Has the FA Cup gone downhill in your eyes?

IncognitoMan

scudzilla wrote: »

I made 3 point to make the cup better earlier, even if they did just 1 (Winners ONLY get CL qualification instead of 4th place premiership) that would put life back into a great cup

And nobody go saying that it'd demean the CL by having cup winners in it, they already did that when they let 4th place go in

I like the idea but it still means the cup means very little to the top 2-3 clubs

ArmaniJeanss

scudzilla wrote: »

How can they bring the F.A. Cup back to it's old glories? This is what i'd do.

1. Winners, and winners only, get the 4th Champions league spot.
2. Semi Finals are NOT played at Wembley
3. All games are played at 3pm on the Saturday, apart from 1 Sunday afternoon game

1. It's a solid way to make sure England doesn't have 4 places for much longer. Potentially sending a mid-table (or lower) team into a qualifier against 4th in La Liga or the Bundesliga would do good damage to the EPL co-efficient. And then what, give the 3rd Champions League slot to the FA Cup winners?
(Not to mention why exactly should UEFA change the qualification rules to pander to English nostalgia about the FA Cup?)

2. 100% agree with this.

3. Not sure how this helps it, 3 or 4 games on TV at least keeps it in the public eye.

Optimalprimerib

I still think it is a great competition, it always has crazy results with giant killings and unprecedented hammerings in them. Every game is a one-off where anything can happen and I class it as the best format for football. It is all or nothing.

population

cson wrote: »

As for smaller EPL clubs giving it a crack; look at Portsmouth now. The supporters are lucky to have a club, for one day in the sun? I wonder do they think it was worth it. And that's a genuine question.

The FA Cup is not what broke Portsmouth

Qualify for the Champions League 20 years in a row and no trophies

Or

Qualify for the Champions League 10 of those 20 years plus 5 or 6 cups.

Know what I'd pick

Iang87

Corholio wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you won't find anyone saying they don't want their team to win it, so yeah nice exaggeration. It's priorities, from a team qualifying for the Champions league to an Airtricity team blooding younger players in an EA sports cup match. The FA cup has fallen down the priorities for teams these days, it's not the attitude of fans. it's just the way it is.

Exaggeration is it. The comment directly under yours says why would anyone take an fa cup over a top 4 finish.

Leiva

cambo2008 wrote: »

Ours is the league and do as well as possible in the Champions League.

If Fergie ever wants to beat Liverpools record then he will need to reverse this strategy, and tbh I think he has.

Whoops gone off topic..sorry

Will I Amnt

Leiva wrote: »

If Fergie ever wants to beat Liverpools record then he will need to reverse this strategy, and tbh I think he has.

Whoops gone off topic..sorry

I don't think so. League is always number 1 priority.

mike65

Which club has won the cup most often in the last 10 years?

Chelsea, have they stopped tying to win the league? or champions league (no jokes about this season!)?

Gringo180

Champions lge spot should be giving for winning the F.A Cup im sure that would bring back some prestige for what is the most famous club competition in Europe.

Leiva

Gringo180 wrote: »

Champions lge spot should be giving for winning the F.A Cup im sure that would bring back some prestige for what is the most famous club competition in Europe.

Gringo it's only you and me on this one I'm afraid.

I have been saying it for years, and a certain Mr Platini agrees with us also.

If the FA Cup winner finishes in the top 3 then the 4th place gets the CL spot.
Simple.

Just imagine a FA Cup final in Wembley if the winner also gets a CL spot.

Will I Amnt

Leiva wrote: »

Gringo it's only you and me on this one I'm afraid.

I have been saying it for years, and a certain Mr Platini agrees with us also.

If the FA Cup winner finishes in the top 3 then the 4th place gets the CL spot.
Simple.

Just imagine a FA Cup final in Wembley if the winner also gets a CL spot.

I think ArmaniJeanss summed it up well why it won't and shouldn't happen.

Richard Hillman

I agree with the CL spot for the FA Cup. I think it will also prevent businesses like Arsenal coasting into the 4th spot every season without any ambition to win anything.

Leiva

cambo2008 wrote: »

I think ArmaniJeanss summed it up well why it won't and shouldn't happen.

Link ?

Will I Amnt

Leiva wrote: »

Link ?

