Scrapping FA Cup replays an 'insult', say Crawley Town
The club's supporters are calling for the changes to be reversed
Crawley Town football fans have spoken out against plans to scrap FA Cup replays from next season's competition onwards.
They are being abolished from the first round onwards as part of a minimum six-year agreement between the Football Association and the Premier League.
The matches have long been a part of FA Cup tradition - with the first replayed final taking place in 1875 - and have in some cases been highly lucrative for lower-league clubs.
In a statement released on Thursday night, the club and its Supporters Alliance expressed their 'disappointment' with the decision.
"The changes are an insult not only to the history and traditions of the oldest cup competition in the world, but also to the 700 plus teams who play in the FA Cup each year outside the Premier League.
"We call on the FA to drop these changes and consult properly with clubs outside the Premier League and fans' representatives.'
However, the club's manager Scott Lindsey has taken a different approach, saying he has two views on the changes.
Speaking ahead of the Reds' League Two match with Sutton United on Saturday (April 20th), Lindsey said:
"From a football club’s point of view there’s probably a potential loss of revenue if there was to be a replay.
"But selfishly from a football point of view, I am ok with it because we play a lot of football. This season we have played 51 games, which is a hell of a lot.
"We have at least two more and for clubs who have small squads it’s a big asks for football clubs of this size to play that amount of games and to keep players fit it’s difficult.
"We have been lucky because we have fantastic physios and a fantastic strength and conditioning coach here. I think we have had 97% player availability this season and that’s down to the work we do on the training ground and the work we do at the gym and me having great staff.
"I just think there are too many games already so I am ok with it."
The changes also mean fifth-round ties reverting to weekends after five seasons of them being played in midweek.
The fourth round, fifth round and quarter-finals will also be played on 'exclusive' weekends without Premier League action, while the fourth round will be split across six days from Friday to Wednesday.
The FA Cup final will be played on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season, but no Premier League matches will be scheduled on the Saturday it is played, the FA said.
The agreement between the FA and the Premier League will see up to an extra £33million of funding flowing to the football pyramid each season.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said the move would strengthen the FA Cup, while his Premier League counterpart Richard Masters said the changes had been agreed "without compromising the excitement of knockout football".