Caesar
06 May 2009, 10:37 PM
One of the great attractions of the League and FA Cups has always been the chance of a place in the UEFA Cup. Often towards the end of the season, this has been very important to non-Big 4 Premiership teams who are progressing well in the cups but are out of the running for European places on the table. Even if they just made it to the final, the chances were that their opponent probably would have qualified for Europe already and the place would be theirs.
Now with the restructure, more European places are available to teams directly through the League. What's more the task of winning a place through the Cups is made harder, as now the place reverts to the table rather than the runner-up if the champion has already qualified.
Is there a risk that this is going to seriously damage the quality of these Cup competitions, which were already getting the short end of the stick from fixture overcrowding? I suppose the FA Cup will continue to be prestigious due to its history, but the League Cup already struggles with teams fielding second-rate sides.
Now with the restructure, more European places are available to teams directly through the League. What's more the task of winning a place through the Cups is made harder, as now the place reverts to the table rather than the runner-up if the champion has already qualified.
Is there a risk that this is going to seriously damage the quality of these Cup competitions, which were already getting the short end of the stick from fixture overcrowding? I suppose the FA Cup will continue to be prestigious due to its history, but the League Cup already struggles with teams fielding second-rate sides.