The overwhelming air of self-importance displayed by some Premier League clubs and their managers is enough to make your skin crawl.

Last week was set aside for FA Cup replays, and some of those games inevitably involved teams from the top-flight. This prompted these poor, overburdened clubs to renew calls for replays to be abolished.

Well, you know what should be abolished in my opinion? Entitled clubs with entitled managers who feel they have some sort of divine right to dictate how English football operates.

Sure, replays may add to the match count, but they are also the lifeblood of smaller teams who know earning a replay against a big boy can assure their financial survival for months, if not years.

And let’s not forget fans of these little teams, in most cases, know they will never reach the hallowed Premiership and the best they can hope for during their entire supporting life are memorable cup runs.

Why deny these minnows the chance of a money-spinning replay? Why remove that magic element of the world’s oldest cup competition, which sees teams battling for a draw so they can fight another day?

Just so the big boys don’t suffer the pain and agony of squeezing another 90 minutes of football into their busy schedules? Schedules which, let me remind you, often include sneaking away thousands of miles for lucrative friendlies.

Give me a break.

If we are going to make changes to the fundamentals of the FA Cup, they have make things better for the small clubs, not just more convenient for the big ones

Here’s a thought complaining managers like Thomas Frank and Nuno Espirito Santo might want to contemplate before opening their mouths – why not try your best to win the first match and solve the problem? You know, put out your best team, make the players believe the match is important, don’t rely on reserves, that sort of thing.

But these managers won’t do that because all that matters to them is keeping their jobs, and they will only keep their jobs if Premier League results are up to scratch. To them, the FA Cup is an annoying aside.

Now at this point I would like to contradict myself a little bit by saying I am not completely against the idea of changes to the replay system, provided those changes make everyone happy. But the main priority of any adjustment has to be the little clubs.

So, I have a couple of suggestions to throw out there.

The first is not particularly revolutionary as it is a system already in place further down the football pyramid: allowing both teams to collectively decide if they want a replay.

If a game was between, let’s use the aforementioned moaners as an example, Brentford and Nottingham Forest, they could agree before kick-off to go straight to penalties in the event of a draw. They are two Premier League clubs, neither short of money, both fighting relegation – it probably makes sense to decide it on the night.

However, if one of the teams in a tie is keen on the idea of a replay, like a minnow that is struggling for money, or a team that just wants the chance to bring the big boys back to their home ground, then a potential rematch should be on the cards.

This already happens in the FA Trophy and there is no reason why it can’t also apply in the FA Cup. It won’t completely eliminate replays, but it will at least put a mechanism in place to skip them if both teams aren’t interested.

Another possible solution would be to put a system in place where the lower ranked team in every tie plays at home. So irrespective of how the balls come out of the hat, if the tie is Liverpool vs Salford, for example, it is played as a one-off match at Salford’s stadium.

That way the smaller club gets its payday, their chances of winning are marginally increased and their fans get to see a more ‘glamorous’ opponent on their own patch. It’s a bit like a seeding system and I think it could make the whole competition a bit more level, relevant and exciting.

You see, I am not against change. But if we are going to make changes to the fundamentals of the FA Cup, they have to make things better for the small clubs, not just more convenient for the big ones.

 

Punishments that miss the point

Punishing clubs for breaking sustainability rules is a deeply unpleasant thing for the Premier League to have to do. But it is probably the right thing to do.

Obviously, if I were a supporter of Nottingham Forest, or more so, Everton, I would probably disagree with that assessment. (*)

But if we don’t want to see clubs going out of business in the long term, then something had to be done to stop clubs spending beyond their means.

Having said that, I am concerned that the way the Premier League is going about this process will end up making a mockery of the end of the season league table. Why? Because by the time the hearings have been held, verdicts handed out and appeals made, the league will probably be done and dusted.

So, if point deductions come into play, it will add a wave of confusion to the final table. Teams who thought they were safe may end up going down, relegated sides may end up surviving. Teams which thought they had qualified for Europe could end up missing out and vice versa. It could become a proper dog’s breakfast.

So, what’s my solution?

Well, I understand the Premier League can’t act until they have the financials from the clubs in hand, which is why they were only able to issue charges now. But maybe, apart from in the case of a repeat offender, they should take away the possibility of point deductions.

Find a different way of punishing clubs – to go along with a fine – and make them all applicable the following season: playing a number of games behind closed doors, starting half a dozen matches with 10 players, or being forced to sign Antony from Manchester United; and play him every week.

All right, that last suggestion might be a bit harsh, but you get my drift. I think it is crucially important to find ways of punishing offending clubs that don’t have a direct effect on the final league placings and, by consequence, all other teams.

Otherwise, we could end up having to wait weeks after the end of each season to know for certain who finished where. And, with VAR having sucked most of the excitement out of the game, that would remove the rest...

 

(*) I didn’t include Manchester City in this list because their 115 charges kind of put them in a whole different league to Everton and Nottingham Forest. Based on the punishment Everton received for their first offence, City could be looking at deduction of up to 1,150 points. And even then they would still finish above Sheffield United...

 

E-mail: James.calvert@timesofmalta.com

Twitter: @Maltablade