not to do with safc directly, but was reading on another site and a suggestion about the fa.cup, as the bigger teams have turned the oldest cup competition in the world into a training ground for the youth etc. and under- valueing this great tournament, to add extra interst why dont they give the winners of the fa.cup the fouth placed berth in the c/l. while some may laugh at this the c/l is surely for champions not 4th place, so champions of the cup is surely more worthy than someone who came 4th. any thoughts?
I've had this chat before, and i think it's a good idea. The FA would never do it though cos they are a pack of cowards and won't upset the applecart. On a negative, more often than not a top 4 side wins the cup anyway, so it would revert back to the league, and back to 4th.
i would wholeheartedly endorse this, and have it so that if the winner of the fa cup is inside the top 3 anyway (the 3 cl berths from the league), the losing finalists get the 4th cl spot. the fa cup would immediately become worth a serious amount of money to the winner, and even if a duff team got into the final and the champions league, the money they could make would be an incredible amount. it would mix up the league a bit as well as invariably a new team would get the cl money each season. 4th and 5th in the league for europa league, along with the league cup winners.
good post but with the exception of portsmouth, who was the last team to win it outside the top 4? this isn't a sarcastic reply and i do agree with the o.p. but its most of the prem clubs, not just the top 4, hence the embarrassing attendences that suggests its not an important competition anymore. A crying shame that this once great cup competition is dying a slow death
I think there is a serious case for scrapping the League Cup, to place more emphasis on the FA Cup. The attendances are terrible this season, so ticket prices have to be looked at to attract fans because many clubs, such as ours, are even struggling to fill stadia for premier league matches this season because of the economic climate and illegal broadcasts. Maybe the FA can arrange a ticket pricing escalator, starting off at ã10 then gradually increasing prices as clubs progress through the rounds?
Everyting UK is coming second to champions league etc, increase the prize money, then you will see a big turn around.
