Ok I may be real ignorant on this one, I am sure some will tell me so. <wink> What is the actual rule/law for players who move in a transfer window being cup tied but not league tied.?
never heard of the saying league tied so cant answer that Maybe Im ignorant aswell Your cup tied if you have previously appeared for a different club in the current seasons competition.
TB, yes mate I know that but why is it different from cup to league, you potentially buy a player from a club who you have a league fixture next week & he can play, but because he may have already played in an earlier round of the cup he then can't play for his new club in a latter round, even if his previous club is out.! So why & what is the law is what I am asking.
I'm sure you know the rules, which are that in nearly all cup competitions you can only turn out for one club in that competition for that season - so if you've played in any cup and then move sides to a team that's still competing in that cup you're ineligible. The rationale was that it was to prevent teams approaching the finals of tournaments from poaching players just to help them win one or two matches. It must have been a problem when the rule was first implemented but in this age of transfer windows and top players costing an awful lot it doesn't really make any sense at the top level, but it still does at non-league level and below when you think about it - you could grab four or five of the best players from another team just to play in your cup final and then switch back again.
Actually - it might still be relevant today: let's take Bradford City as a good example. They were in the League Cup final. Let's say its the FA Cup final instead, the season's done with before the game and the wealthy Chairman rings round the Premier League clubs in April to see which top stars fancy playing in the Cup final. You can see how with no transfer window it was more of a problem, and of course people wouldn't dream of it today but in the 1950s and before who knows - so again I don't think it's as relevant today but with loans I guess it could still be a problem.
Hampy, thanks for that it does make perfect sense what you say, although like you said it probably is now pretty much obsolete now we have the transfer window in the higher reaches of the football pyramid. How far down the football pyramid does the transfer window reach.?
In this country it applies only to the Prem, Football League and the national Conference - the top five levels. I have no idea how old the rule is. But I do know that after the Munich air disaster Man United were given special dispensation to play cup-tied players and that was in 1958 so the cup-tied rule has been around probably as long as competitive football.
So theoretically, the rule is now more or less pointless, so long as the transfer windows remains in place.?
