It was announced today that FA Cup replays would not be taking place during the forthcoming season. For many years now, managers of the top teams and other figureheads of the English game have been calling for this change, with their argument being centred around fixture congestion. There are two counters to this argument. The first being from traditionalists, who don't want to format of the worlds oldest cup competition to change, but the second, and much more important argument, is about the money these replays can generate for cash strapped clubs plying their trade in the lower reaches of the game.
The financial argument against the scrapping of FA Cup replays has now been removed from the debate, at least for the 2020/21 edition of the tournament, by the restrictions on supporters attending games. It is probably in the interests of lower league clubs to incur the costs of hosting additional fixtures without the presence of the financial incentive to do so, especially at a time when many clubs could find themselves looking for spare change down the back of the sofa just to keep the lights on.
Financial incentives aside, watching a Premier League club travel to a League Two stadium, where the fans would usually be right on top of the action, on a Tuesday night in January, just doesn't have the same appeal when the background is just grey concrete terracing. For fans of lower league sides, the electric atmosphere and being so close to a star player that you can give him some stick, and know he heard you, is part of the experience. For neutrals watching on TV, seeing the bemused look on the face of a World Cup winner as he tried to navigate a dodgy pitch whilst being heckled by an eccentric local is part of the spectacle.
Most fans of lower league clubs probably have fond memories of securing replays against a bigger club. If the first game was away, you immediately start telling yourself that you've got a much better chance at home, after all, the away changing room at your own stadium is tiny and your pitch won't be what they're used to. If the first game was at home, you'll be looking forward to taking three times your average away following on a big day out to a larger stadium than you're used to. Either way, your excitement and anticipation of the return fixture allows you to forget about the biting cold as you exit the stadium in the middle of a British winter.
Many fans will also have memories of their dreams also being dashed in FA Cup replays. We've all seen bigger clubs take lower league opposition lightly in the original tie, either playing fringe members of the squad, or just lacking motivation. The underdog might find a level of performance they didn't know they were capable of, and yet still, somehow, the giant is not slain and lives to fight another day when it really deserved to die. Yes, the fans of the plucky underdogs might be looking forward to the replay, but perhaps an opportunity to progress has slipped through their fingers. Often the giants adjust their approach after a wake up call, or the underdogs can't replicate their performance, and the big club goes on through to the next round. It matters little though, as for supporters of teams outside of the top two divisions, a season with a good cup run make up the memories and stories that are passed down through the generations of fans.
However, that is quite enough romanticising and reminiscing about the "magic" of the FA Cup. Time to make a sobering return to the topic that those in charge really care about. Money. It's worth noting that financially, whilst FA Cup replays can be lucrative to lower league sides, a significant portion of them take place in the first and second rounds of the competition, which contain teams from League One, League Two, and whatever non league sides have survived the qualifying rounds. These midweek night fixtures are hardly money spinners, and for third and fourth tier sides, neither is a tie in the third round if it's against one of the smaller clubs in the Championship.
For non league sides, a cup replay against an EFL team is like a lottery win and can often help these community based clubs survive for years to come or help fund important youth football programs, however, what really makes a difference to these clubs is the prize money they get from progressing through each qualifying round. Just winning in the First Qualifying Round will net a club £3375 (including the award for losing in the Second Qualifying Round) in the 2020/21 competition, with the prize money increasing each qualifying round. Clubs who make it to the First Round Proper are awarded £9,375. It doesn't sound like much in a world where players are bought and sold for millions, but it makes the world of difference to semi professional clubs. Prize money income is much more likely for these clubs than the chance of getting an FA Cup replay and high ticket sales.
The only time FA Cup replays are truly money spinners that can change the course of the future of a club is where there is a big gulf between the teams respective league positions. For this to occur, three things need to happen. Firstly, a team needs to progress to a round where there is a chance of drawing a team from several divisions above, secondly, it needs to rely on the luck of the draw, and then for the scores to finish level after ninety minutes. It should also go without saying that if clubs futures are resting on these three, luck based variables, then both the individual club, and football as a whole, have much bigger issues to address.
So, with that gloomy scenario in mind, we have to hope that some positives may come from the scrapping of the traditional FA Cup format, even if it might seem like clutching at straws.
One positive for lower league clubs might be that the scrapping of FA Cup ties could potentially lead to more giant killings. Perhaps a stubborn lower league side holds their more esteemed opposition to a draw and drags them all the way to the lottery of penalties. It seems far more likely that an upset will take place when the tie is decided by ten kicks of a football from twelve yards away, than another ninety minutes.
If FA Cup replays are not reinstated when fans are allowed to return to stadiums, perhaps it will benefit lower league teams playing away from home to force extra time. The locals won't be too impressed by the inability of their side to dispatch a team they'd be expecting to easily beat. Maybe it's the away side who benefits in this situation as the home fans turn on their side? Maybe the bigger club, when playing away at a tiny, compact ground on a wet, bobble ridden pitch will have had enough after ninety minutes and don't have the stomach for another thirty.
Even if upsets become more frequent, they won't become any less embarrassing to the clubs on the receiving end of a giant killing. Maybe that will help shift the mindset of clubs who currently don't take it as seriously as some might think they ought to. At least then, if you're a ticket buying fan of a hopeful underdog and the cup fairy tale comes to an end, you'll have at least seen a few of the big name players on the pitch, rather than being eliminated from the competition by fringe players who earn more than your clubs entire wage bill and a bunch of under 23s from far flung corners of the footballing world.
For many it would unquestionably be a massive shame if FA Cup replays were relegated to the storied history books of the competition. Everyone can understand the rationale behind scrapping them until everything goes back to normal, whatever that might look like, but given the long time opposition to replays from those at the top echelon of the game, it would surprise nobody if they didn't return. All we can do as fans of lower league clubs is hope that some positives for us come as a bi product of changes that are designed to benefit the elite.
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