FA Cup

[Win2Win]

So what happened with a lot of the Premiership teams in this round? Supposed to be the best league in the world? :laugh That's why England are so good :D

It appears the only teams that want to win it are those not in the Premiership, as the top teams always have some excuse now;
Concentrating on not being sent down...
Need to rest players for Europe...
Lots of injuries...
A lot of games over Xmas...

:ermmm

Out of all the matches this weekend I only rated 3 that had were likely to go by the book, and I put them up free on the site (all won :Helooo).

I'd like to see the Premiership teams start from round 1, and have the option to 'opt-out' at the start.

AND SORT THE ::swear OFFSIDE RULE OUT. Not even the managers & commentators understand it :headbange

[tophatter]

Liverpool wanted to win, its just their manager has bought some truly average players.

We should have won today. We were the better team.

[vegyjones]

I heard that Bolton rested 8 players :ooo

I suppose it goes to show how much of an enormity the Premiership has become in terms of money!

However, today deserves those misers at Liverpool right for not donating their share of the gate money to a team in desperate need!

[scoobydoo]

Liverpool wanted to win, its just their manager has bought some truly average players.

We should have won today. We were the better team.

Agree with that th...Luton were great today and Liverpool were truly awful. There is one way to get the FA Cup back so as premiership teams wont rest players and that is to improve the money for getting further. Put £25 million or more up to the winner and then see if they rest so many players!

The problem is as they discussed on Sky the other day...

Finish bottom of the premiership you collect £30 million. Win the Champions League and you collect only £27 million! The winning premiership team gets about £60 million. So it makes Rafa's 'European team tactics' even more baffling eh! I bet you only get about £6 or £7 million for winning the FA Cup now so you can see why teams concentrate on the league really.

[vegyjones]

Shame Luton couldn't finish the job today... they have no chance at Anfield. They are dreadful on their travels! :D

[presto]

the top teams don't bother with it because they are chasing europe.
the bottom teams don't bother with it because relegation is there main concern.
but now the mid table teams don't even bother which is something i just don't understand.

though i once heard that 1 position in the league up or down at the end of the season is worth more than winning the FA (could be the other one) cup.

[Fadetoblack]

Don't think that's true Presto cause if you win the FA Cup you get into Europe and that's always nice on the pocket.

I think the only way to save the FA Cup, is to abolish the league cup. It's a pointless exercise and even the fans don't really know how happy they should be when they win it.

[Win2Win]

Finish bottom of the premiership you collect £30 million. Win the Champions League and you collect only £27 million! The winning premiership team gets about £60 million. So it makes Rafa's 'European team tactics' even more baffling eh! I bet you only get about £6 or £7 million for winning the FA Cup now so you can see why teams concentrate on the league really.

Including gate money, TV, and prizes along the way, the Champions League winners get over £60 Million, which is what Liverpool FC stated if they'd won last year. Looks like £67M according to this article http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/160305/champions-league-winners-could-net-extra-68-million

Prize money from the FA for the 05/06 season (which shows why Benitoss prefers Europe, it also increases his own market value on the world stage):

1 | Chelsea | £9,669,220
2 | Manchester United | £9,214,259
3 | Liverpool | £8,729,298
4 | Arsenal | £8,244,337
5 | Tottenham Hotspur | £7,759,376
6 | Blackburn Rovers | £7,274,415
7 | Newcastle United | £6,789,454
8 | Bolton Wanderers | £6,304,493
9 | West Ham United | £5,819,532
10 | Wigan Athletic | £5,334,571
11 | Everton | £4,849,610
12 | Fulham | £4,364,649
13 | Charlton Athletic | £3,879,688
14 | Middlesbrough | £3,394,727
15 | Manchester City | £2,909,766
16 | Aston Villa | £2,424,805
17 | Portsmouth | £1,939,844
18 | Birmingham City | £1,454,883
19 | West Bromwich Albion | £969,922
20 | Sunderland | £484,961

Then add-on the tv money http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6183791.stm + gate money.

[peza2605]

but you cant do the treble if you dont win the fa cup:thumbs

[scoobydoo]

Including gate money, TV, and prizes along the way, the Champions League winners get over £60 Million, which is what Liverpool FC stated if they'd won last year. Looks like £67M according to this article http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/160305/champions-league-winners-could-net-extra-68-million

Prize money from the FA for the 05/06 season (which shows why Benitoss prefers Europe, it also increases his own market value on the world stage):

1 | Chelsea | £9,669,220
2 | Manchester United | £9,214,259
3 | Liverpool | £8,729,298
4 | Arsenal | £8,244,337
5 | Tottenham Hotspur | £7,759,376
6 | Blackburn Rovers | £7,274,415
7 | Newcastle United | £6,789,454
8 | Bolton Wanderers | £6,304,493
9 | West Ham United | £5,819,532
10 | Wigan Athletic | £5,334,571
11 | Everton | £4,849,610
12 | Fulham | £4,364,649
13 | Charlton Athletic | £3,879,688
14 | Middlesbrough | £3,394,727
15 | Manchester City | £2,909,766
16 | Aston Villa | £2,424,805
17 | Portsmouth | £1,939,844
18 | Birmingham City | £1,454,883
19 | West Bromwich Albion | £969,922
20 | Sunderland | £484,961

Then add-on the tv money http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6183791.stm + gate money.

That is disappointing to see Sky using stats like that then...I could understand it if they didnt show the champions league! :doh Looks like they were right on premiership but not on Euro Cup.

[MattR]

Pleased to say we played an almost full strength side and with the help of the ref sending of the Ipswich player for what was at worst a yellow card we won!

I can't see the point of putting out a weakened side for cups, the exception being teams who may have a european game on the following wednesday at some stage. We even used virtually the full first team in the League cup this season.