It wouldn’t be outlandish to say that the magic of the FA Cup has long since fizzled out. It has – and Sir Alex Ferguson’s suggestions yesterday only confirm that change is needed to the nation’s leading cup competition. As it stands, the romance is about as strong as a man presenting his wife with a tatty pair of oven gloves and a VHS copy of Ryan Giggs Secrets and Skills (circa 1994) before whisking her away to the local chippy for cod and mushy peas. The romance of the FA Cup is stale and needs revitalising.

Where to start? Sir Alex believes that a winter break should precede a weekend of cup football and so it should. Not only does this give players a break – and therefore reduces the risk of injury – but also gives fans a chance to recuperate financially and re-energise  their love for the game. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that.

With this in mind, how can a winter break improve the FA Cup? Top teams are more likely to use their best players instead of using a cup weekend for resting them. For fans, all attention will be on cup football instead of viewing it as a detour from the Premier League.

I believe it should go further still and result in two or three straight weeks of cup football. Though logistics may be a stumbling block,  a month of FA Cup football (Rounds 3 to 5, with a week to allow for postponements) would focus all eyes on the cup and take away the stigma it has as a distraction from league football. At the very least, rounds should be brought closer together to create a storyline instead of leaving people struggling to remember what went on in previous games.

Other measures that need to come in include moving semi-finals away from Wembley (regardless of financial repurcussions for the FA)  and ensuring every team is playing in the same round over a weekend. That two games are still going through replays in the last two days, regardless of fixture list pile-ups, is simply ridiculous and ruins the event.

Additionally:

• Replays should be kept – vital financial benefit for smaller clubs.
• Seedings should not be introduced as every team should be equal in the draw.
• Draws could be made before the action begins, providing greater excitement (already done in part: today’s draw has been made before Leyton Orient v Arsenal)
• Highlights on earlier in the evening

The ideas above are just that – ideas. Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments should lead to more debate on the topic, as keeping the status quo will mean more half-empty stadia, third-rate team selections and viewing figures continuing to fall. We owe it to the history of the FA Cup that will provide it with a future.