Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe believes the scrapping of FA Cup replays could jeopardise the future of lower clubs.

Having helped lead the Cherries from League One to the Premier League, Howe is well aware how tough it is for business in the doldrums of English football.

Clubs from the top two tiers have called for replays to end as it help ease fixture congestion, but Howe says the implications would be much more severe for smaller clubs.

“I think it very much depends on where your club is now," Howe told the Daily Echo ahead of his side's third-round replay against Wigan .

“If anyone had said to me five or six years ago we should scrap FA Cup replays, we would have been up in arms.

“That one game may well have earned the club the funds to sign a player or even saved it from extinction.

“We used to dream of FA Cup runs and getting a big team, for the finances more than anything.

“You can't now suddenly have a short memory and turn round and say 'well, actually, let's scrap replays because we are in the Premier League'.

“That is the big thing for the FA and the difficulty for them because you will have half of the 92 clubs with one opinion and the other half with another.

“For us, I think it is important we don't forget where we have come from and forget what it was like when we were in a different position."