David Jerman

The Football Association Challenge Cup. A long read. The World's Oldest Association Football Competition. Let that sink in.Something to be proud of as a part of English football and cultural life. Changes to it? Yes, with one caveat. That every club who takes part in it has an equal vote as to what those changes are. Too simple eh? But no, several high profile managers ( who'll be fucking long gone and won't give a fuck when our beloved competition has finally been finished off) and several owners will be gleeful today, another victory for maybe 6 of 100+ pro clubs, another concession to the greed, while relegating a national instution to an annoyance. I've played for Stafford Rangers in a Cup 1st round against Burnley, hoping desperately to get a replay at Turf Moor. I've played in an FA Cup Final between England's 2 biggest clubs. At Hillsborough, I ran out wearing the yellow of Southend United, with 6000 travelling Shrimpers and what seemed like a million yellow balloons. The game where I felt I belonged in that esteemed company. Playing in the back garden, bewildered as Alan Sunderland scored the winner when Arsenal beat United in a game that epitomised the beguiling spectacle of this famous old trophy. Yeovil, Altrincham, Hereford, Sutton, Blyth Spartans, Chasetown. Names that maybe only ever pop up once in a football lifetime for the nation but to the fans of those clubs, ask them about their Cup memories and see their faces. We're being diddled, had over, fucked about, taken the piss out of. By who? Managers who " desperately need fewer games", by owners bemoaning having to gamble their precious boys against Rochdale instead of resting up for Real Madrid, something understandable if it weren't for the luxury of 30 pros costing a billion pounds plus an academy of cherry picked youth from around the world. How many fucking players do these clubs need to play one replay every 5 years? If the Football Association had any arsehole it would have put any decision that fundementally changes a 153 year old tournament to a vote of all participating clubs. It won't though , because it's scared to say a word to the all conquering Premier League. If you didn't believe before today that the FA wasn't fit for purpose, now you know because the organisation that administers the most professional clubs in the land, the EFL have effectively called them liars. That alone should ensure investigation by an independent regulator, along with any number of other decisions, changes and ideas the all conquering Premier League want implemented. Fuck you to every manager who's come to these shores wanting U-21 teams and B teams playing in the EFL. This isn't Spain where they can't populate more than 2 divisions with quality teams from across the nation, this is England where we have over 100 pro clubs over 5 divisions, where a town of 40,000 like Burnley can proudly compete in the top 2 divisions regularly for over 100 years. Fuck you to the big name managers crying about too many games. Use your fucking 30 man squads better and play the 15 you hardly use but cost more money on wages in a year than clubs competing in the Champions League from other nations operate a whole club on! And that's without the star boys who you steal from clubs for a pittance from clubs in the pyramid and overseas that you love the idea of playing but won't because " they're not ready quite yet". Bullshit! Unless you, reading this, do something, anything by way of protesting this obscene and constant tidal wave of changes to the English game that is ruining the fabric of a delicate pyramid ecosystem, the your children simply will never get to afford to watch what we have. A sport for everyone, not for an elite few. It's time to fight back. Enough changes, enough greed, English football worked well for 150 years, trust it, trust those in it and those who support it.