I don’t like Wednesdays…
…for the FA Cup final. Daft proposal ahoy from the FA. Basically, they have to give players a month off before the 2006 World Cup. The only way they can fit all this football in is, they say, is by having the FA Cup Final on a Wednesday evening, or abolishing replays from the 5th and 6th rounds.
Only. Well, they could have the club not playing in the 5th of 6th rounds to play matches as normal. They could ask the clubs who do play in those rounds to play a weeknight fixture themselves. Job done. They could even (whisper it) ask the Premiership to reduce its numbers, or even take a back seat to the FA Cup and do what needed to be done.
But no. This is the FA. They don’t like standing up for their own competition in the face of defending someone else’s, so the Premiership comes first. On the back of the being the only country whose FA didn’t back the UEFA homegrown player initiative, it’s yet another damning indictment of the independence of the FA, now captured by the beast it created in a spat with the Football League 14 years ago.
Fuck em. Stiffen the FA’s rod. Do your bit here.