Warnock blasts FA Cup costs
Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock has slammed the Football Association over their controversial plans for next season’s FA Cup.
In order to give the England side a four-week break before the World Cup finals next summer, the FA Cup final will be held on Saturday, May 13, 2006 at the new Wembley Stadium.
As a knock-on effect the end of the Premier League season will be brought forward a week – and in return the FA have had to scrap replays in the FA Cup fifth and sixth rounds for clubs still involved in Europe.
Sides in the UEFA Cup will not be required to play replays in the FA Cup fifth round or quarter-finals, while those in the Champions League will not have quarter-final replays and any ties affected will go to extra time and penalties if necessary.
“It is an absolute disgrace and another example of how the authorities seem intent on messing about with a competition that should be sacrosanct,” said Warnock, whose side secured a lucrative fifth-round replay with Arsenal after drawing at Highbury, before eventually losing out on penalties.
“Can anyone who has the game’s best interests at heart seriously suggest we should do away with the passion and edge-of-the-seat excitement of Tuesday (when the Gunners visited Bramall Lane)?
“We have already had to put up with attempts to move next season’s final to a Wednesday night, which I found utterly unbelievable. Now this.”
FIFA had allowed the FA special dispensation to play next season’s final, the first match at the new Wembley Stadium, on May 20 if necessary but Sven-Goran Eriksson has been insistent England need the full four weeks’ preparation time before the World Cup that other countries will have.
The FA said in a statement that the arrangement with the replays would only affect next season.
The statement said: “This follows continued positive talks involving the FA, Premier League and Football League to find an appropriate solution to protecting the tradition and heritage of the FA Cup, while allowing for FIFA’s four-week window between the end of all major domestic seasons and the start of the World Cup.
“The FA believes it is crucial to allow the national team to be given equal preparation time to every other team competing in Germany next summer, subject to qualification.
“To allow for a full four-week break, the domestic season has to conclude by May 13. This was deemed to be the only available solution to a very complex issue and will apply to the 2005-6 season only.
“It should be noted that in the past five seasons, only three sixth-round ties have actually required a replay – Tranmere v Millwall (2004); Chelsea v Arsenal (2003) and Arsenal v Newcastle (2002), meaning only two out of 20 ties would have been affected under next season’s rules.”
There had been a suggestion the FA Cup final should be played on a Wednesday night but that was swiftly dropped.
The FA are keen the final should be the traditional climax to the domestic season – apart from the Football League’s play-offs – and is played at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.
The FA added they had done “all it can to protect the tradition of the Cup by agreeing to schedule all replay dates as normal next season” apart from the arrangement for teams still in Europe.
