FA Cup Replays

As in not a good idea

How the hell does that ‘strengthen the FA Cup’?

If that’s the case then they should allow ties to be switched at the agreement of both clubs. Maximise the income for those smaller clubs who rely on cash injections from replays

Disgrace, no care for the lower leagues at all. Just want to keep the "premier league happy" fuck off. some clubs in that Division need reminding where they came from.

Typical of the FA they don't give a fuck about anything outside their money laundering operations. On a side note not a single premiershite team in the Champions League semi finals fucking brilliant best league in the world my arse

One of the problems with football in this country is we play to much of it and to be fair to the FA it’s mostly the fault of UEFA who think that playing 12 games to eliminate 1 team and transfer 1 team to a different competition is a good idea. What the FA should be doing is a proper root and branch reform of the competitions. Get rid of the EFL trophy and the EFL cup and replace them with a new revamped league cup just for the 72 clubs in the EFL. The only time you hear the BBC covering the EFL trophy is the final and the games in the early rounds get very small crowds. The premier league teams won’t miss the league cup and will be able to play 3 or may be 4 extra league games before Christmas and the clubs who get as far as the semi finals won’t have to rearrange games after Christmas. If you do all of that there will be dates available for FA Cup replays.

One of the main reasons why I started following Chester (and lower-league football in general) in the first place was because it represented a sort of escape from all the ills of football at the top level. No state-owned clubs. No £100m transfer fees. No constant politicking between FIFA, UEFA and the leagues. No VAR. No Gary, Alan and Micah spending a couple of hours every week discussing penalty decisions. No incessant transfer rumour mill on Sky Sports News. No iShowSpeed being trotted out as a guest of honour. No hatchet jobs in the papers about our players’ personal lives.

The issue is, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to live in this state of blissful ignorance, because the power structures in English football are so fundamentally broken that a handful of clubs, egged on by the authorities, are allowed to totally desecrate the pyramid in a shameless grab for yet more money and more power, and to appease their foreign managers and execs who possess little understanding, or appreciation, of the footballing traditions of this country. Our competitions - the world’s oldest and, at least formerly, greatest - ought to be seen as a unique selling point for our sport; instead they’ve come to be seen as simply another obstacle standing in the way of football becoming a transactional industry rather than a linchpin of communities.

Today’s developments ought to be met with widespread condemnation and protests from all quarters, but we know full well they won’t be. Most of the voices in the media are either shills for the footballing money men, or have been sidelined in favour of those more obliging - the fact I’m seeing major journalists responding positively to the prospect of Premier League games being played in America or the Middle East is surely evidence enough of that. Most supporters, especially of top-flight sides, have either been priced out or are in thrall to the clubs to whom they give their unwavering support but from whom they receive nothing in return. Football mirrors society, and as is the case with contemporary England in general, the tide is being turned against us because too many people are either misguided or delusional enough to believe that what’s good for the privileged few is good enough for us all. Everyone stood by and cheered when the Premier League was formed - an explicitly avaricious move by a megalomaniacal status quo, which paved the way for what was to follow. There was uproar when the same status quo (albeit with slightly different members) tried to form the Super League, but there was precious little discussion or dissent over the developments which had emboldened the clubs to try and make the move, and will embolden them to try again in the not-too distant future.

The puppet-masters in their ivory towers destroyed top-flight football long ago. They’re now also well on their way towards destroying the World Cup, by selling it to the highest bidder every time and rolling over to the authoritarian governments that usually come out on top in said bidding war, and the Champions League, with this ridiculous and unnecessary new format. The FA Cup is simply another nuisance for them, another fly to swat on their path to complete control. Replays make no difference in the grand scheme of things to Liverpool or Manchester City, with their deep squads and state-of-the-art medical teams, but they can make the world of difference to a part-time club living hand-to-mouth, whose employees are struggling to pay their mortgages and worrying about whether the lights will still be on when they come into work in the morning. The fact that a small minority of clubs competing in the competition are given rein to make a binding decision over one of the most significant changes in its history - including regarding rounds in which they don’t even participate - is a complete farce, but it’s an inevitable symptom of the modern game. And of course, the game’s supposed custodians, entrusted with the remit of protecting everything we love about football, are happy to bend over and turn the other cheek, or to exchange brown envelopes and shake hands under the table, if it means they can get a greater slice of the pie for themselves.

We all know that the top divisions no longer have much in common with the lower ones - that ship sailed long ago, and I think it’s got to the point where we’ve begun to embrace the two almost being separate sports. Like a child that delights in stepping on ants and upsetting birds’ nests, though, the powers that be aren’t content to allow ‘real’ football to permeate at any level, even at those that pose no threat to them. Their problems have to become our problems, and the solutions to those problems usually involve the pennies being taken out of our pockets and into theirs. We’re nothing more than the fighting cocks, the jesters in the court of King Herod. We’re the prisoners in Plato’s cave, the unwilling audience to the Shakespearean tragedy unfolding before us. We’re the extras in the disaster film, or the minor characters in the TV series whose only role is to be killed by the villain. We don’t ask for a lot, yet it still appears to be too much - why can’t they even allow us to follow our pokey little clubs in peace?

This guy nails it link

Be good to get an official statement condemning this.

Tranmere Rovers condemn the disgraceful decision taken by The FA and the Premier League to change the format of the FA Cup, including the scrapping of replays.

There was no consultation with Football League clubs, National League clubs or grassroots clubs to whom the competition represents not only their best opportunity to create life-long memories for supporters but also a hugely important source of income. We also understand that FA Council members were not consulted about the changes.

The decision, and the way it was taken, demonstrate a total lack of respect for the football pyramid and its fans. Football belongs to all of us and decisions should not be taken in back room deals in which only the very wealthiest clubs are allowed to participate. It is yet another eloquent example of the 19th-century governance that means that football simply cannot regulate itself and needs the Independent Football Regulator to have real teeth.

We condemn the changes wholeheartedly and urge The FA to suspend them immediately until all stakeholders in the game are properly consulted.

You should send this to the FA. Deserves a wider audience. What do we do about it? Maybe everyone should bring tin foil FA Cups to the game on Saturday as a protest. Absolutely shocking decision and unbelievable, if the Tranmere statement is correct, that there's been no consultation. Hope we will be making representations.

All I get is sent to Facebook

If you're logged into Facebook it should take you to the statement.

Ours is here: chesterfc.com/club-statement-8/

The worst thing about it is the FA and Premier League have decided it between them. The Premier League represents 20 clubs out of the hundreds that take part in the competition, and most of them don't treat the competition with much respect as it is.

If it's not about money, why don't all the PL clubs agree to forfeit whatever share of the prize money they end up with?

Best one I’ve seen as well

Seen lots of teams putting out similar statements.

Hoping this leads to something and doesn’t fizzle out.