It's on this page or the last, depending on how many posts per page you've got.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82533637&postcount=53

efb

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I agree with the CL spot for the FA Cup. I think it will also prevent businesses like Arsenal coasting into the 4th spot every season without any ambition to win anything.

they are all businesses.

Leiva

cambo2008 wrote: »

It's on this page or the last, depending on how many posts per page you've got.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82533637&postcount=53

Agree on the risks associated with the change, but that's easily rectified by a simple change by UEFA.

Will I Amnt

Leiva wrote: »

Agree on the risks associated with the change, but that's easily rectified by a simple change by UEFA.

A change that's never in a million years going to happen. The cups are even more meaningless in Spain, Italy etc.

CSF

rarnes1 wrote: »

Qualify for the Champions League 20 years in a row and no trophies

Or

Qualify for the Champions League 10 of those 20 years plus 5 or 6 cups.

Know what I'd pick

20 years is a very bad sample size to work off to get a fair reflection on this.

Reason being that clubs want to qualify for the Champions League to gain the prestige and finance to bring in players that will then be able to win even more trophies in the future.

If that's gone 20 years and no trophies, then obviously that plan has failed, and a failed plan isn't something many people would choose in any 'either or' situation

Will I Amnt

CSF wrote: »

20 years is a very bad sample size to work off to get a fair reflection on this.

Reason being that clubs want to qualify for the Champions League to gain the prestige and finance to bring in players that will then be able to win even more trophies in the future.

If that's gone 20 years and no trophies, then obviously that plan has failed, and a failed plan isn't something many people would choose in any 'either or' situation

Also, it would be quite unusual for a team with the quality to be finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th for 20 years not to be picking up an odd trophy here or there along the way.

CSF

CSF wrote: »

20 years is a very bad sample size to work off to get a fair reflection on this.

Reason being that clubs want to qualify for the Champions League to gain the prestige and finance to bring in players that will then be able to win even more trophies in the future.

If that's gone 20 years and no trophies, then obviously that plan has failed, and a failed plan isn't something many people would choose in any 'either or' situation

cambo2008 wrote: »

Also, it would be quite unusual for a team with the quality to be finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th for 20 years not to be picking up an odd trophy here or there along the way.

Ok 10 years - Arsenal are almost there.

If you don't win the league or CL, there's only 2 trophies to go for and most top teams don't take the Carling Cup serious until latter rounds.

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

Arsenal are almost halfway there.

If you don't win the league or CL, there's only 2 trophies to go for and most top teams don't take the Carling Cup serious until latter rounds.

7 seasons without a trophy. In 20 years they have won the league and both domestic cups.

The top teams might not take the League Cup seriously but you only have to look at the teams that made up the finals over the last 10 years to see that they still have a good chance at winning it.

cambo2008

cambo2008 wrote: »

7 seasons without a trophy. In 20 years they have won the league and both domestic cups.

The top teams might not take the League Cup seriously but you only have to look at the teams that made up the finals over the last 10 years to see that they still have a good chance at winning it.

I actually edited my post to say 10 years.

Arsenal aren't far off it.

Fans like trophies, directors and owners like the CL.

If you can do both like Utd/Chelsea that's great but only a small number of teams can do that presently.

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

I actually edited my post to say 10 years.

Arsenal aren't far off it.

Fans like trophies, directors and owners like the CL.

If you can do both like Utd/Chelsea that's great but only a small number of teams can do that presently.

Suppose it's depending on the club you support.
A 2 legged last 16 tie with Madrid has me more excited than I would be for a cup final with Cardiff.

cambo2008

cambo2008 wrote: »

Suppose it's depending on the club you support.
A 2 legged last 16 tie with Madrid has me more excited than I would be for a cup final with Cardiff.

Yeah, but if you had gone 9/10 years without a trophy priorities might change.

It's all relative to the team you support in fairness

Ferris_Bueller

Suppose it would depend who you support, but in my lifetime I never understood the hype around what makes the FA cup so special. The David v Goliath ties are the most appealing aspect, but there seems to be less and less upsets every year and a bigger gap forming between the elite teams and the small teams. After this then I never really find it exciting until it reaches the semi final stage, at that point then I begin to think "right, this would be nice to win". At the start of every season I would rather a top 4 finish than an FA cup win, which is sad really as football should be about winning trophies.

KevIRL

Finish the league cup before Xmas.

The FA Cup could then be played midweek after Xmas, do away with replays and have games played off on the night with extra time and pens if needed.