This may resonate more with older readers, although a quick internet search revealed that the board game ‘Wembley’ is still available to purchase today.
For those who’ve never heard of it, the name probably gives a massive clue: it’s a football-based game where the whole purpose is to get to Wembley and win the FA Cup.
It was a game created back in the day when the only way to play in a club match at Wembley was to reach a cup final, and the jewel in the crown of English football was to play in an FA Cup Final.
Of course, the FA in their wisdom/desire to make money (delete as applicable) then decided to play FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley from 2008 onwards.
Of course, by then things like play-off finals were also played in HA9 – but there was something romantic and exciting about heading to Villa Park or Old Trafford for an FA Cup semi-final and only after winning that could fans then sing ‘We’re going to Wembley’.
For me, once the semi-finals were played at Wembley the tournament was never the same and it’s been a steady decline since then.
It has its moments, and will forever remain some sort of showpiece – but the same old teams winning the competition year after year, the final being moved from it’s 3pm timeslot and the like has left the silverware tarnished.
However, the FA really have sunk to new depths with the announcement that, from next season, there will be no replays from the first round onwards.
Look at the superb semi-final performance of Coventry City on Sunday – the magic of the cup summed up in one game where the underdog would surely have claimed one of the great comebacks of all-time but for the ridiculously nefarious intervention of VAR.
But would the Sky Blues even have been there if it were not for a Fourth Round replay? They drew 1-1 at Sheffield Wednesday and, under the new rules, would have been playing extra-time and possibly penalties at Hillsborough.
And what is really galling, what really grinds the gears of football fans at pretty much all of the 700-plus clubs who enter the FA Cup each season is not that the decision to alter the format has been taken – it’s why.
In the fourth paragraph of the announcement made by the FA last week was the key line: “The current format, which has no replays from the fifth round onwards, has been extended throughout the ‘Competition Proper’ in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded UEFA competitions.”
So everything fans know and love, everything clubs hope for to bring in a bit of extra income, everything that is traditional and wasn’t really broken so didn’t need fixing – all of it changed to make life easier for clubs that play in Europe.
This season, that is eight clubs: 40% of the Premier League clubs, 8.7% of the 92 clubs in the PL and EFL, 1% of all clubs who enter the FA Cup.
Never, in the fields of English football, was so much taken away from so many by so few.
Of course, the FA also took the chance to trumpet about how the Premier League will “provide up to an additional £33 million for grassroots football on top of the £100 million it currently gives to good causes each season”.
Well woop-de-doo, and pardon me if I don’t leap out of my seat like I did when Mo Johnston scored the winner in Watford’s 4-3 Fifth Round FA Cup replay win over Luton in 1984.
Now I’m not going to pretend £33m isn’t a large amount of money, but it’s not all that big in 21st-century football terms – it would only buy you one-third of a Jack Grealish.
And is the ‘additional £33m’ the bounty the FA put on the heritage and tradition of the FA Cup?
If some generous benefactor came along with £34m, would they take it and revert back to the cup format we all know?
Of course they wouldn’t. The FA is at the behest of the Premier League, who in turn are rapidly turning into lap-dogs for the big clubs who play in European competition.
Paragraph five of last week’s FA statement pretty much showed who the bosses are.
“The Emirates FA Cup Final will now take place on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season, on an exclusive Saturday with no Premier League fixtures taking place on the same day. Additionally, there will be no Premier League games on the Friday night before the Final, to allow focus on the build-up to the showpiece event.”
The penultimate weekend of “the Premier League season”. Not the football season. Oh no, the Premier League season – they decide the calendar folks, we all just fit in around it. It's the only season in town, the only one that matters (typed with tongue firmly in cheek).
The FA Cup Final will be played before the end of the top-flight season. It won’t be what brings the curtain down anymore, at least for the six seasons of this new agreement.
Read that FA paragraph again – not a single mention of any league other than the Premier League. It’s Premier League this, Premier League that.
