SA Footy

Pretty interesting draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup this morning..

Some massive games. Biggest of all being Manchester United being drawn to play Liverpool.
Arsenal against Leeds will be another big game.
Sven Goran Eriksson now with Leicester will welcome his former club Manchester City to the Walkers Stadium

PremierLeague teams in bold.

Burnley v Port Vale
Coventry City v Crystal Palace
Bristol City v Sheffield Wednesday
Fulham v Peterborough United
Doncaster Rovers v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Brighton & Hove Albion or FC United of Manchester v Portsmouth
Huddersfield Town v Dover Athletic
Crawley Town or Swindon Town v Derby County
West Ham United v Barnsley
Reading v West Bromwich Albion
Arsenal v Leeds United
Sheffield United v Aston Villa
Leicester City v Manchester City
Bolton Wanderers v York City
Blackburn Rovers v Queens Park Rangers
Swansea City v Colchester United
Wycombe Wanderers v Hereford United or Lincoln City
Stevenage v Newcastle United
Burton Albion v Middlesbrough
Millwall v Birmingham City
Southampton v Blackpool
Watford v Hartlepool United or Yeovil Town
Chelsea v Ipswich Town
Sunderland v Notts County or AFC Bournemouth
**** United v Everton
Manchester United v Liverpool
Hull City v Wigan Athletic
Stoke City v Cardiff City
Tottenham Hotspur v Charlton Athletic or Luton Town
Preston North End v Nottingham Forest
Norwich City v Droylsden or Leyton Orient
Torquay United v Carlisle United

Its rigged. Chelsea get a soft draw every year. Utd v liverpool in 3rd round is a joke considering the soft draw the other premier league clubs got. Be nice to send them packing early though.

United rarely play non-EPL opposition in the FA Cup.

RoosterMarty wrote:United rarely play non-EPL opposition in the FA Cup.

Who knocked u out last year?? How soon we forget

mighty hounds wrote:

RoosterMarty wrote:United rarely play non-EPL opposition in the FA Cup.

Who knocked u out last year?? How soon we forget

What a great day that was!

mighty hounds wrote:

RoosterMarty wrote:United rarely play non-EPL opposition in the FA Cup.

Who knocked u out last year?? How soon we forget

Yes I know we lost to Leeds last year.

Maybe you should look up the word 'rarely' it doesn't mean 'always'.

Has been alot of talk over the past decade of the significance of the FA cup slowly fading away. So surely if the cup draw really was rigged they would have had Man Utd facing FC United

The bigger teams can take this competition as lightly as they want.
This is more about the teams from the lower leagues (Championship, League 1 and 2, as well as the Conference) trying to get through the first few rounds. Then they have the chance to play against teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool etc..
This means big crowds and money coming in for smaller teams.

Pidge wrote:The bigger teams can take this competition as lightly as they want.
This is more about the teams from the lower leagues (Championship, League 1 and 2, as well as the Conference) trying to get through the first few rounds. Then they have the chance to play against teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool etc..
This means big crowds and money coming in for smaller teams.

So, where do we place the following in order of importance
EPL, FA Cup, Carling Cup, Champions League, Europe League.

I score it
EPL
Champions League
FA Cup
Europa League
Carling cup

Bulls forever wrote:

Pidge wrote:The bigger teams can take this competition as lightly as they want.
This is more about the teams from the lower leagues (Championship, League 1 and 2, as well as the Conference) trying to get through the first few rounds. Then they have the chance to play against teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool etc..
This means big crowds and money coming in for smaller teams.

So, where do we place the following in order of importance
EPL, FA Cup, Carling Cup, Champions League, Europe League.

I score it
EPL
Champions League
FA Cup
Europa League
Carling cup

It varies from club to club imo.

For the teams involved in all 4 competitions i'd think it'd be something like this..

Champions League / Europa League
EPL


FA Cup
Carling Cup

Bulls forever wrote:

Pidge wrote:The bigger teams can take this competition as lightly as they want.
This is more about the teams from the lower leagues (Championship, League 1 and 2, as well as the Conference) trying to get through the first few rounds. Then they have the chance to play against teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool etc..
This means big crowds and money coming in for smaller teams.

So, where do we place the following in order of importance
EPL, FA Cup, Carling Cup, Champions League, Europe League.

I score it
EPL
Champions League
FA Cup
Europa League
Carling cup

Same order for me

Pftt europa league. Its a joke, lets have a comp to decide whos the best 5th placed team. Much preffered the old cup winners cup because at least you were representing something. Where does this end do we next have all the relegated european teams playing off.
Scrap the europa its a farce

Jim05 wrote:Pftt europa league. Its a joke, lets have a comp to decide whos the best 5th placed team. Much preffered the old cup winners cup because at least you were representing something. Where does this end do we next have all the relegated european teams playing off.
Scrap the europa its a farce

Jimbo, I take your point and understand the logic, but I think in this day and age it is imperative there is a secondary European competition, one can only imagine the money it generates for the clubs. Personally I disagree with the teams that don't make final 16 in Champions League dropping to the Europa. Perhaps Mr Burnley JTC can enlighten us as to feeling over in the soccer capital of the world about their thoughts on the Europa Leauge and qualification status and perhaps what can be done to improve (if anything) it.

