The decision to scrap replays in the FA Cup has attracted widespread criticism, not least from fans, and it is difficult to see why it is necessary in the first or second rounds. However, revenue and morale boosts for lower league clubs are not systematic and depend, literally, on the luck of the draw. When I was growing up winning the FA Cup was in some ways a bigger deal than winning the league, but that is no longer the case and sentiment clashes with the reality of modern football business. Some fans hope that a regulator will be able to intervene in decisions like these in the future. Nigel Clough appreciates more than most how integral they can be. In the winter of the 2005-06 season, he was seven-and-a-half years into a decade as manager of Burton Albion when the then non-League club landed a third-round tie at home to Manchester United. That game finished goalless, earning Burton — who had moved into their new Pirelli Stadium a year earlier — a replay at Old Trafford w
Congratulations to Portsmouth on their promotion to the Championship and the fan base that stood by them. Fratton Park is a great atmospheric old style ground. Portsmouth is unique in its status as England’s only island city, largely based on Portsea Island, which is connected to the mainland by a handful of road and rail bridges. It provides the setting for a unique mentality among football fans, with its British Navy base and links to the maritime industry core to the identity of many of the city’s 200,000-plus residents. Theirs is a club who have seen the highs of Premier League and European football and an FA Cup final win in the past 20 years as well as a drastic slide that saw three relegations in four years from 2010, plummeting from the top to the bottom tiers of the English football pyramid. Alongside it, years of financial troubles resulting in two spells in administration saw the supporters take ownership of their club in 2012 before selling to the Eisners five years