Once the announcement had been made and landed like a lead balloon, the FA followed up with another statement, saying: “We have been discussing the calendar for the 2024-25 season with the Premier League and EFL for well over a year.
“Removing Emirates FA Cup replays was discussed in the early meetings and all parties accepted that they could not continue. The discussions then focused on how to make all of our competitions stronger, despite having fewer dates available and wanting to maintain player welfare.”
Discussion is very, very different to agreement.
I’ve been discussing early retirement with my wife for a few years, but I’d expect a similar level of discontent from her if I announced I’d done it as that voiced by hundreds of clubs up and down the country when the FA brought forth the end of FA Cup replays.
I’ve spoken to a number of former colleagues from my time working in professional football, many of whom still hold very senior positions at clubs and governing bodies.
One of them said to me: “When the FA announced the deal with the Premier League to cancel replays, the Football League weren’t party to anything, they had no advanced notice and there wasn’t any consultation.
“The FA say there were calendar discussions and so clubs in the EFL knew. That’s just not relevant.
“They did a deal with the Premier League and nobody else, and now they have to take it on the chin rather than trying to blame others.”
Anger came from all directions and from all levels throughout the English football pyramid, though it was surprising and disappointing to see so few statements of discontent from Championship clubs.
Perhaps the closer you get to the honey pot, the less you want to risk getting stung…
Of course, there are defenders of the decision and, as you might expect, most of them are managers or officials of clubs involved – or hoping to be involved – in European competitions.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted it would be a “blow” for lower league clubs before adding, with a straight face: “For the big clubs playing in European competitions it's much better.”
Very much a case of ‘Estoy bien, Jack’, as they say in Spain.
He was quickly followed by Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag – who seems unlikely to ever experience an FA Cup competition without replays given his current performance – with this totally myopic comment.
“It has to stop. I feel really sad for the clubs in England football but for top players this is a measure which can make some space in the schedule.”
How lovely – everyone who doesn’t play for a club in European competition is not a top player and doesn't really count, according to the man who paid £85m for Antony . . . a ‘top player’ who celebrated United’s undeserved penalty shoot-out win over Coventry at Wembley by running past the dejected Sky Blues players while cupping his hands behind his ears.
Top player – bottom credibility. And let’s remember Antony didn’t even take one of the penalties.
The United boss also referenced the ‘overload in the schedule’ for clubs like his.
For the record, United had played three games in April before their FA Cup semi-final. Opponents Coventry had played four.
After their FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea, City boss Guardiola let rip about having to play the game so soon after their Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid on Tuesday.
“I know in this country the FA Cup is special but this is for the health of the players. I don’t understand how we survived today. I don’t understand it,” said Guardiola who has, *counts again to be sure*, managed City through the grand total of one FA Cup replay in his seven seasons at the club.
And that was back in February 2017 when Huddersfield drew 0-0 to force a replay at the Etihad.
In more than seven years since, Guardiola and his huge, expensive squad have not had to 'survive' the torture of an FA Cup replay.
This is the same Guardiola who has felt his players can 'survive' two pre-season trips to America in the last three summers - in just a few weeks they'll play four games in 12 days across four states, wedged in between the Euro 2024 Finals and the start of the new season.
Meanwhile, after the current season ends and before the start of the Euros, Spurs will play Newcastle in a friendly on May 22 . . . in Melbourne, Australia.
I'm sure everyone will join with me in hoping those poor loves in the squads heading Down Under or to the US manage to survive...
And while the word squad comes up, surely these clubs apparently being pushed to the point of physical collapse at the prospect of an FA Cup replay have the depth to cope?
After all, they go round mopping up the best young talent from anywhere and everywhere to pack their Academy teams full to the brim. How about giving them a game?
Watford have seen a number of players leave their Academy to join clubs who play in European competitions. Surely the whole idea is to give these young lads game time while also allowing the regular first-team players to have a break?
Or do they just stockpile talented teenagers so they can sell them on at a later date for an exorbitant sum simply because they were on the books of City, United, Chelsea at al?
