I think we'd need a wholesale restructuring of the English game

FA Cup is diminished because it's all about the Premier League, Champions League and associated riches.

Premier League and its clubs have all the power and FA is effectively pointless as a governing body.

It will be a legal nightmare for the FA to wrest any of that power from the Premier League so I think they would need a mandate from the government to take control.

If the FA could pull the purse strings and call the shots then they could then entertain such thoughts as Champions League spot for FA Cup winners and increased prize money at every stage, which would make the clubs more interested in the comp.

More widely I'd like to see them flex muscle to regulate ticket prices, go further on financial fair play, mandate part-fan ownership of clubs and perhaps siphon off more of the TV cash for developing youth and helping out clubs at the bottom of the pyramid.

But now we're in dream world. New FA chairman Greg Dyke was one of the guys who schemed to hand over the power to the Premier League so don't hold out much hope.

Posted By: pat_abb, May 11, 09:49:14