28 Jan 2019 18:39:35
I can’t remembe if we ever had this debate before but what everyone’s thoughts if the FA cup had winners had a champions league place to get all the clubs playing the best teams all the way through the competition and then take 4th place CL slot away. Thought?

{Ed025's Note - great idea logthing, except that we will be fighting your lot for 4th next season and one of us will lose out mate.. :)


1.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 18:46:43
The FA Cup is a great and historic competition and needs to be respected more by the FA. I would be fully behind this idea. Its the ‘Champions’ League after all, why should you be in it for coming 4th yet not be in it for winning a legitimately prestigious competition?

{Ed025's Note - well you have been taking advantage of that for donkeys years AW..


2.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 18:49:29
Says it all really, trying to come up with ideas to make the FA Cup more glamorous by adding something more desirable than the actual Silverwere at the end of it.

{Ed025's Note - its lost its appeal LFC8 and something does need to be done to bring it back to life, i think longthing has a great solution to be honest..


3.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 18:56:05
Fighting us for 4th ed eh😜😝🤣 I’m sure you said something similar this season mate. Fair play mate you certainly are a likeable Blue nose 👃, even if you can’t resist every opertinity to stick you ore in lol. Fair play mate you’ve got some massive gonads given your standings in the table.

{Ed025's Note - you have to believe virgil otherwise whats the point?, law of averages says we will come good one day mate...and its always next season.. :)


4.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 18:56:27
Careful with your bold predictions ed25. :p

I like the idea. On a separate note do people stop to think what the CL would look like if it only included the "champions". Would ya even watch it? I wouldn't and it'd become an elite (boring) comp.

{Ed025's Note - i looked in my crystal ball faith and seen a team in royal blue lifting a trophy...mind you it could have been millwall winning the supporters of the year cup.. :)


5.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 19:01:14
Maybe they should sell the competition and rebrand it? The FA have done a great job of making people hate them. So a cup bearing their name is unlikely to be respected. I'd rather win the Carabao Cup and I don't even know what Carabao is 🤷‍♂️.


6.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 19:23:39
FA cup is a fossil and sadly it’s lost its appeal and I don’t think the foreign coaches are appealed by it! It needs a massive face lift and hopefully it gets back it’s magic! The only thing it’s good for now is top clubs v lower league clubs fans kickin the Jaysus out of each other!


7.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 19:42:19
Give it a £100m prize for winning it and teams will take it seriously.


8.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 20:24:04
It would be a great thing to add more appeal to winning the FA Cup, I know financially everyone wants top 4 for the CL but surely as a player when you retire it would be nice to finish with some medals.
The other thing with offering a CL spot for the FA Cup, what would happen if a Championship club won the FA Cup?
Used to love the FA Cup. Remember watching the 92 FA Cup final all the pre match build up watching the buses arrive interviews with all the players. Now it just doesn’t feel the same and it’s such a shame.


9.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 20:54:57
Sadly, the FA Cup no longer has the prestige it once had. There appear to be many reasons for this - the all-consuming importance of winning the Premier League or finishing in the ECL qualifying places for the Top 6 teams; staying in the Premier League for the rest; the increase in foreign coaches; the FA allowing Wembley to become an over-used club ground, removing the novelty and mystique of a cup final appearance; etc, etc. I don’t think offering an ECL qualifying place to the FA Cup winners will do much to change attitudes - after all, 27 of the last 30 winners of the FA Cup were from the recognised Top 6 teams. These teams have big enough first team squads to rest a few stars and still be strong enough to beat most opponents. I am afraid we might have to accept that the FA Cup is now a second rate competition which, like the Premier League, will usually be won by one of the Top 6 teams with the occasional winning outsider such as Wigan in 2014.


10.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 21:15:46
The FA Cup is not the only Cup that has lost its glamour and following. Cups throughout the continent have lost it too. I guess most people have forgotten that we used to have a Cup Winners Cup in Europe that all national winners played in, along the same lines as the current CL and EL. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why Cups throughout the continent are simply not followed as much? Or maybe it's the other way around and that European competition (as well as the local Cup competitions) were/ are simply seen as not producing good enough quality?