Let’s go back to this proclamation that top players are being forced to the brink of survival by being asked to play a Champions League game on a Tuesday, and then an FA Cup semi-final on a Saturday.
Personally, I think comments from managers about burn-out and survival are pure crap and pretty damn insulting – not just to footballers at every level through the country, but also to anyone whose job stretches them mentally and physically to the limit yet doesn’t earn them hundreds of thousands of pounds a week.
Yes, there will always be rich and poor, haves and have nots. But it’s a sign of how detached from reality people at top football clubs are when they prattle on about the unfairness of it all.
How many grassroot footballers at this time of year – and particularly at the end of such a wet season – are playing three or four games a week, training in between and squeezing in a full shift on a building site, in an office or somewhere else during the day?
One example, that’s close to home, is Wealdstone. Due to postponements and cup runs, they played 18 games between February 20 and April 20. Their squad are all part-time and have other jobs, despite being in the National League.
On Saturday they won 3-2 at Oldham Athletic to maintain their place in the fifth tier of English football.
That, to me, is survival, professionally and personally.
Let’s say, next season, the Stones reach the FA Cup Third Round and draw one of the ‘big’ clubs at home – and manage to hold them to a draw.
That should give them a replay which would bring them a huge degree of financial security while also allowing their players a night to remember earned by their efforts on the pitch.
But no, instead they’ll have to play another 30 minutes and then possibly go to penalties. No replay.
Or picture them being drawn away at somewhere like Anfield or Old Trafford, and stunning the football world by getting a draw in 90 minutes.
That should mean the excitement of getting the star names back at Grosvenor Vale for a televised banana skin – more income, more security, more reward.
Not anymore. There would be another 30 minutes and then possibly penalties for the ‘big’ club to make the most of their significant home advantage. No replay.
It stinks. There really is nothing in these changes that offers anything positive to anyone not connected to a club that is involved in European competitions.
The FA say that more matches in the early rounds will be shown live on TV, thus earning clubs additional revenue.
That is quite simply a sop. Surely any non or lower-league club would benefit far more all round from a replay against a leading Premier League club than they would from the revenue that broadcasting a First Round game might bring?
While we’re on the subject of televised games, there was a double whammy of non-fan-friendly news last week as it was revealed the new Sky TV deal would mean 10 live EFL games every weekend, five of which would be from the Championship.
That’s a 42% chance each week that a Watford game will not be played at 3pm, but instead will be on a Friday night, or a Saturday lunchtime, or a Sunday lunchtime, or some other random timeslot that doesn’t interfere with Premier League scheduling.
In return, there’s more money for the EFL (the answer to everything) and a commitment that fans will be notified of which games are being moved for TV coverage far earlier than is currently the case.
What they seem to forget is that a journey for Watford fans to watch their team at Plymouth or Sunderland for an evening or lunchtime kick-off is not made any easier, cheaper or more practical just because you’re told about it more weeks in advance.
Look at the Hornets last game of this season – Middlesbrough away at 12.30pm.
That’s a 500-mile round trip which will necessitate many fans either leaving horrendously early or staying overnight.
The EFL will say fans were given a lot of notice, but that doesn’t reduce the journey time or make the travel costs any less.
Every Carabao Cup game will be broadcast live next season. I know, from my years at Watford and Charlton, that revenue from games played at any time other than 3pm on a Saturday is reduced.
It goes even lower when it’s the early rounds of a cup, and drops further still if that game is available to view on TV or stream.
Many clubs will be hosting cup ties and doing so at a loss – and with all EFL Trophy games also being shown live we could actually be faced with attendances so small that the tannoy announces the crowd changes before kick-off.
It has been a week where the FA have rolled over and let the Premier League tickle their tummy, while the EFL have shown there is indeed a price at which they will let Sky do as they please.
All four of those organisations tell us that it’s for the good of the game, the good of the clubs, the good of the players and the good of the fans.
But it’s not, is it?
I wonder what the very wise, forward-thinking and totally inclusive man who said the following would make of it all…
“Football is a game for the man on terraces. It’s a game to excite the people.”
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