One route to go down would be to follow the set-up of Olympic football, whereby a squad is made up of players under the age of 23, with three ‘wildcard’ selections of players older than this. This saw stars such as Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards all feature for Team GB. You could adapt this so perhaps your starting line-up must feature 5 starters from the previous game and 3 players under the age of 21. The manager then has flexibility over the final 3 selections. Under this system I feel the youngsters will gain a lot more by actually playing alongside and against players of real quality, the fans will have the opportunity to still see some of their side’s stars and the manager can still rotate his squad.
Quite a bold proposal, which in turn would further boost the FA Cup, would be to perhaps have a play-off between the FA Cup winners and the League Cup winners. The winner of this two legged match would gain entrances to the UEFA Champions League. This would in place mean that only the top three sides could qualify from the Premier League. If on the outside chance, for example, Chelsea won both the FA Cup and the League Cup in addition to finishing in the top three then the fourth place side would gain the final Champions League spot. Moreover, if the FA Cup was won by a club inside the top three but the League Cup was not, then you could potentially have an exciting and potentially nerve wracking play off between the League Cup winner and the fourth place side.
Whilst this would mean an enthralling end to the season, it is perhaps too extreme of a proposition. The potential for an enticing final with so much at stake for both finalists would be a mouth-watering prospect. The drawbacks would be that there would be less room for squad rotation, which would infuriate managers and leading players would be expected to play in nearly 50 games in a season. Yet for the paying public it would be a fascinating spectacle.
These are just a couple of ideas. I feel the League Cup certainly needs to be given a face lift. For the big teams they are left in a no win position as the regard for the competition is minimal. Apart from the occasional ‘giant-killing’, where lower league clubs defeat understrength Premier League teams, for me there is no spark or X-factor. As the big guns ring the changes for their midweek clashes we will again see less than packed stadiums and an eagerness for some managers to get out of the tournament as soon as they can!
For more of my views follow me on twitter @savzy007
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