The FA Cup 3rd round replay of Tranmere Rovers and Watford has been postponed, and may have consequences for Wolves and Manchester United.
The pitch at Prenton Park was rendered unplayable due to the effects of Storm Brendan, and a date for the re-arranged fixture is yet to be identified.
Tranmere say "the ground staff have worked tirelessly, working all hours, over the past few days in attempt to get the game on but were unfortunately beaten by the weather."
The winners of the postponed replay are due to play host to the winner of the Wolves-Manchester United replay in a televised game (BT Sport) on Sunday January 26.
We must add that the ground staff have worked tirelessly, working all hours, over the past few days in attempt to get the game on but were unfortunately beaten by the weather.#TRFC #SWA https://t.co/cw4fF2eqqv
— Tranmere Rovers FC (@TranmereRovers) January 14, 2020
Finding a date to sandwich the re-arranged game may prove problematic and could force the resulting 4th round tie to be put back.
As pointed out by ESPN's Dale Johnson, police require a week's notice to stage a fixture, so if the Tranmere-Watford game is rescheduled for January 21 or 22 there may not be enough time to arrange a home tie with Manchester United or Wolves on January 26.
Should the 4th round tie be pushed back a week, it would eat into the so-called Premier League 'winter break' scheduled for February 1-14.
That winter break effectively splits a full Premier League programme across two separate weekends which is designed to give all clubs a two-week break.
Things get even more complicated if it's Watford that go through as they have a Premier League game away to Aston Villa fixed for Tuesday January 21 with a full programme of games across that midweek.
Further to that, Wolves and Manchester United are both in Europa League action immediately following the winter break so all parties need to hope there's no call for a 4th round replay.
It's fair to say at least one Premier League manager will be complaining about their lack of a 'winter break' within the next fortnight.
