The Football News Thread 2023/24

[Derby Wolf]

Still annoys me the final isn't the last game of the season. Maybe just being traditionalist but just feels wrong.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The thing is if your business plan is genuinely "hope we draw a big PL team at home in R3 (and have to get there first, if you're below the Championship" AND we draw with them so we get an away replay at a huge ground and a payday"...well it's not really a sustainable plan is it, and those kind of replays simply don't happen anywhere near enough to justify the place on the calendar by itself. You might think it's great if you get to Old Trafford for a bonus game, less fun if you get Leyton Orient out of the hat and play out a crappy 1-1 draw with them and have to trek down there in midweek.

A quick check on R3 replay attendances this year:

Everton vs Crystal Palace 37,796
Wolves vs Brentford 24,692
Bristol Rovers vs Norwich 10,335
Eastleigh vs Newport 5,075
Birmingham vs Hull 7,133
Bolton vs Luton 10,878
Bristol City vs West Ham 25,616
Blackpool vs Nottm Forest 8,098

Not many money spinners there, lower league teams vs Prem getting nowhere near sold out, and the two all-PL games that attracted a decent crowd (a crowd that for us if replicated in the league would be our lowest gate of the season by absolutely miles)...well, in both cases, neither team really wanted the replay I'm sure.

 

[Tony Towner]

The thing is if your business plan is genuinely "hope we draw a big PL team at home in R3 (and have to get there first, if you're below the Championship" AND we draw with them so we get an away replay at a huge ground and a payday"...well it's not really a sustainable plan is it, and those kind of replays simply don't happen anywhere near enough to justify the place on the calendar by itself. You might think it's great if you get to Old Trafford for a bonus game, less fun if you get Leyton Orient out of the hat and play out a crappy 1-1 draw with them and have to trek down there in midweek.

A quick check on R3 replay attendances this year:

Everton vs Crystal Palace 37,796
Wolves vs Brentford 24,692
Bristol Rovers vs Norwich 10,335
Eastleigh vs Newport 5,075
Birmingham vs Hull 7,133
Bolton vs Luton 10,878
Bristol City vs West Ham 25,616
Blackpool vs Nottm Forest 8,098

Not many money spinners there, lower league teams vs Prem getting nowhere near sold out, and the two all-PL games that attracted a decent crowd (a crowd that for us if replicated in the league would be our lowest gate of the season by absolutely miles)...well, in both cases, neither team really wanted the replay I'm sure.

It's not about business plans, it's about dreams

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If it's about that then a lower league team has a better chance of holding a top flight team to a draw and winning on penalties than drawing with them, then the higher ranked team has a second chance at it and will probably get their act together and win.

See us against Shrewsbury in 2019.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Will we see a lot of lower league teams or non league teams reaching the 3rd round wanting to reverse the fixture if they draw a big one ?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You haven't been able to do that for about 20 years!

 

[jd1981]

I think Farnborough were the last to do that in about 2003

 

[Carrotdude]

Yeah I tend to agree that they’re a bit overblown in general and replays between teams in the same league are a complete waste of time too.

It’s a shame but as DW says, you can now draw a big game at home and win on penalties and have a chance of a big away day in the next round

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yeah I tend to agree that they’re a bit overblown in general and replays between teams in the same league are a complete waste of time too.

It’s a shame but as DW says, you can now draw a big game at home and win on penalties and have a chance of a big away day in the next round

With your prize money for going through too.

A quick search suggests it was £180k for winning a Fourth Round tie in 2019. Did Shrewsbury make more than that with their share of gate receipts (40% I think) from the replay at Molineux? Probably not and they lost.

 

[AndyWolves]

Do lower league teams have the option of switching venues?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

No, as above

If we drew say, Sporting Khalsa (who play at the old Willenhall Town ground and have made it quite far relatively speaking in the recent past) then the police might say there's no way it's safe to hold a game like that there and they'd make them move it elsewhere. But could not be Molineux, they'd end up asking Walsall to borrow their ground or similar.

 

[Carrotdude]

I like that they’re using a longer summer break as another reason behind the changes yet teams like Spurs are going to Australia for an end of season tour

 

[machin05]

No, as above

If we drew say, Sporting Khalsa (who play at the old Willenhall Town ground and have made it quite far relatively speaking in the recent past) then the police might say there's no way it's safe to hold a game like that there and they'd make them move it elsewhere. But could not be Molineux, they'd end up asking Walsall to borrow their ground or similar.

I quite like Sporting Khalsa's ground

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I scored from 35 yards there once. Don't like to talk about it though.

 

[Lycan]

Trevor Birch doesn't seem to be too happy about it. Apparently the EFL weren't consulted.

 

[AndyWolves]

This is insane

https://twitter.com/x/status/1780952447667634533

 

[AndyWolves]

No, as above

If we drew say, Sporting Khalsa (who play at the old Willenhall Town ground and have made it quite far relatively speaking in the recent past) then the police might say there's no way it's safe to hold a game like that there and they'd make them move it elsewhere. But could not be Molineux, they'd end up asking Walsall to borrow their ground or similar.

I think lower league teams should be given the option to give them a pay day

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

But then fans moan about you just gave our home advantage and best chance of winning the tie away for twenty pieces of silver

 

[Kenny]

The Eredivisie is corrupt or something

https://twitter.com/x/status/1781386905206038641

 

[Templeton Peck]

Stan totally nails it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1781607774696149217