Steve Coppell and the FA Cup

[Great Knolly]

You wouldn't need much or any of April. This season the FA Cup is on 19th May. The competition could be played...


Sat/Sun 28th Apr - 4th round
Sat/Sun 5th May - last 16
Wed --- 9th May - qtr finals
Sun ---13th May - semis
Sat --- 19th May - Final

Make it a 4 round comp and it can be May only.

Obviously there are loads of holes that can be picked in the idea, but I still
reckon it's doable if the will was there.

When do the playoffs get played?

But only the Premiership is taken into consideration so they don't matter.

What about replays or would you scrap those and have one off games finished on the day?

No replays. Extra time and penalties. If it's good enough for the World Cup.

[Platypuss]

5 days to sell Cup Final tickets to the finalists and make travel arrangements.

[Great Knolly]

yup

[Platypuss]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

[Great Knolly]

Play-off finals are after the FA Cup Final.

Championship and League One and Two finish the week before the Prem.

1st leg, on the weekend the Prem finishes. 2nd leg on the following Wednesday.

[readingbedding]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

During half-time of the Semi-Final and Final of the FA Cup.

[Platypuss]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

During half-time of the Semi-Final and Final of the FA Cup.

Ofcourse!

I also like the way you get 2 days to make the club arrangements for the quarter-finals and sell the tickets.

[readingbedding]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

During half-time of the Semi-Finals and Final of the FA Cup.

Ofcourse!

I also like the way you get 2 days to make the club arrangements for the quarter-finals and sell the tickets.

I've seen the future.

[Great Knolly]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

During half-time of the Semi-Final and Final of the FA Cup.

Ofcourse!

I also like the way you get 2 days to make the club arrangements for the quarter-finals and sell the tickets.

Play all the last 16 games on Saturday and then you'd have 3 days !

Might help if the qtr finals were played at pre-arranged venues.

[glass half full]

To turn things araound a bit...
Given their involvement in the higher regions of the Championship, is there any guarantee that Burnley will provide a full-strength side?

[Platypuss]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

During half-time of the Semi-Final and Final of the FA Cup.

Ofcourse!

I also like the way you get 2 days to make the club arrangements for the quarter-finals and sell the tickets.

Play all the last 16 games on Saturday and then you'd have 3 days !

Might help if the qtr finals were played at pre-arranged venues.

When you don't even know who'll be playing?

[79Royal]

I don't think that there is anything wrong with fielding a team of fringe players. With the squad size we have, we could be forced to ask these players to perform, should we be unucky with injuries.

[glass half full]

I don't think that there is anything wrong with fielding a team of fringe players. With the squad size we have, we could be forced to ask these players to perform, should we be unucky with injuries.

Totally agree, 79. Those fringe players should be fired up to pull on the shirt and do well. If they fail, they will soon drift away.

[Great Knolly]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

During half-time of the Semi-Final and Final of the FA Cup.

Ofcourse!

I also like the way you get 2 days to make the club arrangements for the quarter-finals and sell the tickets.

Play all the last 16 games on Saturday and then you'd have 3 days !

Might help if the qtr finals were played at pre-arranged venues.

When you don't even know who'll be playing?

Sounds like you're a glass half-empty type.

There are only 3 days between the qtr final and semi of the World Cup and they manage to distribute tickets. The clubs in the round of 16 would be primed to deal with what would happen if they won.

Having the venues pre-arranged would deal with a lot of the admin issues even if it isn't known who is playing. They could allocate the grounds of 4 clubs who had been knocked out in the round of 32 or before. This year it
could be arranged after the 3rd round...

Liverpool v Arsenal
Man U v Villa
Sheff Wed v Man City
Birmingham v Newcastle

[readingbedding]

Remind me when the playoffs get fitted-in, again?

During half-time of the Semi-Final and Final of the FA Cup.

Ofcourse!

I also like the way you get 2 days to make the club arrangements for the quarter-finals and sell the tickets.

Play all the last 16 games on Saturday and then you'd have 3 days !

Might help if the qtr finals were played at pre-arranged venues.

When you don't even know who'll be playing?

Sounds like you're a glass half-empty type.

There are only 3 days between the qtr final and semi of the World Cup and they manage to distribute tickets. The clubs in the round of 16 would be primed to deal with what would happen if they won.

Having the venues pre-arranged would deal with a lot of the admin issues even if it isn't known who is playing. They could allocate the grounds of 4 clubs who had been knocked out in the round of 32 or before. This year it
could be arranged after the 3rd round...

Liverpool v Arsenal
Man U v Villa
Sheff Wed v Man City
Birmingham v Newcastle

This is a wind-up.

Is this Alad?

[Huntley & Palmer]

They make Jay look knowledgeable

[Farnborough Royal]

Coppell's got this all wrong IMO. We are 99.9% assured of Premiership football next season, so the FA Cup is the only thing we've got left to play for. It really F*cks me off when we get ourselves knocked out on purpose, and if that not enough they're charging stupid amounts for tickets to watch the bloody reserves! The Carling Cup's a good way to see the fringe squad but the FA Cup should be taken seriously.

[RoyalBlue]

Coppell's got this all wrong IMO. We are 99.9% assured of Premiership football next season

What an incredible assertion!!! Doubt the bookies reflect that with their odds.

Coppell is an incredibly experienced manager. Part of that experience, as he keeps reminding the media, is his time at Crystal Palace in the old top division. Around about this time of season they looked very comfortable and no doubt some of their fans said they were 99.9% certain of staying up. His then top scorer got injured and they ended up getting relegated.

Can you really blame him for being more cautious this time around? His tendency to contemplate and seek to avoid the worst case scenario is a major factor behind all of the success he has brought us.

As for those who say our first choice players can handle plenty of games and point to the 4 games over the Christmas period as proof of this point, is it pure coincidence that we picked up three injuries (at least two being pulls/strains) in the last two games? Coppell doesn't seem to think so. Also Glen Little was touch and go to be fit before the last of them, came off part way through that and is very clear in his view that his body couldn't cope with another game this Saturday.

Personally I'm 99.9% certain Sir Steve is right with his approach to this.

[PlasticRoyale]

I'd say we're much closer to 50:50 staying up than 99.99%. Not much seperating us and third last.

[weybridgewanderer]

5 days to sell Cup Final tickets to the finalists and make travel arrangements.

you get 6 days between the 2nd leg of the second qualifying round of the champions league and the 1st leg of the 3rd qualifying round and they manage to sort that out

This season the dates were

Second qualifying round, 2nd leg
01/02.08.2006

Third qualifying round, 1st leg
08/09.08.2006


http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind ... 25702.html

so the cup final should be easy, at least you know before hand what country the cup final will be played in unless they are gonna give wembley till the last possible minute to be ready!

So if you think it good be a problem if implemented in England do you still want us to qualify for Europe?