The EFL have revealed that the agreement to scrap FA Cup replays was agreed between the Premier League and FA without their consultation in an official statement.

The FA announced on Thursday that from next season replays after the FA Cup first round would be abolished as part of a new agreement with the Premier League. Since the announcement, numerous football clubs across the pyramid have released statements condemning the decision.

Bristol Rovers are one of the clubs to make a statement, saying that they are "extremely disappointed" with the decision. Bristol City haven't yet made a statement at the time of writing.

In response to the outrage voiced by the football world over the subsequent 24 hours, the FA released a second statement stating that they had been discussing the calendar for the 2024/25 season with the Premier League and EFL for over a year and that all parties accepted that replays could not continue.

However, this has been rubbished by the EFL in the following statement: "The EFL wishes to clarify further its position in respect of yesterday’s Premier League and Football Association bi-lateral announcement over the removal of FA Cup replays and the role of the League’s representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB).

"The agreement which now sees the abolition of replays from the competition format was agreed solely between the Premier League and FA. Ahead of the deal being announced there was no agreement with the EFL nor was there any formal consultation with EFL Clubs as members of the FA and participants in the competition.

"In September 2023, the EFL did initially discuss with Clubs potential changes to the FA Cup format but only as part of a wider and more fundamental change to financial distributions. As is now clear, there has been no movement in this area since September.

"This latest agreement between the Premier League and the FA, in the absence of financial reform, is just a further example of how the EFL and its Clubs are being marginalised in favour of others further up the pyramid and that only serves to threaten the future of the English game.

"The EFL today calls on both the Premier League and the FA, as the Governing body, to re-evaluate their approach to their footballing partnership with the EFL and engage more collaboratively on issues directly affecting our Clubs.

"A separate issue is the role of the EFL representatives on the Professional Game Board (PGB) in agreeing to the 2024/25 overall fixture calendar. PGB is there to make technical decisions across the game as opposed to key policy decisions such as competition changes or formats.

"Any decisions taken on the calendar involving EFL representatives are in no way an endorsement of the joint deal agreed between the FA and Premier League that imposes changes to the FA Cup competition format in isolation.

"As part of the discussions the EFL representatives did challenge the position and were told that Clubs would be comfortable with no replays. They were effectively advised that, as a result, of it being an FA competition, the fixture list needed to be agreed as presented. It is also important to note that this matter was not discussed by the FA Cup committee, a separate group that oversees the competition across the professional and national game."

Both Bristol clubs have benefitted from FA Cup replays this season with Bristol City receiving an extra £42,500 in broadcast income as well as the matchday revenue received as a result of their replay against Premier League side West Ham United which they won 1-0 at Ashton Gate. A replay was also required in the fourth round after a goalless draw against another top-flight team in Nottingham Forest which City lost on penalties following a 1-1 draw.

As for Rovers, they received a crowd of over 10,000 for their replay against Championship outfit Norwich City having drawn 1-1 at Carrow Road in the initial third round tie. They did unfortunately lose the replay 3-1 but benefitted from an extra home game's worth of matchday revenue as a result.

In addition to the removal of replays, the FA also pledged to keep all rounds of the FA Cup on weekends, the fourth round, fifth round and quarter-finals will be exclusive of Premier League fixtures for the first time and the Premier League will provide up to an additional £33million for grassroots football on top of their current donation of £100million it makes each season to "good causes."