Am I wrong or my thoughts that at one stage there were 3 European Competitions for English clubs to compete in. It would have been in 70's if my memory is correct.

There were 3 comps until about 6 years ago if my memory is correct. There was european cup, cup winners cup and uefa cup. The uefa cup was similar to todays europa league and the cup winners cup was exactly what it sounds like it was for all the domestic cup winners.
Just think they have gone too far now even the champions league is misnamed. How can a 4th place finish earn you the right to play in the elite competition.
I think it will only be a matter of time before a european superleague happens.
When i was in the uk the general feeling was the europa league is a farce but a necessary evil to generate income

Jim05 wrote:There were 3 comps until about 6 years ago if my memory is correct. There was european cup, cup winners cup and uefa cup. The uefa cup was similar to todays europa league and the cup winners cup was exactly what it sounds like it was for all the domestic cup winners.
Just think they have gone too far now even the champions league is misnamed. How can a 4th place finish earn you the right to play in the elite competition.
I think it will only be a matter of time before a european superleague happens.
When i was in the uk the general feeling was the europa league is a farce but a necessary evil to generate income

Thought there was another cup until recently also, the Inter Toto or something?

Yeah the intertoto only lasted a couple of years. It was a total farce, firstly teams had an option to enter it and teams were selected by position or spots given under the fair play system. Clubs were awarded points for fair play and if you scored well enough you were invited into the intertoto. The matches were crammed into a busy preseason schedule. The team that won the intertoto cup got direct entry to the uefa cup. It was a hopeless atempt by uefa and i reckon it only lasted a year or two

Jim05 wrote:There were 3 comps until about 6 years ago if my memory is correct. There was european cup, cup winners cup and uefa cup. The uefa cup was similar to todays europa league and the cup winners cup was exactly what it sounds like it was for all the domestic cup winners.
Just think they have gone too far now even the champions league is misnamed. How can a 4th place finish earn you the right to play in the elite competition.
I think it will only be a matter of time before a european superleague happens.
When i was in the uk the general feeling was the europa league is a farce but a necessary evil to generate income

The Europe League and the expanded Champions League is to keep the big clubs happy amidst years of rumours regarding a break away super league.

Bulls forever wrote:

Jim05 wrote:Pftt europa league. Its a joke, lets have a comp to decide whos the best 5th placed team. Much preffered the old cup winners cup because at least you were representing something. Where does this end do we next have all the relegated european teams playing off.
Scrap the europa its a farce

Jimbo, I take your point and understand the logic, but I think in this day and age it is imperative there is a secondary European competition, one can only imagine the money it generates for the clubs. Personally I disagree with the teams that don't make final 16 in Champions League dropping to the Europa. Perhaps Mr Burnley JTC can enlighten us as to feeling over in the soccer capital of the world about their thoughts on the Europa Leauge and qualification status and perhaps what can be done to improve (if anything) it.

Am I wrong or my thoughts that at one stage there were 3 European Competitions for English clubs to compete in. It would have been in 70's if my memory is correct.

Truth is only the CL has any creedance these days. Clubs like Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea use the domestic comps to blood juniors and fringe players. Sometimes it catches them out, hey Fergie! United showed how much respect they have for the FA Cup when they buggered off to play in a mickey mouse tournament in Brazil.

No one is interested in Europa until the later stages. When you get a home match against some East European club whose name you cant even pronounce let alone ever heard of, you see shite crowds of 7 or 8 000's. In fact many EPL sides suffer in the league when competing in Europa, mainlt because of the number of games, and the lack of depth they have.

Every CL game is a sell out both home and away and will earn you at least £35m in TV, Ticket and Merchandise sales. I guess they have the Europa comp as a replacement for the UEFA cup.

There has always only been one comp to go for and that is the CL, and it's far more prestigeous fore-runner, the European Cup. The comnp for league champions only. The expanded comp is devalued and is now a mere money making exercise for UEFA and the clubs involved.

There was a European Cup Winners Cup, which was for the winners of the top domestic cup comp, in England it was the FA Cup, although winining the FA Cup alone was a prestigeous affair.

Then they had the UEFA cup, formerly the Fairs Cup, for all the also rans. Never drew the interest like the European Cup did and still doesn't as the Europa Cup, hence stations like Channel 5 and Living TV showing the games.

Domestically there was only two comps to win. The League title and the FA CUp. The League / Milk / Rumblelows / Carling cup has never had any kudos, and the winners were offered a place in Europe in an attempt to try and add some interest. Christ, even Burnley play reserve sides in this comp.

In order of importance I would say most managers / owners would go

Champions League
EPL Title
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fa cup
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league cup

but when you havent won a cup in 5 years the league cup looks pretty impressive to us gunners