FA Cup replay fate decided after Premier League managers' fury and ruined plans
Nuno Espirito Santo says he'll have to cancel Nottingham Forest's winter break training camp, Thomas Frank says facing a replay at Wolves was Brentford's "worse outcome in every respect" and Roy Hodgson thinks Crystal Palace facing Everton again is "the last thing either of us wanted".
Yes, it's time to talk about the dreaded FA Cup replays, with seven Premier League clubs preparing to go again after draws on third round weekend - the most in the competition in a decade.
Amid growing anger from Premier League bosses who would like their clubs to have a proper winter break, replays in the third and fourth round are set to be scrapped from next season, but given everything they can often mean to smaller clubs, is that the right decision? We asked the Mirror Football team for their views.
Daniel Orme
There is no doubt that the amount of fixtures that sides have to play are putting a worsening strain on players - the increased amount of long-term injuries clearly a consequence of that. The new Champions League format is only set to dramatically add to that issue.
The obvious solution would be to scrap FA Cup replays in favour of extra-time and penalties, a decision that the FA have approved ahead of next season. However, that would see lower-league clubs lose out on much-needed revenue.
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One potential alternative could be to ensure that lower league clubs ALWAYS play at home during both the third and fourth round of the competition. This could be easily implemented with the lower ranked side in respect of the league table automatically being drawn at home.
This would ensure that they would not lose out on crucial ticket and potentially TV revenue, while it would also go a long way to decreasing the strain that the packed fixture list is currently putting on clubs across the board.
Nuno was less than pleased at being dragged to a replay by Blackpool (ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)Mike Walters
Some of the greatest football stories ever told have been about FA Cup replays, and the only clubs bleating about them now are the gilded, selfish and scared. If the joyless stick-in-the-muds had their way, Hereford's famous giant killing replay against Newcastle in 1972 would never have happened - and John Motson's career as a BBC commentator may have remained a voice on the fringes of Saturday nights.
That was half a century ago, but the principle remains: The game is about glory, not about giving players a week off in January and pretending it's a mid-season 'break' when many clubs take their squads off to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Twelve-hour round trips on a plane? Not what most people would call 'rest'.
Some of the great Cup ties used to be marathons of two, three, even four replays. The whole drama used to be about who would blink first, so don't listen to managers of big clubs simpering and whining about players' workloads. They have bloated squads, with dozens of players desperate to show what they can do in rare appearances for the starting XI - give it to them.
They are down to the last billion, so go on: Prove you can manage a squad when it's not just 'rotation' to show how clever you are. And they all claim to respect the FA Cup's traditions. Don't make me laugh - I've seen notes to the milkman with more literary merit than some of the weakened teams you lot have put out.
Here's the rub: Players prefer playing matches, not training ground drill sergeants running them into the ground. Let them play. And if you're worried about filling your ground for an unbudgeted fixture on a Tuesday night: How about making the tickets a fiver each? Blackpool manager Neil Critchley is dead right. Get on with it.
Neil Critchley was delighted at forcing the replay with Forest (Jez Tighe/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)John Cross
You will not find someone who loves the FA Cup and tradition more than me - and even I think replays should be scrapped. Third and fourth round ties going straight to extra time and penalties will add new excitement and levels of jeopardy. It will bring fresh drama to the competition.
And if you look at ties from the fifth round onwards, more are settled in the one-off ties because teams go for it, put the strongest team out and go all-out attack.
The argument against scrapping them is the pay day for smaller clubs in terms of shared gate receipts and the TV cash when their games are shown live. But the broadcasters have become so predictable with their choices that they often miss the giant killings anyway. That is more damaging to the cup than removing replays.
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This season's third round has been short on drama (Getty Images)We’ve already sacrificed the FA Cup final at Wembley at 3pm. We play the semi-finals at Wembley. There’s a better conversation to be had to avoid a repeat of this year’s dull third round where every London club was at home and a lack of giant killing potential.
Should we seed teams? Draw the lower division teams out of the hat first? There’s possibilities. The truth is that replays will be scrapped next season because of the new-look Champions League format and the FA see the need for a break for the sake of the England team.
It is hard to make scrapping replays part of football’s compromise package between the Premier League and EFL because the money lost to smaller clubs is incalculable. But it’s easy to see the benefits of a proper break.
Should FA Cup replays be scrapped? Have your say in the comments section
Tom Victor
There’s an easy answer to the debate around FA Cup replays, and it has its origins in the prisoner’s dilemma.
When the draw is made, but before the match is played, you ask both teams to let a third party know if they would favour a replay if it ends in a draw. Neither team can know the other’s answer. If both agree to avoid replays, the game will be concluded in one go, be that via extra-time or straight to penalties, ensuring there’s no extra fixture congestion for teams keen to avoid it. If both want a replay, then both get their wish.
If only one wants a replay, though, this will remain on the table if the game ends in a draw. It gives smaller teams the chance to play for valuable paydays, while also reminding the Premier League big boys that their priorities aren’t the only ones that matter. And yes, everyone will know that they're only playing an extra game because one team specifically asked for it.
