The League Cup starts up again on Tuesday. I’d forgive you for forgetting. Yes, it’s the third round and all the big boys have joined the competition, including the Manchester clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal. Yet what does success in this tournament really signify? Year after year, it seems that for most teams, this competition has slipped right down in the pecking order. Is there a way in which the Football League can reignite the flame and recover the excitement of this 52 year old competition?
In the last few years, many managers have reserved this competition for squad rotation and giving the youngsters experience in the first team. However, I am unconvinced as to how much a young individual can gain from playing against less than full strength sides in half empty stadiums.
Manchester United fielded a team of squad players in their quarter-final against Crystal Palace last season and were rightly beaten. Sir Alex Ferguson made 10 changes from the Premier League side from the weekend prior. Liverpool managed to claim the cup at Wembley, beating Cardiff on penalties, yet there is no way that Red fans will regard last season as a success on the back of picking up the trophy.
Surely, the League Cup cannot continue like this, with manager’s treating the tournament with such disregard. I feel changes need to be made, including perhaps a complete revamp of the competition.
In the Johnston Paint Trophy, a competition between sides in League 1 and League 2, a manager must field a side retaining 6 players from the previous league game. Under this rule, the competition is not completely belittled. Perhaps this is something that could be applied to the League Cup, to prevent managers from making wholesale changes. This would certainly help increase stadium revenues for the competition as fans will have the assurance of seeing some of their clubs best players in action. Although this would lead to a pipe up from many league managers, such as your usual suspects – Mancini, Ferguson and Wenger – it would be a measure to increase the level of interest of the tournament.
However on the flipside of the coin (the manager’s view), the question would be pressed, “how are we going to bring through our young players?”. In a bid to retain the prestige and interest in the tournament as well as providing a platform for young players to gain experience in packed stadiums, I feel the League Cup is in need of a complete revamp.
A key reason for big sides refusing to put out all their big guns in the tournament revolves around the minimal rewards in actually winning the trophy. The £100,000 prize money is a snippet of the £2 million reward for picking up the FA Cup. The Cup winner gains entry to the Europa League. However, for the biggest sides, the Europa League is meaningless. What is there for the title challengers really to gain from the competition other than pride?
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