- A number of Premier League-only ties have been bypassed by the broadcasters
- But teams lower down the football pyramid will benefit from broadcasting fee
- Young Man United fans are singing songs about players who weren’t even playing in their lifetime. Some of them have no heroes. It’s damning – It’s All Kicking Off
The FA Cup has revealed the television fixtures for the fourth round of the FA Cup, which kicks off on Friday January 26.
Premier League sides including Manchester City and Manchester United, Aston Villa, Chelsea, and Newcastle have made it through the third round unscathed, as have Championship high-flyers Ipswich and Leicester.
Suprise package Maidstone United are the club in the lowest division to have qualified, with the National League South side defeating League One’s Stevenage 1-0 on Saturday.
But with the decisions made on which fixtures are set to be televised for the next round, a number of fans may miss out on seeing their club in action on either ITV or BBC.
On the first day of the weekend’s FA Cup action, there will be two matches played on Friday evening – Tottenham versus Manchester City and Aston Villa’s trip to London to face Chelsea – but only one will be televised.
Manchester City’s FA Cup defence against Tottenham will be watchable on Friday evening
Maidstone United’s historic clash with Ipswich will kick off a day of FA Cup action on Saturday
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Ange Postecoglou’s side against Pep Guardiola’s Treble-winners will be broadcast on ITV1, with those interested in the second Premier League clash unable to watch their tie live.
The fixture list has also caused controversy with the inclusion of a rarely-spotted morning kick-off on Sunday January 28.
West Bromwich Albion’s match against either Brentford or Wolves will be televised on ITV1 with kick-off at 11.45am.
Fans took to social media to vent their frustration over the rare timing, with some calling the decision to move the fixture to Sunday morning ‘disgraceful’.
Maidstone’s visit to Ipswich will be televised on BBC ONE as the early kick-off on Saturday January at 12.30pm, with ITV hosting the other Saturday selection, Fulham versus Newcastle at 5.30pm.
The broadcaster will also televise Liverpool versus Norwich or Bristol Rovers at 2.30pm.
The prime-time Sunday match slot has been handed to either Newport County or Eastleigh, who will replay their third round tie before facing Man United.
Each of the clubs involved in the televised matches will receive an additional payment of £110,000 as a broadcasting fee – a transformative amount of money for those lower down the football pyramid.
The fee comes in addition to any potential prize money won from the tie.
Source: Daily Mail