David Gill, the Football Association vice- chairman, says FA Cup replays and the two-legged League Cup semi-finals may have to be sacrificed in the season of the 2022 World Cup. Why wait? If anything, replays are detracting from the excitement of the competition, and the format of what is currently the Capital One Cup is an anomaly. It should not take FIFA’s monstrous destruction of football’s calendar to make the English game see sense. By chance, there were no replays in the FA Cup fifth round this year and they were not missed. The great Cup shocks of this campaign have all happened on the day, inside 90 minutes. David Gill suggested removing cup replays, and he has a point, even if it it has taken Qatar to make it happen . Cambridge United were excellent to earn a replay against Manchester United, but lost the second game . That is when Bradford City beat Chelsea and Sunderland, when Middlesbrough eliminated Manchester City, when Blackburn Rovers beat Swansea City then Stoke City. A few lower division tussles aside, all the games that went to replays went with form. Manchester United defeated Cambridge United, Sunderland won at Fulham, Liverpool came from behind to beat Bolton Wanderers and Southampton won against Ipswich Town. Replays favour the bigger teams anyway. If Cambridge could have taken Manchester United to extra-time, and maybe to penalties, on a crummy pitch at a boisterous Abbey Stadium, who knows what might have happened? Heading to a decider at Old Trafford, their moment had passed. Jonathan Stead's goal against Chelsea was part of a shock that re-affirmed the FA Cup's giant killing tradition . Bradford celebrate their win at Stamford Bridge, and didn't need a replay to upset the Premier League leaders . We cling to tradition, but tradition had teams playing replay after replay until they could be separated. Those encounters had an epic feel. In 1979, Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday needed five matches — including three that went to extra-time — lasting nine hours before they could be torn apart. The second replay ended 2-2, the third 3-3. Arsenal won the fourth 2-0. That is the true gladiatorial tradition of the FA Cup, but it is unthinkable with modern fixture congestion. So as the shoot-out that completes the first replay is in itself a compromise, why is it needed at all? Middlesbrough also caused an upset, by beating Manchester City, but replays rarely lead to shocks . Smaller clubs might be better rewarded if games were decided on the night by a penalty shoot-out . A game decided on the day, one hit, with extra-time and penalties, would go some way to restoring tension and drama. When the FA has to alter its company accounts because the FA Cup sponsorship deal confidently included by former general secretary Alex Horne has not materialised, it is ridiculous to pretend the current format is a winner. The same with the League Cup. It is decided over one game in every round, then two in the semi-finals, and back to one for the final. What is the point of that? Better to have consistency and let the calendar breathe a little. It should not need FIFA’s selfishness to be a catalyst for reform in the English game. The time to change is now.
Qatar World Cup likely to force changes to domestic calendar . But FA Cup replays have lost their appeal - they should be scrapped . Upsets rarely happen in the second game, giant-killing would not suffer . Two-leg League Cup semi-finals are a strain on the fixture list . Some traditions should be removed, not just because of FIFA's issues .