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Martin Glenn unconcerned by squad rotation in FA Cup


The FA Cup fifth round draw is kind to the big-hitters



Tournament bosses have defended Premier League clubs' right to widespread squad rotation in the FA Cup.

Bournemouth made a full 11 changes for Saturday's third-round trip to Millwall, and promptly lost 3-0 in south London.

But Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn insisted "it doesn't upset me" when teams use the competition to juggle their resources.

"I think Bournemouth were an outlier. Eddie Howe can make his own reasons for it," said Glenn.


"You'll get more viewings of your club on free to air television than you will on paid satellite.

"It's good for them because they get noticed and everyone wants to get to Wembley for a special occasion.

"People want to do well in the cup, but the positive side is that all of these bigger clubs have big squads, you want to give people game time and that's really important.

"Rotation is a good thing. Giving a chance for young players to get real game experience is not a bad thing."

Glenn confirmed England's governing body will pump more money into the FA Cup, owing to greater worldwide television rights.

The FA will also weigh up whether to scrap television appearance fees to individual teams in the competition, in favour of evenly distributing funds across lower-level clubs.

"The FA Cup is a great way of redistributing money to the lower leagues," Glenn told the BBC.

"The prize money is £25million and we're looking to increase that in the coming years.

"We've sold the international rights for more money, and that's hopefully going to allow us to benefit smaller clubs.

"Right now it's a bit of a lottery so one of the things we're thinking about, would be where you just make it a unity payment, so that everyone would get the same amount.

"It wouldn't be quite the lottery it is now.

"It would seem to be something we could consider.

"The FA Cup is really popular around the world and we're charging people more for the privilege of showing it."

PA Media