Alan Smith
Scrap them. Premier League managers are between a rock and a hard place. Ring the changes and they are accused of disrespecting the competition, name their best team and the risk of players being hurt at the end of the season’s most hectic spell is significantly increased.
Just ask David Moyes as he waits for news on the severity of injuries sustained by key attackers Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and centre back Dinos Mavropanos. To top it all off his team will have their mid-season break interrupted by going to Ashton Gate for a replay next week against a Bristol City side who ended up making more changes at London Stadium.
More than top-flight sides, the reshuffling of Championship teams for the third round highlights how problematic the scheduling has become. If the strongest argument against deciding ties on the day is the financial loss for lower league sides, then surely the Premier League’s super rich will have no problem renegotiating a new distribution model in exchange?
Lucas Paqueta limped off for West Ham against Bristol City (PA)James Whaling
There's a very simple solution to this quandary - albeit one that won't be implemented. When the draw for the third round is made, if both teams for any given fixture agree they don't want a replay, don't have one. Otherwise, it's as you were.
That way, if one of the big boys are drawn against a lower-league side, they will be more inclined to take it seriously and win inside 90 minutes. It protects the integrity of the competition and everyone knows where they stand.
For the most part, teams named this weekend have been strong. There's no reason for them not to be; it's not an additional fixture, it has its own spot on a weekend in the calendar. Big clubs have already got their own way from the fifth round onwards, and that is now set to be replicated from the third round. Thomas Frank could do with being given a history lesson on Brentford. They were £7million in debt in League One in 2005 when they earned an extremely helpful £500,000 from a replay against then Premier League Southampton.
Thomas Frank was unhappy at being taken to a replay by Wolves (Dave Shopland/REX/Shutterstock)I agree the fixture list is too congested. It's pointless harking back to the 70s and numerous replays of the same tie, football is a different beast now and much more intense.
But lower-league sides should still be given the opportunity to earn a solitary replay. If Maidstone United are paired against a Premier League side at home in the fourth round and draw the first fixture, they should absolutely have the opportunity to take them back to their own stadium for another crack, not to mention a potentially club-changing pay day. For those sides to lose that carat will be a huge shame.
Tom Blow
It's time to scrap all FA Cup replays - and the League Cup. There's too much football on at the moment. It feels like there's a game every day, and most of us are too busy to watch football seven days a week. We're having to deal with constant breaks in the Premier League and the EFL to make room for two domestic cup competitions and unwanted international fixtures.
Fans of all 92 league clubs know what the priority is: league football. Cup competitions offer a nice break from the stress of the league, but only in the latter stages. Few supporters actually care about the opening rounds of the FA Cup and the League Cup.
It's time for English football to have one major cup competition: the FA Cup. Let's cancel the League Cup and move the third round of the FA Cup to earlier in the season, perhaps to November or December. Every top European league has just one cup competition, so why does English football need to be different? Pointless competitions like the Nations League also need to be culled, as do qualifiers against the likes of San Marino and Andorra. Let's prioritise quality over quantity.
Andy Dunn
The strongest argument for the retention of third and fourth round replays is based largely on tradition - and let’s face it, when it comes to the FA Cup, the Football Association said farewell to tradition a long time ago.
They said farewell to tradition when deciding to play both semi-finals at Wembley in order to help pay the mortgage. They said farewell to tradition when agreeing a TV rights deal that means the third round can start on Thursday - with a ludicrously-scheduled fixture - and end late on Monday night. They said farewell to tradition when folding to television’s demand for a tea-time final.
There is also a financial argument that a small club can earn a lucrative replay at a bigger club’s stadium but that is a relatively rare occurrence. The wider discussion needs to be about the football calendar and how, for example, the new Champions League and Europa League formats will impact the schedule.
But in the meanwhile, the third round replay system is an anachronism. These Premier League managers moan too much about fixture congestion … but in this case, they are right.
Mark Jones
As with most things affecting the financial concerns of the football pyramid, the answer is of course to manage the whole thing a whole lot better than it has been. We all enjoy those misty-eyed stories of how the money earned from replays made a big difference to clubs in the lower leagues, but they shouldn't be having to rely on the luck of a draw to be bailed out anyway.
Replays themselves aren't even the problem though, pointless replays are. As mentioned in a couple of answers above (they nicked it from me, honest) there is a way to keep the replays that are wanted and lose the ones that aren't. Wouldn't the FA Cup get a whole new shot in the arm if Blackpool took Nottingham Forest back to Bloomfield Road after we all saw Forest say they didn't want to go before the game?
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka is in need of a rest (Getty Images)Also, the scoffing at the Premier League's winter break and any plans clubs have for warm weather training camps belongs in a bygone era. The break is already significantly shorter than all other European leagues in order to protect the festive fixtures we all love to watch, and anyone who has watched Bukayo Saka in recent weeks can tell you he is in dire need of a rest. You'll presumably want him firing on all cylinders in the summer, after all.
Should FA Cup replays be scrapped? Have your say in the comments section
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