How to bring the FA CUP back to life

We all know the fa cup is dying and needs a boost but what could they do to improve it ? My ideas

1 . Put a champions league spot for the winners instead of 4th in the premier league .This will increase competition in both and make them more competitive . Nearly all premiership and championship teams would want to qualify for the CL and as such would not risk going out of the competition . Teams playing good sides attract bigger crowds so would also boost attendances .

2 . The last 64 teams (3rd round) . Why not split the premier league and top 12 championship teams into the away pot then the lower ranked teams into the home pot , (Other competitions do this ) That would mean all the smaller clubs Would get a pretty much guaranteed pay day and would make potential giant killings everywhere which is more exciting for fans.

3 . Move the final back to the last weekend of the season and back to a 3pm kick off . Stop all the crap about having premier league games the same day and make the final special again by being the only game on that day with tv build up all day long like they used to do .

4 . Tell clubs they cant charge rediculous prices for games and have a certain price for fa cup games , To me £10 for adults and £5 for kids would pack most grounds out and stop teams playing in front of 5k fans in 30k stadiums . Im sure if city drew Macclesfield at home they would charge £20 a ticket and we would get about 8k to watch , but if the game was a tenner adults and fiver kids they would make more money and have close to 20k . Peterborough game this season proved that .

5. Move the semi finals back to neutral grounds like the Millenium Stadium , having to go to Wembley twice makes it less special for the fans , the fa cup is all about making the final and being able to walk out at Wembley to win a cup not walk out at Wembley to get a chance to play there again .

6. Maybe bring the premier and championship teams into the competition at round 1 instead of 3 to maximise the potential of draws like Man utd v Merthyr lol or Liverpool v Lewes . That really is what the fa cup is all about ISNT IT ????

We all know the fa cup is dying and needs a boost but what could they do to improve it ? My ideas

1 . Put a champions league spot for the winners instead of 4th in the premier league .This will increase competition in both and make them more competitive . Nearly all premiership and championship teams would want to qualify for the CL and as such would not risk going out of the competition . Teams playing good sides attract bigger crowds so would also boost attendances .

2 . The last 64 teams (3rd round) . Why not split the premier league and top 12 championship teams into the away pot then the lower ranked teams into the home pot , (Other competitions do this ) That would mean all the smaller clubs Would get a pretty much guaranteed pay day and would make potential giant killings everywhere which is more exciting for fans.

3 . Move the final back to the last weekend of the season and back to a 3pm kick off . Stop all the crap about having premier league games the same day and make the final special again by being the only game on that day with tv build up all day long like they used to do .

4 . Tell clubs they cant charge rediculous prices for games and have a certain price for fa cup games , To me £10 for adults and £5 for kids would pack most grounds out and stop teams playing in front of 5k fans in 30k stadiums . Im sure if city drew Macclesfield at home they would charge £20 a ticket and we would get about 8k to watch , but if the game was a tenner adults and fiver kids they would make more money and have close to 20k . Peterborough game this season proved that .

5. Move the semi finals back to neutral grounds like the Millenium Stadium , having to go to Wembley twice makes it less special for the fans , the fa cup is all about making the final and being able to walk out at Wembley to win a cup not walk out at Wembley to get a chance to play there again .

6. Maybe bring the premier and championship teams into the competition at round 1 instead of 3 to maximise the potential of draws like Man utd v Merthyr lol or Liverpool v Lewes . That really is what the fa cup is all about ISNT IT ????

Fair play, agree with all that.....especially about returning the final to the last saturday of the season at 3pm to make it more of an event again

We all know the fa cup is dying and needs a boost but what could they do to improve it ? My ideas

1 . Put a champions league spot for the winners instead of 4th in the premier league .This will increase competition in both and make them more competitive . Nearly all premiership and championship teams would want to qualify for the CL and as such would not risk going out of the competition . Teams playing good sides attract bigger crowds so would also boost attendances .

