A non-league legend has warned the end of FA Cup replays will hit the minnows of the modern game.
Ian Cooke has fond memories of Wimbledon’s FA Cup run in 1974/75, in which they beat First Division Burnley 1-0 and lost to Leeds United after a replay. Cooke played for the Dons, then a non-league outfit, from 1963 to 1977, scoring 297 goals in 615 appearances.
He became a director of AFC Wimbledon in 2002 and said: “FA Cup replays are one of the few real money spinners the non-league and lower league clubs get. It is their life blood. It can be the difference between survival and relegation.”
Cooke, now 80, condemned the FA’s controversial move to ban replays from next season, adding: “The loss of the replays disregards smaller clubs. But the FA goes along with it.”
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More than 9,300 people have signed the Mirror’s Save the Cup petition, backed by the 600,000-member Football Supporters Association and campaign group Fair Game. The FA says it is working on a financial package to ensure lower league clubs do not lose out.
Earlier this month, it emerged that twenty-seven clubs - believed to be 11 English Football League clubs and 16 from the non-league pyramid - called for FA Cup replays to be reinstated in a letter to the Culture Secretary. The group have backed a call from football reform body Fair Game for an amendment to the Football Governance Bill, which would require a majority of eligible clubs to approve the scrapping of replays.
The Football Association announced last month replays were being abolished from the first round proper from next season, in light of calendar changes caused by the expansion of European club competitions. A number of clubs in the EFL and lower down the pyramid criticised the move and said they had not been consulted on it.
The letter to Lucy Frazer, the Cabinet minister responsible for sport, began: “We want to save the FA Cup. The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world and the decision to remove FA Cup replays from the first round proper further undermines its prestige and does nothing to help protect our cherished football pyramid.
Ian Cooke has fond memories of Wimbledon’s FA Cup run in 1974/75“The Premier League ’s influence in this decision is yet another example of football’s growing divide that has seen the gaps between and within divisions grow at all levels. Participating clubs in the FA Cup were not consulted. Our clubs as well as the fans have been let down.
“We are determined to see this decision reversed and fully support amending the Football Governance Bill to make sure such a move can never happen again without the backing of a majority of eligible clubs.”
Within the same announcement last month covering replays, it was confirmed the Premier League would provide up to an extra £33million in funding per season to the FA for a minimum of six seasons to further support the grassroots game.
“This decision has become totemic for how the game is being run,” the letter stated. "Decisions are being made behind closed doors. There is a lack of transparency, a lack of consistency, and a lack of fairness.
“We, the undersigned, call for an immediate reinstatement of FA Cup replays and are encouraging all supporters to lobby their MPs to back the Fair Game amendment.”
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