FA Trophy The Aftermath

As I've posted before, it's time to revamp cup compos. Play them midweek over 2 legs, away goals counting double. This would see a vast reduction in the number of ties decided by this ridiculous method.

Group stages, no regionalisation, if teams are level on points and goal difference then most number of corners wins and all that.

The winners progress to the Europa League.

Harsh reward the Europa League ! Agree the away goals rule should be enacted. The atmosphere at both semis was great and good reason to retain. The pace of the competition now (rounds every 2 weeks) means the organisation of a suitable neutral venue might be problematic. And well done North Ferriby for a gutsy battle, coming back from 2 down with 14m to go is a good achievement. Now lets thrash them next year.

The main thing that comes from the post-mortem on the Trophy is, I feel, that we should put equal weight to that competition as the Cup and not see it as a disaster if we are 'only' in the Trophy. While there seems to be a feeling abroad that it is 'romantic' to be drawn away to Manchester United at Old Trafford to be thrashed for half the gate receipts, the Trophy run this year not only shows that there is a very good chance of getting to a final and getting silverware but also that the wider public's interest in the club is piqued by the Trophy.

Marc, you repeatedlly refer to and dismiss the notion that people look forward to a thrashing at Old Trafford or somewhere similar. 3 reasons I look forward to that game, firstly the gate receipts, reality check, most clubs from Championship down would look forward to those, we are no different. Secondly, the idea of City playing in front of 75000 people would be amazing, over 5 times more than at Wembley yesterday, though to be fair would prefer Wembley, and thirdly United havent handed out thrashings to non league teams in recent years. Cambridge, Burton, Exeter, Crawley have all come away with credit. If we get there I would expect no different.

I am not saying that people wouldn't look forward to it. I am saying that it isn't the romantic be-all and end-all that people seem to think. Also, I don't need a reality check as far as club finances are concerned, I just don't like the idea that the gate receipts rule the idea of playing a team higher than you in the Cup (like, you say, seeing your team play at a big stadium and the chance of beating another team on the day). Witness that horrendous decisions that small teams take to gamble home advantage, the chance of playing in front of their home supporters and a better chance of winning in order to play at the other team's stadium and make more money.

You are right that Manchester United are probably the wrong example in that they take the FA Cup so lightly that any team probably has a chance against them even at Old Trafford.

The other thing is that, once you get to the Old Traffords and Stamford Bridges of this world, you realise that they are pretty crap places to watch football.

What I enjoyed about the trophy 2nd leg was that there was such a fantastic turn out of genuine City supporters - we were able to share in the emotions of that day. What I wouldn't like about the proverbial trip to Old Trafford would be that it would attract the sort of people who didn't even know which team was which and the bloody Sun would be trying to get its name on our shirts!

Quite an FA Trophy aftermath for Wrexham - they sacked their manager.

Interestingly, many of their supporters thought that their priority should have been the league rather than the Trophy and, when he couldn't even deliver that, the writing was on the wall.

I suppose that is a reason for NF 'deserving' it more as they treated it with the right level of importance. Anyway, it doesn't matter what we think, they are the winners.

Warmest congratulations to the players, directors and supporters of North Ferriby United AFC on their fantastic achievement in winning the FA Trophy.