EFL's angry response to scrapping of FA Cup replays

Thursday saw the FA announce replays would be abolished from the first round proper as part of a new six-year agreement with the Premier League.

That announcement was met with widespread derision from EFL clubs, officials and supporters, leading the FA to make another statement on Friday morning.

It said: “We understand the concerns expressed over the last 24 hours and we will be sharing more details with clubs very shortly to explain the additional revenue opportunities in the early rounds.

“We will keep this under review as the new calendar begins to ensure that EFL and National League clubs do not lose out.”

The FA statement added: “We have been discussing the calendar for the 2024-25 season with the Premier League and EFL for well over a year.

“Removing Emirates FA Cup replays was discussed in the early meetings and all parties accepted that they could not continue.

“The discussions then focused on how to make all of our competitions stronger, despite having fewer dates available and wanting to maintain player welfare.

“The changes to the Emirates FA Cup achieve this by returning it to a weekend competition on every round, and ensuring that we have exclusive broadcast slots in an increasingly congested calendar.

“To clarify, we have also increased the number of Emirates FA Cup matches that will be broadcast in the early rounds, which will lead to additional guaranteed broadcast revenue for EFL and National League teams.

“Additionally, we review the prize money annually for the competition, together with representatives from the EFL and PL and will do the same for the 2024-25 season.

“The calendar for next season was approved by the Professional Game Board, which consists of four EFL representatives and four Premier League representatives, last month, and then by the FA Board, which includes Premier League, EFL, National Game and grassroots representation. This is the process we undergo every year to approve the calendar.”

In response, the EFL issued a strongly-worded statement on Friday afternoon which took issue with the FA’s version of events.

It said: “The EFL wishes to clarify further its position in respect of yesterday’s Premier League and Football Association bilateral announcement over the removal of FA Cup replays and the role of the League’s representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB).

“The agreement which now sees the abolition of replays from the competition format was agreed solely between the Premier League and FA.

“Ahead of the deal being announced there was no agreement with the EFL nor was there any formal consultation with EFL clubs as members of the FA and participants in the competition.

“In September 2023, the EFL did initially discuss with clubs potential changes to the FA Cup format but only as part of a wider and more fundamental change to financial distributions.

“As is now clear, there has been no movement in this area since September.

“This latest agreement between the Premier League and the FA, in the absence of financial reform, is just a further example of how the EFL and its clubs are being marginalised in favour of others further up the pyramid and that only serves to threaten the future of the English game.

“The EFL today calls on both the Premier League and the FA, as the governing body, to re-evaluate their approach to their footballing partnership with the EFL and engage more collaboratively on issues directly affecting our clubs.

“A separate issue is the role of the EFL representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB) in agreeing to the 2024/25 overall fixture calendar.

“PGB is there to make technical decisions across the game as opposed to key policy decisions such as competition changes or formats.

“Any decisions taken on the calendar involving EFL representatives are in no way an endorsement of the joint deal agreed between the FA and Premier League that imposes changes to the FA Cup competition format in isolation.

“As part of the discussions the EFL representatives did challenge the position and were told that clubs would be comfortable with no replays.

“They were effectively advised that, as a result of it being an FA competition, the fixture list needed to be agreed as presented.

“It is also important to note that this matter was not discussed by the FA Cup committee, a separate group that oversees the competition across the professional and national game.”

While Morecambe are yet to join a number of clubs who have made statements opposing the end of replays, board members Ben Sadler and James Wakefield have made their feelings known with posts on their respective X accounts.

Sadler, the club CEO, said: “I don’t agree with the decision to scrap replays, and certainly not to do it without consulting any of the EFL clubs. We found out when it got tweeted earlier today!”

Wakefield added: “Thanks for the complete lack of consultation @premierleague and @EmiratesFACup. Your actions and utter disregard for the opinion of the majority of the 92 and beyond just make the need for an independent regulator ever clearer.”