2 . The last 64 teams (3rd round) . Why not split the premier league and top 12 championship teams into the away pot then the lower ranked teams into the home pot , (Other competitions do this ) That would mean all the smaller clubs Would get a pretty much guaranteed pay day and would make potential giant killings everywhere which is more exciting for fans.

3 . Move the final back to the last weekend of the season and back to a 3pm kick off . Stop all the crap about having premier league games the same day and make the final special again by being the only game on that day with tv build up all day long like they used to do .

4 . Tell clubs they cant charge rediculous prices for games and have a certain price for fa cup games , To me £10 for adults and £5 for kids would pack most grounds out and stop teams playing in front of 5k fans in 30k stadiums . Im sure if city drew Macclesfield at home they would charge £20 a ticket and we would get about 8k to watch , but if the game was a tenner adults and fiver kids they would make more money and have close to 20k . Peterborough game this season proved that .

5. Move the semi finals back to neutral grounds like the Millenium Stadium , having to go to Wembley twice makes it less special for the fans , the fa cup is all about making the final and being able to walk out at Wembley to win a cup not walk out at Wembley to get a chance to play there again .

6. Maybe bring the premier and championship teams into the competition at round 1 instead of 3 to maximise the potential of draws like Man utd v Merthyr lol or Liverpool v Lewes . That really is what the fa cup is all about ISNT IT ????

just add no replays and thats spot on

Bring back the European cup winners cup Good post btw and i agree the cup has become a joke and a sideshow to the main event,the league.

Agree with all of above, but unfortunately the football in this country is run by the top handful of clubs and the media men - sky etc, and not the common-sensed football loving fan.

1,3,5 and 6 should be brought in especially one I think it's stupid that you to play in Europe for finishing 4th alas that's down to Uefa so don't expect it to ever happen

1,3,5 and 6 should be brought in especially one I think it's stupid that you to play in Europe for finishing 4th alas that's down to Uefa so don't expect it to ever happen

No its not its down to the FA. Uefa just tell us how many teams we can enter based on our coeffiecent rating.

The FA have decided its top 4

Some very good points, the only thing is this myth that the top teams don't take it seriously... 9 times out of 10 they win it.

Adding a champions league place and bigger prize money would do it.

Some very good points, the only thing is this myth that the top teams don't take it seriously... 9 times out of 10 they win it.

They also field their reserve sides up until the latter stages so your point isn't as valid as it first seems.Arsenal showed us huge respect yesterday by fielding a very strong side and they also know just how good we are.Another reason they played such a strong side was they haven't won anything since 2005 so they'll take anything at the moment or Wenger's job will be in jeopardy again.The cups lost their appeal when United boycotted it years ago to play in the World Club Championship.That was the start of the demise.

Some very good points, the only thing is this myth that the top teams don't take it seriously... 9 times out of 10 they win it.

They also field their reserve sides up until the latter stages so your point isn't as valid as it first seems.Arsenal showed us huge respect yesterday by fielding a very strong side and they also know just how good we are.Another reason they played such a strong side was they haven't won anything since 2005 so they'll take anything at the moment or Wenger's job will be in jeopardy again.The cups lost their appeal when United boycotted it years ago to play in the World Club Championship.That was the start of the demise.

Fair point, and I had a feeling Arsenal would put a strong side out, especially after the result at the Emirates. It said a lot to me about how clubs approach the FA cup the way Man United reacted when they went behind at West Ham, on came the big guns to save the day. Good point about that World Club Championship, what a shambles the way that was handled.

I agree with all those points even the Champions League point

But it defiantly won't happen, the clubs have to represent England in the Champions League so why would they have a championship club potentially winning the FA Cup in it? This is despite the fact they are have only had 2 clubs in the last 16 in the last 2 years

Love it to happen, but sadly not realistic

Cracking post, no replays 4 me to.

Excellent post

I Posted the other night about this champions league place for the FA Cup winners - WHY ???

