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Issue 64 - A Romantic Weekend

Issue 64 - A Romantic Weekend

The newsletter which is head over heels

Dan Tracey
January 13, 2026

FA Cup Third Round weekend. Plenty to talk about but who actually saw it? That’s what I will talk about in this latest issue as the Road to Wembley is a step shorter. Up for the cup? Out of the cup? Issue 64. Go.

Holders Dumped Out

Six months ago, Crystal Palace were lifting the FA Cup at Wembley. Six months after their victory over Manchester City, they found themselves dumped out of this season’s competition by sixth-tier Macclesfield.

The biggest shock in FA Cup history? Statistically when you consider the distance of placing between the two teams then yes. I will let you decide if there has been a bigger upset over the years.

However you look at it, one thing cannot be argued. That is the additional pressure that manager Oliver Glasner finds himself under. The embarrassment of getting dumped out as holders during their first game with that status, league form little to write home about.

Is this another step towards things just fizzling out at Selhurst Park before the Austrian’s departure? It is something I referenced in the previous issue and this was before things went awry against non-league opposition.

A Worthwhile Investment

The Manchester United job is there for the taking in the summer, regardless of what the former Eintracht Frankfurt manager does between now and May will not damage his stock all that much if the Old Trafford paymasters still fancy looking in his direction.

Especially as there is still time to make something of this campaign, their Europa Conference campaign could have gone better in terms of an automatic berth in the knockout phase, they are still likely to be in the conversation when it comes to outright victory.

At the same time, the conversation maybe needs to be framed around last season being a huge outlier for Palace. Usually they are happy to make up the midtable numbers in the Premier League, has that burst of success raised expectations for better or worse.

Wembley joy is never going to be swapped by any of the Selhurst Park legion but the thought of not kicking on may hurt ever so slightly. The club have announced that they are finally in a position to build a new stand, they may have to build a new managerial cycle in just a few months.

Behind The Paywall

Crystal Palace’s defeat may have been one of the biggest talking points of the weekend but it was not necessarily the biggest. Their reverse at the hands of Macclesfield just two of the 32 Third Round clashes to be screened on the BBC, TNT Sports now the major broadcaster of the competition.

Social media ablaze with comments suggesting that the FA have sold the competition’s soul, the abhorrence of matches behind a paywall seemingly too much for some. A fair point but where was the love affair for the FA Cup in the years before.

A typical case of use it or lose it and in the sense of free-to-air coverage, supporters have lost it. “Oh its FA Cup week” serving as a typical lament when the Premier League is not on TV, “It does not have the glitz and glamour of the Champions League now does it” acting as another criticism.

Dwindling interest leads to dwindling audiences; those lower audiences then dictate how much the likes of the BBC and ITV are prepared to pay to maintain the rights. The price does not go down at FA Headquarters, less value for those traditional broadcasters.

Value For Money

Less value and less justification for the big two, a bigger opportunity for a paywalled broadcaster to swoop in. Precisely the scenario that has unfolded before us, market forces once again the dictator to the directors.

The BBC is going toe-to-toe with the Government in a bid to keep the licence fee, ITV would rather spend more on international Rugby Union as the primetime scheduling is a big pull for ABC1 advertisers, the FA Cup is not in their sights at present.

The Beeb are also feeling the pressure from other sports to innovate further, the All England Club want better and more up to date coverage of Wimbledon from 2027 onwards, that also has to be paid for somehow.

You could argue that the Government could step in and make the FA Cup more of a crown jewel and in doing so protect the competition. An example being that 25% of all rounds up until the last eight must be screened on terrestrial TV but there has not been any clamour for that.

The fact that both Macclesfield vs Crystal Palace and Tottenham vs Aston Villa were on BBC was actually quite a success story for the Beeb. They got the biggest upset and the biggest clash of the round, two picks they would be very happy with if they were sharing the rights with ITV.

Which means is all this paywall energy or apathy misplaced? Maybe, we are probably on three games worse off than last season than this stage of the competition, it is not as if all the coverage was on TNT despite the outrage quoted.

There are even small increases in Prize Money this season, the value of which has often been criticised in the past decade or so. That increase comes around thanks to the new deal that TNT and the BBC inked, you cannot have it both ways.

People want increases in Prize Money to make the competition to worthwhile, unfortunately that worth has to be met by the highest bidder. A sad sight of where we are these days, a standard sight in the modern game.

Shut The Gate

In the build up to Manchester City’s cup tie with Exeter, the Grecians made the public request for additional gate receipts from the game. After being handed a 10-1 defeat at the Etihad, they probably wished they had not bothered.

