In our heart of hearts, we all knew it but Thursday’s statement detailing substantial alterations to the FA Cup’s format showed who runs the game in this country. It also exposed the Football Association, ripe for reform for decades, as impotent and duplicitous. The advent of the independent regulator for football is a damning indictment of how the guardian of the game has become another stakeholder searching for cash – and here were the FA agreeing changes to the competition they describe as their ‘biggest asset’ without even bothering to consult the clubs who play in it.

Replays might seem like a strange hill to die on, but they are one of the reasons why the Cup has captivated all of us over the years. The very fact that no other competition requires teams to contest another fixture at the opposition’s ground following a stalemate draws in viewers from all over the world. A first round replay can be a game changer for non-league sides who battle through qualifying from almost the very start of the season. A statement from the Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust on the disgraceful decision referenced Cray Valley Paper Mills bridged a 117-place gap in the pyramid to hold the Addicks at the Valley and earn another tie in November.

Henry Winter’s excellent Substack – which is well worth subscribing to – mentioned Exeter City’s draw at Old Trafford that led to a special night at St. James’ Park in 2005. I happened to be at the game having been offered a ticket as a reward for taking several international students to watch City in the Conference on Saturday afternoons and persuaded them to sign up to the supporters’ trust as they improved their English. It was transformational for City, who could suddenly plan their immediate future on something other than the back of a napkin having been gutted by the madness of Uri Geller and co only eighteen months previously.

There’s a Fulham angle here too, of course. The Whites famously made it to the FA Cup final as a second division side in 1975 after a record-setting eleven game run that included six replays. They needed four matches to overcome Nottingham Forest in the fourth round, and without the traditional format, there wouldn’t have been the drama of John Mitchell’s late winner at Maine Road that sent Fulham to Wembley at the expense of Birmingham City. But these changes would also rob fans of one of my favourite moments as a young Fulham supporter – when Tony Lange stepped up to convert a spot-kick after saving two penalties at Brighton and Hove Albion in 1995 to send the Whites into the third round. It was the highlight of a terrible goalless draw and an awful season that eventually saw Ian Branfoot replaced by Micky Adams.

More pertinently, of course, David Felgate’s heroics against Kevin Keegan’s all conquering outfit three years later would have counted for much less. Nobody gave the amateurs of the Leigh Railway Mechanics Institute much of a chance against a Fulham side totally transformed by Mohamed Al-Fayed’s cash. But the Unibond League outfit took the lead through Tony Whealing’s free-kick and Felgate saved almost everything bar Dirk Lehmann’s downward header to earn Leigh a replay, which was selected for television broadcast. Four years later Fulham were in the semi-finals of the world’s oldest cup competition but their remarkable run saw Jean Tigana’s side rescued by a late, late third-round equaliser from Steve Marlet at Wycombe Wanderers.

The FA – and more, tellingly the Premier League (who really call the shots) – claim that these changes are necessary “in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded UEFA competitions”. But what representations have either organisation made to Europe’s governing body to limit the expansion of the Europa League and the adoption of a league format for the all-encompassing Champions’ League? None. Because the top English clubs stand to benefit from the exposure and revenue. There’s even a laughable allusion to player welfare – which is as disingenuous as everything else when the likes of Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur will jet off to Melbourne in May three days after the Premier League season ends.

The truth is that the top clubs rule the roost these days – and have done for decades. But for the FA to sell out the 729 clubs who compete in their competition by only giving three per cent of them a say over the Cup’s future is brazen beyond belief. No wonder more than a hundred clubs have reacted with furious statements. The governing body, and the elite clubs, should reflect on their role in this, but they won’t. The English elite have succeeded in introducing five substitutes, altering kick-off times at the whim of television executives, bringing B Teams into what used to the Auto Windscreens’ Shield and mismanaging the leagues so maddeningly that relegation will likely be decided in a courtroom rather than on the field, but that wasn’t enough. The top twenty clubs are still procrastinating about sharing a greater slice of their extraordinary wealth with the rest of the pyramid.

The FA Cup used to be the showpiece event of the football calendar. Now, rowing back on the rectification of another glaring error, the final will take place before the end of the domestic season. Of course, in their infinite wisdom, the FA have already paywalled the competition from next year having taken more cash from TNT Sports. Everyone recognises that the game’s changed since we all fell in love with it, but it is abundantly clear that the FA are not fit for purpose.