Seeding the FA cup third round draw


just seen a clip of Jeff Stelling banging on about it on Talkshite

he makes a decent case, Eastleigh and Maidstone of the conference south (?) have both played 5 games to get to the third round and have been drawn against league 1 and league 2 opposition

however, i disagree with seeding. for all we know eastliegh and maidstone could have drawn each other and one of them got to the 4th or 5th round.
I don’t understand which way the issue is. Does he want Eastleigh to play a worse team to have a better chance of going through? Or a better team for a “big day out”?
 
I was proposing the league cup to see how it went (so no NL sides involved).

To be fair, for the FA Cup, it would mean that the 3rd round would have 20 ties with Premier League clubs away from home against sides in L1 down, and 12 all Championship ties. Might work, might not, but at least there would be 32 potentially cracking matches, 20 with great atmospheres and real potential for shock, all over the same weekend.

By the way, why do you think FA Cup 3rd draw is so special, and watched by so many? It’s because fans of every lower / non-league club involved is desperate to see their side get drawn at home to a PL team. Supporters of Maidstone and Eastleigh must be gutted - drawn against Stevenage / Port Vale and Newport / Barnet.
Seeding teams just helps the big boys. With seeding the 5th round onwards will never have non league sides in it again.

The not knowing is what makes the 3rd round draw class. If a non league team is certain of a big club then that erodes the excitement.
 
If it's not broke don't fix it. A 'big draw' for relatively smaller teams is part of the magic.

Atleast with this proposition you can actually understand the reasoning and understand why it might be an alright idea, unlike the vast majority of propositions that pundits and ex-pros come out with just for a bit of attention.
Errrrh seeding wad guarantee 20+ big draws for the smaller clubs EVERY third round.
I hear lots of people say that, but since Wimbledon won the FA Cup in 1988, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City & Chelsea have won 30 of 35 FA Cup finals (they have also won the last 10 league cup finals between them by the way). Spurs & Everton both won one of the other 5 FA Cups in the last 35 years. Since the “big six started treating it like an inconvenience”, they have totally dominated the FA Cup.

Depends what your reason for change is I guess. If you want a random draw then carry on like now. However, if you want to rekindle a bit of life into a competition that is getting a little less important each season, then why not something else. Let me ask - would there be more interest generated for the general football public if the draw was Shrewsbury v Arsenal and Wrexham / Yeovil v Liverpool, rather than Arsenal v Liverpool and Shrewsbury v Wrexham / Yeovil? I pick these teams as they were 4 consecutive balls pulled at random. As I’ve said, personally I’d make a change for the league cup and leave the FA Cup for now.
Spot on. Seed the PL clubs in the first FLC round they appear in.
 
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Errrrh seeding wad guarantee 20+ big draws for the smaller clubs EVERY third round.

Spot on. Seed the PL clubs in the first FLC round they appear in.
Yep. If you are Man City then you know you have to play away games to win the cup, if you are Bradford then you know you’ll be playing home games.
Seeding teams just helps the big boys. With seeding the 5th round onwards will never have non league sides in it again.

The not knowing is what makes the 3rd round draw class. If a non league team is certain of a big club then that erodes the excitement.
I don’t think so. This season they would have as much chance of getting Cardiff at home as Man Utd. But their reward for getting to the 3rd would always be a home tie against an attractive opposition bringing tons of fans (PL / Top half Championship team) - it’s what they all want!
 
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The only change they should make to the FA Cup is to award the winners the 4th Champions League place,

That might stop the “big six” from treating it like an inconvenience.
Excellent shout, although the Prem would just wheel out their top lawyers and put paid to that idea.

Sky etc and all the twats who benefit from the PL would also kick off at that.

Agreed mind, it's lifting how the likes of Man City just see the FA and League cups as an inconvenience. To them the money of the PL and the Champs League / a new Superleague is all that matters. Plastic greedy kernts.
Don’t the big teams win the fa cup every year?
 
Yep. If you are Man City then you know you have to play away games to win the cup, if you are Bradford then you know you’ll be playing home games.

I don’t think so. This season they would have as much chance of getting Cardiff at home as Man Utd. But their reward for getting to the 3rd would always be a home tie against an attractive opposition bringing tons of fans (PL / Top half Championship team) - it’s what they all want!
I'd say most non league sides would prefer Man Utd away rather than at home.
 
just seen a clip of Jeff Stelling banging on about it on Talkshite

he makes a decent case, Eastleigh and Maidstone of the conference south (?) have both played 5 games to get to the third round and have been drawn against league 1 and league 2 opposition

however, i disagree with seeding. for all we know eastliegh and maidstone could have drawn each other and one of them got to the 4th or 5th round.
When I was watching the draw I was just thinking someone would suggest this soon.
Our game is sanitised enough already without doing this.
They want it seeding to keep the big boys in
This
 
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I’d seed the league cup first rather than the FA Cup, and see how it goes. If it works, then try it with the FA Cup.

My proposal is: On the morning of each round the 50% of the teams in the higher league positions are put in the away pot, and the 50% of the teams in the lower league positions are put in the home pot. Then random draw of one from each pot, with one off games all the way to the final.

Pro’s? Hopefully fuller grounds, lower division fans more likely to see top players at their home grounds, more shocks, and more interest, as the lower placed teams would always be at home to the higher placed teams.

Con’s? No away days out to the big boys for lower division sides, and no big games (like Arsenal v Liverpool) in the early rounds.
Would massively hit revenue for the minnows too, drawing a big team away could potentially be a massive wad of cash
 
The only change they should make to the FA Cup is to award the winners the 4th Champions League place,

That might stop the “big six” from treating it like an inconvenience.

Screw that. Them treating it like an inconvenience is the best chance the likes of us have of winning a trophy
 

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