The Capital One Cup

[UpTheLatics]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/league-cup/9507372/League-Cup-is-a-moribund-beast-which-should-be-put-out-of-its-misery.html

 

"it is high time our own league swallowed reality in sweeping this carcass of a competition into the long grass."

 

That sentence effectively sums up the attitude of the Premier Legaue. If you're not in it, you're a nobody.

 

Anyway - one of our greatest claims to fame and I'd be dismayed should the competition be destroyed, but there are fundamental issues with its current structure. It began its decline when England's better clubs started to undermine it by fielding reserves and youngsters.

 

The comment about a bloated fixture list was interesting. Who has a bloated fixture list? Those above the glass ceiling. The simple fact is Stoke would rather focus purely on the league than Cup competitons simply for the money (understandable if you're the ones making the money, but Stoke fans aren't).

 

Same applied to the Europa League, really.

 

Thoughts? Would you happily see the competition end completely? Or would you like to see a complete re-structure, such as scrapping the JPT and including the Championship clubs down? Or maybe those in the bottom half of the EPL downwards?

[the_mighty_bosh]

The guy who wrote the article is a tool.

 

But I wouldn't be too disappointed to see the League Cup scrapped. The FA Cup does what the League Cup does without clogging up the fixture list (I'd make some radical changes to the FA Cup too). I'd probably like to see the JPT scrapped as well but with the current disparity between League One and Championship I'd say that has more of a purpose than the League Cup.

 

Judging by attendances in all 3 Cups the fans aren't particularly interested either. Potential finance is the main thing that keeps clubs interested.

[Zorrro]

Bin off the League Cup and JPT. Couldn't give a damn about them any more.

[Stevie_J]

Indeed, if there is a more joyless juncture in football’s calendar than the second round of this threadbare competition, I struggle to conceive of one.

 

He's obviously never heard of the JPT.

[Matt]

Bring back the Watney Cup.

[oafcprozac]

It's the Football League Cup, it should revert to being just that, the Premier League have devalued the competition since the late 90s. Clubs like us, Stockport and Tranmere have fabulous memories of this competition. The big boys are eroding those by playing unknowns in it.

 

The scary thing is though:-

 

2012 Liverpool

2011 Birmingham

2010 Scum

2009 Scum

2008 Spurs

2007 Chelsea

2006 Scum

2005 Chelsea

2004 Middlesbrough

2003 Liverpool

2002 Blackburn

2001 Liverpool

2000 Leicester

1999 Spurs

1998 Chelsea

1997 Leicester

 

BUT the big boys still tend to win it most years….

[stevesmitt]

I quiet enjoy both the league cup and the JPT. We was close to getting to Wembley in the JPT last season and as fan that prob would have been the best moment supporting Latics of the past 10 years. I do think the league cup should not include any teams taking part in European competitions.

[Latics_Fanatic]

Scrap it.

 

The FA Cup is the best one though - love watching the non-league teams in the first few rounds.

[Ackey]

Scrap it.

 

The FA Cup is the best one though - love watching the non-league teams in the first few rounds.

Combine the League and JPT!

 

First and Second Rounds:

Prem & Championship - Pot 1

L1 & L2 - Pot 2

Conference & Non-League - Pot 3

 

You only play teams in your pot... then you go in to a random draw for everyone else through to finals.

 

Gets more small teams the money draw at the big teams and big teams can chose to lose to big teams on purpose but then other big teams still go through!