11.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 21:29:52
ed0025 so a big improvement next season from your lot. looks like Big Sam's coming back, because am sure your worse off this season with a lot more money spent.
LMFAO YNWA.

{Ed025's Note - we are just a bit better actually grino in terms of points and GD, but every day is a new dawn mate and i live in hope that we will once again rule the roost in this country.....mind you im also hoping for a valentine card from carol kirkwood..


12.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 21:47:30
DDG last season before the FA Cup final, said he would rather challenge for the PL and CL than win the FA Cup. Willian (b4 the same final game vs Utd) said he'd rather be in the top 4 than win the FA Cup. Here is your proof that the FA Cup ain't worth a darn thing anymore to the top 6 teams. Peace!


13.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 22:10:48
Eds 025 I've had my card from the goddess Carol already😍.

{Ed025's Note - in your dreams.. :)


14.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 22:13:26
I’ve wrestles with this idea, but if you give it a champions league place the consequence would be the rich stockpile MORE players so they can play in more competitions resulting in even less variety and more of the same old.

Summary : I don’t know. Benefits and risks about equal.


15.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 22:28:39
The FA need to put more money into it, as that is pretty much all it comes down to.
Premier League TV money is astronomical, Champions League revenue is massive. The FA Cup is pennies in comparison, same too with the League Cup, but I see that as a competition which shouldn't exist, no other top European league have 2 domestic trophies to play for in a cup format.


16.) 28 Jan 2019
28 Jan 2019 23:38:07
Might be a bit out there, but I wouldn't be totally against the idea of 4th place and the FA Cup winners having a "Play off" of sorts for a spot in the Champions league. A better version of the Community shield in a way. and more competitive obviously.

What do we think? May be pants and may not work. just want other's thoughts!


17.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 02:26:47
Honestly baffled as to why i have so many disagrees when everyone seems to be agreeing that the financial benefits offered by a champions league spot are more important? If you give the fourth spot place to the FA Cup winner then that gives incenctive to win it on a financial and competitive level. You give that incentive to win the FA Cup and it becomes more important again, every club in the country eyeing up that champions league money, not just the top 6. How exciting it would be!


18.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 03:21:57
How about 4th placed and Fa cup winner playoff for last Cl slot? You think it feasible Ed?

{Ed025's Note - im not sure sg i think that may be complicating things even more mate..


19.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 07:01:03
I've just had a great idea, it's called the Cup Winners Cup and all the European teams who win the FA Cuo or equivalent will be allowed to enter. oh, hang on a minute.

{Ed025's Note - good stuff johnny..


20.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 09:49:16
Your team's only European success that wasn't it Ed025? Just before the dark days of the ban for English clubs?

{Ed025's Note - it was johnny and a wonderful night in rotterdam it was too, we had an excellent side at that time mate and who knows how far we could have gone if it was not for that ban...i seem to have been saying what only ever since..


21.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 10:54:31
The Europa League really does look like the poorer cousin of the Champions League. Maybe take the Cup winners and stick them into the Europa League is an option? Modalities would have to be worked out (like reducing one qualifying team from the leagues and adding a cup winner) . Could spice up the competition a bit. Cup winner from Albania against the EPL team that finished 2nd, for the final, anyone?


22.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 12:47:22
Don't the cup winners go into the EL anyway or am I going mad?


23.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 15:48:53
It simply comes down to money.

There is lots of dough in the Premier league and champions league but not so much for the FA Cup.

Who in Peru wants to watch Rochdale take on Wigan athletic? I don't see a way back for the FA Cup. Not unless hugely drastic measures are taken with club football.


24.) 29 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019 19:02:57
Leicester player a fully changed 11 vs Newport in the FA Cup this season. Even they couldn't be arsed about the "magic" of the FA Cup. Nuff said.