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I LOVE the FA Cup as much as anyone, but I really can’t understand the scheduling of the tournament.
All the qualifying rounds are played two weeks apart but then there is a whole month to wait between ties when the ‘big boys’ of the Football League join in.
I’m sure clubs would never complain but I see no reason why there cannot be an extra week between Cup ties in the qualifying rounds. A lot of leagues do not accommodate for clubs making it through to the later rounds, meaning they have to postpone a fixture and inevitably play it on a midweek in February.
A good league run can sometimes be halted by Cup ties, with good performances in the Cup sometimes meaning the league becomes second priority.
I understand that the FA Vase has less rounds to get through but the scheduling for that tournament is a lot more sensible. The FA Trophy has fallen into the same trap as the FA Cup, but this is due to the tournament finishing a lot earlier now.
Perhaps the time of entry for teams in the FA Cup needs to be adjusted. There is just one round difference between teams from Steps 2 and 3 entering, then two rounds before teams from Step 1 enter.
It’s tricky to think of a solution but a team entering at the very first stage of the competition can win four matches, and still not be playing a Step 1 side, all before October!
The Cup can fulfil a lot of dreams, but with games every couple of weeks it can also become quite tedious if you’re not getting the ‘luck of the draw’.
JOE DANCE, via email
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WHAT a fantastic example Ade Yusuff is to all young footballers – from Chatham Town to Dagenham & Redbridge, via a few more shifts in Wagamama!
I read his story with great interest in last week’s NLP. It speaks volumes of the young man that he is happy to work out his notice as a waiter even though he’s just become a pro footballer.
I wonder how many others would do that when they’ve just been given their dream shot. At just 20 years old it shows real maturity he didn’t want to leave his workmates in the lurch.
I for one will be watching his football career with great interest. Good luck Ade.
A. GLOVER, via email
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I TOTALLY agree with the concept of Financial Fair Play rules being implemented in the higher reaches of our game, but it begs the question as to whether enough is being done to adopt the same philosophy at the lower end of the spectrum.
I recently travelled to watch my club, Wealdstone, beat a very average Whitehawk side, packed with four-figure-a-week players yet who play in front of one man and his dog.
Now, I hear of Maidenhead United signing DJ Campbell and their home-less tenants Hayes & Yeading allowed to pay big wages on crowds of next to nothing.
It makes me wonder, have we learned absolutely nothing from the demise of clubs like Hereford United and Salisbury City?
PAUL TURNER, Harrow
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IN his letter last week (Fans’ Forum, September 21) Victor Gladwish again raised the notion of three teams being promoted from the Conference.
There are so many reasons why this should not be the case, but let us look at his other point – a Conference Premier split into North, South and Midland sections.
Working my way down the existing Conference Premier, North and South divisions, I easily filled a 24-team Southern section with the bottom seven clubs from Conference South missing out entirely. But I had to track quite a way down the Northern Premier League to fill up any proposed North and Midlands divisions.
In short, the heavy southern bias at the top end of the Pyramid make a three-section Conference a non-starter, but if the boundaries were to be stretched to enable a more equable distribution in terms of quality then Mr Gladwish’s further point about travelling costs will not be affected very much.
NICK KENT, Black Torrington, Devon
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A THREE-TIER Conference, as suggested by Victor Gladwish (Fans’ Forum, Sep- tember 21), would only stir up the frustrations felt by those clubs finishing second in the leagues he proposes.
Any division should have the chance for two clubs to progress so that there is everything to play for at the end of the season. It’s early days yet, but both Margate and Maidstone United look deserving of a higher status than the Ryman Premier, and to deny one of them the chance on their present form would be unfortunate.
That said, there is every chance of a fifth placed team finishing with 20 points less than the runner-up, but still going through via the play-offs, which hardly seems fair to me. Someone will always be unhappy, whatever the arrangement.
DAN WELLER, Margate
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DID anyone else notice the detail in the Fair Play Table published in last week’s NLP?
Only two in the top ten were southern clubs and of the ten worst-behaved teams nine were from the south with the other from the midlands.
So much for that refrain still heard occasionally on southern terraces – “You dirty northern b*******”!” Consigned to the dustbin now, I guess?
ROD HARRINGTON, Taunton, Somerset
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IN response to Rob Bingham’s letter (Fans’ Forum, September 21), the Sheffield ‘Green ‘Un’ died 15 months ago and like most ex-Saturday football papers is now only available online.
P SANDERSON, via email
