How much Tamworth would have earned if they had FA Cup replay at Tottenham
Tottenham needed extra time to secure passage to the next round of the FA Cup after the 3-0 win against Tamworth on Sunday.
Ange Postecoglou would have certainly been fearful of his job at The Lamb Ground on 12 January, as the National League outfit fought to a 0-0 draw during regulation time.
Despite Spurs looking far from a Premier League side on the day, the tie proceeded to extra time after the FA scrapped replays in the competition in April 2024.
Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson pounced in the additional period after a Nathan Muya Tshikuna own goal broke the deadlock after 100 minutes.
However, Tamworth will have nothing to show for their efforts throughout the 90 minutes and football finance expert Kieran Maguire responded to a question on X (12 January), detailing how much Andy Peaks’ side could have earned through a replay.
He wrote: “If the match had gone to a replay, at an average ticket price of £30, probably about £850,000”.
Tamworth robbed by FA decision after Tottenham loss
The magic of the FA Cup is well and truly dead.
While across the country this weekend, amazing storylines were written in this year’s competition, such as Liverpool-affiliated Accrington Stanley travelling to Anfield – none more so stuck out than Tottenham travelling to the lowest-ranked side remaining in the third round.
Spurs supporters may have turned on their own players after failing to find the back of the net throughout 90 minutes against a side four tiers below in the football pyramid, but the efforts were a testament to Peaks.
Regardless, the amount of money on offer to Tamworth should the old rules be in place will only add insult to injury after a near catastrophic FA Cup upset.
The £850,000 mooted would transform a club of Tamworth’s stature, not to mention the potential broadcast earnings, which last year, as per talkSPORT (5 January, 2024), equated to an extra £50,000.
That is a total just shy of £1million missed out on, all because of – as some have put it – the greed of Premier League clubs.
From Tottenham’s perspective, this win will land them £115,000 in prize money, which is an extremely small amount for a club of the Lilywhites’ stature.
Going all the way to the final, meanwhile, would earn the club £1m, plus an additional £1m should they win it – that is where the real money is.
It is diabolical that no thought was given to those in the lower echelons of the football pyramid in such a pivotal decision in England’s oldest cup competition.
While the top six Premier League outfits focus on more coveted prizes such as the top-flight crown and European competition, the FA will undoubtedly look back on this decision as the key moment that killed the magic of the FA Cup.
In other Tottenham news, ex-PGMOL chief accuses Tamworth of breaking IFAB law against Spurs.
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