The team who comes 4th in the premier league has to qualify for the champions league.
The team that wins the cup,if they have not got into the champions league go into the europa league,
Or better still as posted above bring back the Cup Winners Cup,with the top 8 teams in europe seeded.

1 . Put a champions league spot for the winners instead of 4th in the premier league .This will increase competition in both and make them more competitive . Nearly all premiership and championship teams would want to qualify for the CL and as such would not risk going out of the competition . Teams playing good sides attract bigger crowds so would also boost attendances .

Disagree with this one, the Europa League is just as exciting for teams in the Championship and the Premier League. The Champions League should only be for the best teams in each country, cup competitions don't show that.

2 . The last 64 teams (3rd round) . Why not split the premier league and top 12 championship teams into the away pot then the lower ranked teams into the home pot , (Other competitions do this ) That would mean all the smaller clubs Would get a pretty much guaranteed pay day and would make potential giant killings everywhere which is more exciting for fans.

I sort of agree, but lower league clubs dream of drawing the big clubs away and enjoy a big day out.

3 . Move the final back to the last weekend of the season and back to a 3pm kick off . Stop all the crap about having premier league games the same day and make the final special again by being the only game on that day with tv build up all day long like they used to do .

Completely agree.

4 . Tell clubs they cant charge rediculous prices for games and have a certain price for fa cup games , To me £10 for adults and £5 for kids would pack most grounds out and stop teams playing in front of 5k fans in 30k stadiums . Im sure if city drew Macclesfield at home they would charge £20 a ticket and we would get about 8k to watch , but if the game was a tenner adults and fiver kids they would make more money and have close to 20k . Peterborough game this season proved that .

Agree, cheaper prices = more fans. That's the reason why I turned up to all the Carling Cup games at home last season. Although there's a big difference between playing Peterborough in the league and non-league Macclesfield in the cup... we'd still get a small crowd.

5. Move the semi finals back to neutral grounds like the Millenium Stadium , having to go to Wembley twice makes it less special for the fans , the fa cup is all about making the final and being able to walk out at Wembley to win a cup not walk out at Wembley to get a chance to play there again .

Agree, Wembley is for cup finals.

6. Maybe bring the premier and championship teams into the competition at round 1 instead of 3 to maximise the potential of draws like Man utd v Merthyr lol or Liverpool v Lewes . That really is what the fa cup is all about ISNT IT ????

Disagree, too many games for Championship and Premier League clubs. No one's interested until they reach the 5th round.

Personally I think they need to get rid of replays, extra time and penalties makes it much more exciting.

Platini wants to end the Europa league in 4 years time with 64 teams going into the Champions League instead. This makes perfect sense and would see English football ending up with 6 instead of 4 Champions League places. The question would be I guess would they allow the 6th place team to be the FA Cup winners. Don't see an issue with this if its repeated in every country with cup winners getting the final spot. The big money sides may argue against it but they would certainly put out their best teams if the spot became available. Would probably see the end of the League Cup but would anyone really care about that?

http://www.espnstar.com/football/europa ... pa-League/

Agree with all of that except the bringing Champ and Prem clubs in earlier, that gives smaller clubs less chance of making it to the higher rounds.
Semi Finals should be in Old Trafford and the Millstad. 2 big stadiums that aren't Wembley, Villa Park won't do any more like it used to, too small.

A slight increase in prize money for each round would surely increase interest

Quite amazing to see that most fans agree on what needs to be done given 1 or 2 variations to bring the intrest back into this competition but the men who run the game , and who are supposed to know whats best for the game ,cant see it or do absolutely nothing about it !
Maybe thats the real problem with the competition not the actual competition itself ??

Quite amazing to see that most fans agree on what needs to be done given 1 or 2 variations to bring the intrest back into this competition but the men who run the game , and who are supposed to know whats best for the game ,cant see it or do absolutely nothing about it !
Maybe thats the real problem with the competition not the actual competition itself ??

To be fair to you thomasblue - you made some good points in your thread - the FA need to take note of how this compo' has gone downhill over the last 5-10 years.