Exclusive: “Make it sparkle” – Premier League co-creator agrees with FA Cup shake up

Long before the Premier League came into being, the FA Cup was the de facto competition to win for many teams.

Dripping in tradition and stories of giant-killings from halcyon days, the rich history of the oldest club competition in the world ensured its place in the pantheon of football history.

However, football continues to move on apace and the way the game is now is nothing like it was even just 20 years ago.

The FA Cup, for all of its heritage, hasn’t moved with the times and could now be said to be an unnecessary distraction for many teams.

With Third Round weekend upon us, traditionally one of the greatest weekends in the English football calendar, there should be supporters up and down the country believing that their team is in with a chance of going all the way.

However, the truth is that these days the same few clubs are winning the trophy year in and year out. Dare we say that it’s become boring to watch?

Former super agent and Premier League co-creator, Jon Smith, offered up his opinion on what needs to happen to revitalise the competition and get those turnstiles whirring again.

“I love the tradition of the FA Cup and I think we should try and preserve that on its future footballing journey, however, the competition does need to evolve too,” he said in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside.

“I was talking to Simon Jordan recently and he mentioned that the Premier League teams maybe shouldn’t draw each other for the first couple of rounds, and the lower-ranked teams in the draw should always have the home tie in the early rounds as that will give them the finance that they need.

“Little things like that will put a more modern spin on the FA Cup but the problem is look who’s running the game!

“I can’t see the entrepreneurial ship inside the FA thinking of doing something which is creative like that because they play the tradition card very heavily.

“I know it’s the FA Cup and I know there’s so much tradition around it and that’s great, but the FA Cup will always have its place because of that tradition – I just think you need to clean the cup and make it sparkle a bit.”