Brom had it had gone to penalties at the end of extra time. They do it with the paint pot cup and there is no harm done there.
that is where it becomes jobsworth's ... without replays it is not going to change the number of fixtures so no changes needed there .. a replay midweek? well we play games midweek so no change there again this wrankles the skin because you get a couple of the top 6 prem clubs playing in Europe and they spill tears because THEY ARE SO BIG THEY want to win everything and although having AT LEAST THE ABILITY TO PUT OUT 3 teams at the same time want it even softer.... I say pee wee off and leave things alone ..
If they are going to scrap replays then the EPL should be prepared to make far big payments to the football leagues below them to compensate for easing their fixture list and the potential loss of revenue for the smaller clubs. Conversely English clubs were FAR more successful when the top division had 22 clubs, the league cup had rounds of two leg games and it was possible in the FA cup to see games replayed two, three, four and sometimes more times. The FA there are trying to manipulate football for the financial benefit of the very few ... AGAIN. Mr Blatter would be proud of similar behaviour.
Oxford put Swansea out of the FA Cup this season. But all of footballs romance (what's left of it !!) is being destroyed by yet more greed whilst history, and the fundamental interests of the game go out of the window.
Decisions aren't based on logic and common sense anymore but rather by the almighty smell of money. If you truly believe that the footballing monarchs will allow any changes that might benefit us rather than them, then I have a nice cheap bridge for sale up north.
You're right, they did- Used to love the shock results when I was young especially- I remember Colchester beating Leeds 3-2, the Hereford game of course, Wimbledon as they were when non league and Sutton Utd beating Coventry. None of course eclipse our win in 1974 over the what was then the biggest team in the country, Leeds and our away win at 2.30pm in midweek because of the miners strike-
Moving it to midweek will degrade the competition. I hope the Fa fail to budge and if teams don't want to compete they can clear off. Of course the prem always wins which is a shame.
This is just another example of rich Premier League clubs wanting more and more and sh*tting on the Fottball League
It all just somehow seemed much more real than......but that'll be my age talking. Horrible muddy pitches at all levels in Winter covered in sand, Chelsea and Derby (Baseball Ground) particularly. Snow on the pitches, Orange footballs. Always seemed to be in the Midlands. Fog especially at places like Sunderland and Newcastle. Darlington not being able to play home games for weeks on end because Feethams was always waterlogged. Keith Weller wearing white tights Port Vale beating Spurs Halifax beating Man City Seemingly endless replays between teams in the 70's. Leicester v Leatherhead in 75' with Chris 'big mouth' Kelly playing for Leatherhead who were 2-0 up and lost 3-2. Kelly later signed for someone like Millwall I seem to remember. Our own FA cup game at Leicester in the 80's where we won 2-1 and Jackie played a blinder, which was played on virtually an ice rink at Filbert St. Wouldn't be allowed these days Non league Wimbledon drawing with Leeds at Elland Road. The awful weather against Forest in the home leg of the LC Semi in '89 that we lost 1-0 (1-2 on aggregate) The excitement of being allowed to stay up and watch Sportsnight midweek, where the football was always seemingly on last of all ! Proper heroes...Stan Bowles, Frank Worthington, Tony Currie, George Best etc. The hard men - Chopper Harris, Norman Hunter, Dave Mackay All before celebrity and stupid money took over being more important than the game itself.
Don't think its your age- We were lucky and belonged to an era when there was a lot of nostalgia attached.- Its easy to remember only the good bits thought- There have been several times that I have gone to Ashton Gate and been frightened witless by football violence- Getting soaking wet as there wasn't a roof on the stand and only having one game on match of the day in black and white that ended 0-0, but yes, all the characters seem to have disappeared out of the game. I went to a Jimmy Greaves evening a few years ago and some of the stories he told were hilarious, the same goes for Emlyn Hughes who I once had the privilege to meet-Peter Osgood, Greavsie spring to mind and Nobby Stiles and our own Gerry Gow as hard men.
City v Man U in 72 (?) was pretty hairy when the United fans smashed up Coronation Road on the way back to Temple Meads after we beat them 1-0 thanks to John Emmanuels goal. We also beat them by the same score in the return fixture at Old Trafford in injury time with a Donnie Gillies goal. The ever gracious Tommy Docherty said we were the worst team he'd ever seen. I also saw football violence at Stamford Bridge on 2 occasions, inside and outside of the ground. Once against Man U in front of 65,000 and again against West Ham. Chelsea lost both games 1-2 and 1-3 respectively. Nobby Stiles was a hard man and so was Peter Simpson of Arsenal.
I can vaguely remember my Uncle Bobby taking me to some cup games down at sloping Huish Park to see Yeovil take on some giants. Blackpool vs Bristol City at Ashton Gate and seeing Sir Stanley take us on was another great memory and I believe the crowd was 44,000. Is my memory leaving me or did we pack that many in the ground? Whatever happens don't let the greedy bastards ruin the dreams of young boys wanting to see their team play against the giants, because that's where memories are found and cherished for a lifetime.
Hi Mike Our official record home attendance was 43,335 v PNE on 16th February 1935 Other than that in my lifetime we got 37,000 at home v Leeds in the FA Cup 5th round in 1974 The replay, which we won 1-0 at Elland Road during the 3 day week was in front of 47,182 Against Liverpool at home in the 6th round where we lost 1-0 the official attendance was 37,671
Trouble is that happened when Exeter recently played Liverpool. Admittedly, Exeter suddenly discovered several fans they never knew they had but the Liverpool tem only contained one star of any note, Benteke. The others, whilst to a good standard and one or two shone,werent household names, not yet.