Not to say that the defeat was a direct by-product of the request, I do not envisage Pep Guardiola and his players sitting in the dressing room before kick-off saying “we will show them for their cheek” but the magnitude of that win would have certainly stung Exeter.

Especially as there was a much easier way to go about things. If the League One made the request behind close doors and not turned it into a doorstepping of sorts, the likelihood of an arrangement being made would have been greater.

Just Very Clumsy

It could have been an easy PR win for City, just as easy as their win on Saturday. An announcement after the game (in the exact same way Crystal Palace donated their share to Macclesfield hours earlier), everyone happy in the grand scheme of things.

Instead, it just felt like a huge own-goal from Exeter and City would and did have every right to ignore such a request. I appreciate the mitigating circumstance of the League One outfits’ ground recently being struck by fire, but cold water being poured on this plea was no real surprise.

Admittedly, if any club is banking on the ‘lottery win’ that comes with a Premier League trip in the FA Cup, then it suggests that that club is not being financially managed at its best. There are only a few prizes to be snared each January, far fewer than the number of outfits looking to snare one.

Of course, this once again highlights the huge financial gap or should I say chasm between the Premier League and the rest of English football’s food chain but it also creates a case study in how not to try and bridge that gap. An expensive lesson learned by Exeter.

What’s your take on the broadcasting and the finances of the FA Cup? Feel free to share your opinion, they may be used in Friday’s mailbox.

The Filter Five

Five is the magic number

Really Big Change

Xabi Alonso leaves Real Madrid by ‘mutual consent’. Let’s be totally honest, there was nothing mutual about it. The former Bayer Leverkusen manager now enters the job market, Arne Slot may be feeling a little nervous at Anfield.

Alonso the latest man who has gone to the Santiago Bernabeu and struggled to tame the wild egos that run throughout the club. Not going in with the huge levels of respect that someone such as Carlo Ancelotti demanded, it almost felt like the Spaniard was akin to a supply teacher.

Stop that, don’t do that, oi come here. Not the exact dialogue spoken to the likes of Kylian Mbappe or Vini Jr but not a million miles off either. Alvaro Arbeloa now takes the reins for Los Blancos, football gets stranger by the day.

Mistakes Are Increasing

One refreshing thing about last weekend was no VAR to get in the way of the FA Cup action that unfolded. That brief pause of the video nasty a reminder of yesteryear but everything needs to be plugged in before Saturday.

Before the weekend, the Premier League have announced that there has been a 30% increase in VAR errors from 12 months ago. What was 10 incorrect calls at this stage of the campaign has jumped up to 13.

11 of those errors were missed interventions, two were due to VAR being too busy and stepping in where it was not needed. Not a huge overall rise and still far less than the 23 that were recorded three years ago but it does not feel like the game is any better for it. The more things change….

Darren For Michael

The caretaker manager leaves Manchester United, the interim manager now steps in. Michael Carrick takes his turn in the hotseat, he brings Steve Holland with him as his assistant. 4D chess players may know my next move.

Who was Steve Holland assistant to within the England setup? Gareth Southgate. Getting his feet warm before the summer perhaps? Watch this space.

Conor A Gonner

Conor Gallager is set to leave Atletico Madrid with Tottenham reportedly winning the race for his signature. Aston Villa may have won on Saturday when the two sides met in the FA Cup, Spurs winning this transfer tussle.

The West Midland outfit only prepared to offer a loan move, their North London counterparts keen to lock the former Chelsea midfielder on a permanent deal. That keenness likely largened by Rodrigo Bentancur’s injury and operation to follow, Thomas Frank now seemingly undertaking operation save job.

Foiled By Jewellery

Heard the one about the player who could not enter the field of play due to an earring? No? Well Estelle Cascarino’s debut for West Ham was foiled due to foil not being allowed to cover her ear at the weekend.

Turns out the WSL has different jewellery rules than compared to on the continent and whereas a player would have been sufficient cover when playing for Juventus, that is not allowed on these shores.

The French forward stuck on the touchline, maybe a trip to Claire’s Accessories will help before this weekend.

Admin

Right, that’s the end of issue 64 as word continues to spread around the football world.

This isn’t a newsletter that follows the crowd. It sets the lens through which you see the game and more than 160 subscribers are now viewing it through that lens.

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Issue 65 drops Friday, and I’ll be back with another round of insight, analysis and trends that matter. Any feedback or comments on this issue, contact me below: