If you had been following the back pages over the past few months the changes to the format of the FA Cup would not have come as a surprise. Last month the Daily Mail reported that replays were to be scrapped, and a shift in the date of the final has been mooted for longer. It says a lot about the state of football in England, however, that the news did come as a surprise to many within the game. The outrage that accompanied it was perhaps less shocking.
The game is facing governance challenges from a number of directions, some of which directly led to the new arrangements for the Cup. From next season, each of Uefa’s three club tournaments is to expand, from 32 to 36 teams, with eight fixtures for each side competing in the league phase. There will be more matches over more midweeks and room needs to be made in the calendar to accommodate them. To that effect, fewer replays for Premier League sides in January to March would be welcomed by them.
