FA and Prem rob grassroots of replays

Posted on April 19, 2024 by henry tapper

What the FA and Premier League say.

What the grassroots say

What Derek Scott says

I read that the FA plan to scrap replays from round 1 next season.

The story was illustrated in my Cumbrian newspaper feed (you-can-take-the-boy-out-of-Carlisle-but-you-can’t-take-Carlisle-United-out-of-the-man) by this from 2016:

Derek knows that this match lives in infamy for Yeovil fans, we missed  a last minute penalty to win it. Things got a little bad tempered. Thank you Derek.

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The crafty bean counter goes on to remind me

I gather both teams finished the replay with ten and then the penalty shoot out was nine from ten.

and his compendious memory is full of FA cup  lore.

I’m reminded that Yeovil’s famous Cup victory in 1949 over Sunderland, 1-1 after 90 minutes, didn’t go to a replay as travel restrictions/rationing meant extra time was encouraged where distances were involved.  Sloping Huish also had fog that afternoon which featured in Sunderland’s excuses for their giant-killing exit.
Yet Manchester United (whom Yeovil came up against in the 5th round) had two replays to get past Bradford PA in the same 4th round.
I was brought up to think Carlisle United played in the first replay under floodlights, at Newcastle in 1955, when they lost 3-1 to Darlington.
But fact checking I find Kidderminster Harriers got there two months earlier in their 4-2 replay win over Brierley Hill Alliance.

These are the memories that survive for lower league clubs which the FA and Prem know nothing about.

What we all say.

The glory of British Football is not just in the Premier League, it is in the EFL and in the lower leagues which have give us fairy tales  like  Jamie Vardy , Kieffer Moore and Dan Burn . That give us clubs like Stockport County, Yeovil and Wrexham that refuse to die and are kept alive by fans and owners against all odds.

The pledge is for £133m to trickle down to lower league clubs, only £33m of which is new money. That is an amount that wouldn’t buy the services of many a star footballer. It is pitiful compensation for the loss of revenues for smaller clubs but worse – much worse- it is no compensation at all for fans for whom the FA cup replay is a part of the game they follow

It’s a paltry amount and while it does get through, small clubs can be helped more significantly by financial solidarity. A good example is the Football League pension scheme which is imposing an unfair burden on smaller clubs , many of which are teetering on the edge of administration

This week, my friend Phil and I are taking our little campaign to get the big clubs to help out the little clubs on pensions. Wrexham are a little club with a big ground, great support and like Yeovil, not much to shout about apart from their football team. As we all know , their’s a touch of Hollywood about them which gets them listened to. Let’s hope we get more luck than we’re getting from the Prem.

There’s always a pension angle – isn’t there? Thanks  to Derek, David Coates and Olly Bausor for keeping us smiling!

About henry tapper

Founder of the Pension PlayPen,, partner of Stella, father of Olly . I am the Pension Plowman
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