For some while I have been thinking about the demise of the FA Cup and how it could be reinvigorated and have concluded that we should adopt the same policy as we do for the Euro Finals and the World Cup. If a team wishes to enter the FA Cup then they must name a squad of say 18 players and those are the only players that can represent the club in the tournament for that season. So clubs like Utd, City, Arsenal and Chelsea would have to decide right at the beginning of the competition whether they are going to take the competition seriously. They would not be able to play a weakened side in the early rounds and then bring in the big guns later in the competition. This would seem to me to be a very fair policy and would make the competition more competitive.
that's a really good idea. And add to it, that if injuries restrict selections, then only under 18's from academys can be used. Maybe try it with the League Cup first.
The danger would be if the top clubs decide to put out a squad of reserves and youth players it would devalue the Cup even more than it currently is. I think it's a good idea though. Maybe the rules should stipulate that any player in the squad should have played so many games in the first team?
Sorry...but Nigel does this too. Stephens, Ward-Prowse, Reeves and more got a run out in the FA Cup this season and it is an important opportunity that they can't get otherwise. And for that reason, I'm out. Chilco - a similar(ish) rule in the JPT says that you have to use six of the players that played the previous league game, or something like that. The result is this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14626390 Perhaps they could introduce a seeding system so that the minnows who make it to the third round are more likely to get a big day out. On the other hand, if they are drawn against a beatable team then they could progress even further...
We could get rid of the league cup or turn it into an U23 cup to make the FA cup the one that's woth winning.
You can't reinvigorate the FA cup by rule changes, because no matter what you do, the premier league is king, and most managers now just see the cup as an opportunity for Dietmar Van Nostrilbooy to get injured, which will then stop their teams push for the title/4th place/survival/promotion/12th place. If you want to bring an ounce of credibility back the first thing they should do is rip up the sponsorship contract with Budweiser, then make the FA cup final kick off at 3PM on the Saturday AFTER the league season finishes. Then bar ITV from having anything to do with covering it. The only things that would really reinvigorate the cup are impossible (e.g. make its prize money more than the premier league, give the winners a place in the champions league [or guarantee the winners that they wont be in the Europa league] or give the FA cup winners an automatic bye into the premier league the following season).
This! Turns the league cup into a bridge between the FA Cup and FA Youth Cup. Maybe Olympics rules? You register three players over 23 and everyone else must be younger. It wouldn't be as weak as some may think. For example, a potential Newcastle's side could be; Krul Tavernier Coloccini Santon Abeid Ben Arfa Amalfatino Vuckic Ferguson De Jong Sameobi With a choice of youth players to step in for injuries. If all clubs followed the same rules it'd still be a competition worth winning and would separate it further from the FA Cup.
I really think the best solution is for the FA Cup to be the only cup for teams down to the Conference. I know this means you're depriving smaller teams of the chance to win a trophy like the League Cup or the JPT, but those aren't major achievements anyway. Sure, we have fond memories of our JPT win, but I don't think it was really that important to us. We'd all have traded it for promotion instead that year, as promotion is the thing that clubs below the Premier League want more than anything else. I reckon if every team down to the Conference just played in one league and one cup, that'd make the cup more special.
I would be against seeding in the FA Cup...big clubs are favoured enough. That would be a tradition change I would get cross about. So what if teams field a weakened side...you get all the fun of a giant-killing as a top team are left with egg on their face. The FA Cup Final should be returned to the end of the season to give it back its importance.
Europe has killed cup competitions , it should be win the league and you are in the champions league , and win the cup and you get a place in the cup winners cup . that would make the FA cup a lot more competitive .
It's a shame they're not allowed to give a Champions League place to the FA Cup winners instead of 4th in the Prenier League. It pains me to see that it is financially more prestigious for a club to finish 4th in the League than to win the oldest and best known domestic knock-out competition in the world.
The problem with doing that is I fear we would very quickly lose that 4th place if you gave it to the cup winners. Just imagine Portsmouth in the Champions league! As it stands, after the poor performance of clubs in recent years we are in danger of losing it anyway. IIRC if Chelsea hadn't won the thing then it was looking close. Personally, I don't care about losing it, in fact I think it would be better if no clubs from England qualified for the champions league, but there we go.
I think it's a little bit of a myth that the FA cup is not important to clubs. Bar a rare unsavory blip in 2008 the competition has been won by the top clubs in recent years. I do think the FA need to reinstate it as the last domestic fixture and get final day as a stand alone game. It's unfortunate that clubs use the competition to utilize the squad but that's more a reflection of a change in the game. 30-40 years ago clubs used 15 players in a league season and Now it's over 30
Not sure that would make any difference to Utd or City, or even Arsenal. Might be enough to scare Liverpool and Spurs into playing pretty much their best teams though - but then again, Liverpool pretty much took the competition seriously last season any way.
Does anybody want to play in the Europa League anyway? Clubs like Tottenham see it as almost a punishment.
