Extreme Football Forum  |  Football Forums  |  Domestic Cup Competitions  |  Topic: How To Polish A Tarnished Trophy.

I was reading a paper on Saturday gone , cup quarter final weekend, and they had a feature that lead with this paragraph.....

"In its heyday the FA Cup was the epitome of footballing glamour; the chance for players to savour the unique Wembley atmosphere while attempting to win arguably the most coveted medal of the season. How times change. Now, with the Champions League and Barclays Premier League all-important, the Cup is the poor relation, with managers fielding weakened teams, attendances falling and TV viewing figures - of much criticised programmes - plummeting by 40 per cent from last season. But what can be done to bring back the FA Cup's glory? Sportsmail asked a host of well known figures, including a cup legend or two..."

They then listed two pages of these figures and their idea to make the competition great again. Well one caught my eye and I thought what a cracking idea, that would work. So I will copy it for you now and see what you all think or what other ideas you come up with to make it great again so to speak.

The idea below came from one Adrian Heath who won the cup final in 1984 with Everton:-
"Giving one Champions League place to the Cup winners would not only make the competition more exciting but would give the premier league another edge. You can imagine the pressure on Arsenal and Chelsea this season, for example, if they weren't in third place and were out of the Cup. Imagine Burnley going for a Champions League place."

Get that man into the FA is what I say. What a cracking idea, the only down side I could see would be a lower league team getting stuffed in the champions league if they won the cup. Then again so what it would get them revenue and you never know they may just raise their game.
Anyway I think it's an idea worthy of trying what about you lot?

Only just seen this Darlo. They were saying this on something else I watched. Might have been Talksport or it could have been You're On Sky Sports'. Not sure but it was one of the two.

Personally I don't agree with it. I can see the thinking behind it and the reasons why but imho the only winners and runners up of any country should be eligible for the Champions League. That should be it.

Ways to make the FA Cup better? I dunno tbh. Look, managers are gonna play weaker teams and this is the era of 'squad' football so maybe the answer is to make rules on having so many academy players in your first team for the Prem clubs playing lower opposition or something like that?

It's called the Champions League is it not.

So why not just the Champions of each league represent that Country, and make it a knock out competition. So what if the Champions of Say Ireland play the Champions of Malta in the 1st round, and the Champions of England draw the Champions of say Italy/Spain etc.

With all this seeding in place, it's geared towards a big name final. Another thing I don't like about this CL format, is the 3rd place team drops into the UEFA Cup, I also think that is wrong, and not fair to the clubs already in the UC. I know , I know    Celtic reached the final in 2003 after dropping out of the CL, as did    when they went to Manchester. I just don't think it's right.

To me a KO format from the outset is the way to go.

 :Jimmie O':  

 sorry Sandy, I stand corrected  

Glad to see you agree with the, 'Champions League' for well Champions of their leagues.

 :Jimmie O':  

I agree....TV money rules the game, unfortunately it'll never change.