What is the Worthington Cup?

[Val1]

Silly question from someone who should know better, but what is the Worthington Cup?

TIA

[erictheking]

Silly question from someone who should know better, but what is the Worthington Cup?

TIA

The league cup sponsored by Frank Worthington

[Los Libero]

Former names include Littlewoods, Coca-Cola, Rumbelows and now Carling. Such a prestigious trophy.

[ValeTone]

It's a competition that Port Vale know little about, having only reached the third round a couple of times in 40 odd years. We always lose to Roman teams, Chester, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Manchester United......

:(

[Arsenal_fanUK]

The worthington cup is now named the carling cup, sponsers get the right to the name.

its realy for sides in the bottem half of the premier league, who wont get to the F.A cup final. it dont mean a great deal to the top 10 or realy top 5 because they expect to win the F.A cup, and tend to play a younger team. i personaly look forward to it to see younger players play.

[Clan]

Thank you Alex - i'll take that for $1,000

Question - what will be Mourinhos first success at Stamford Bridge.

[Arsenal_fanUK]

erm? i hope he dont win anything this year but being realistic it will be either FA cup or champions league, he could even win the premier league. they are looking strong, but arsenal i believe will win it.

but ill say the Fa Cup

[Los Libero]

"I'm the champion of the FA Cup!!"

:p

[AggressivelyOffsides]

A better question might be Why is the Worthington Cup? :)

Seriously, what's the technical difference between the FA Cup and the Worthington Cup? something about league vs. non-league (non-FA) sides? Help me out here, Brits.

[Peakite]

League Cup (or whatever it is called at the time) is open only to the clubs in the Football League and Premiership. Started originally during the sixties.

The FA Cup is potentially open to all member clubs of the FA (although restrictions do apply, hence no AFC Wimbledon last season - they needed an entry in the FA Vase first). Been going well over a century now.

The entry of the League Cup is 92 a season, the FA Cup has beaten its record entry this season with over 650 teams in it.

[Dave_M]

no one mentioned milk cup - so I will

MILK CUP!

[Boro_lad]

A better question might be Why is the Worthington Cup? :)

Seriously, what's the technical difference between the FA Cup and the Worthington Cup? something about league vs. non-league (non-FA) sides? Help me out here, Brits.

My guide to cup competitions (a non-biased view):

Basically, League cup (takes sponsers name) is run by the football league, the fa cup is run by the FA.

Now the league cup is competed between the 92 league teams.

The F.A. cup is competed between i think this year by 661 clubs from amateur teams up to the league teams.

Winning either cup will get you a UEFA cup spot for the folowing season and a nice shinny trophy to put in your cabinat.

The FA cup is seen as most prestigeous (sp :s) as it is oldest cup competition and is competed by A LOT of teams.

Both competitions have thier finals at wembley (or cardiff while wembley is being rebuilt) which is a huge privaledge for players and fans and guarentees a great day/weekend out.

The FA cup has a lot less fans from each club allocated tickets as each of the clubs who compete in the FA cup (600 odd) get allocated a number of tickets, while the league cup with much less teams means that more fans from each club get to go to the final.

People will try and pass the league cup off as a minor trophy, however this is only when it suits them, as shown in 2001 when liverpool played man utd, it was a major trophy adding to the list of trophies liverpool won that year, however when clubs like boro vs bolton it suddenly becomes a minor trophy again, go figure.. Similar to the FA cup, people will say it is losing its prestege because millwall got to the final this year. Which again is just ******************, just many a jealous fan trying to belittle another clubs success.

The F.A. cup is steeped in history and tradition and is a very special competition. The league cup while not as historically important it still results in the same outcome, shinny trophy and uefa cup spot.

Everyone should still love the F.A. cup, however it has been ruined by T.V. as in the past before 100 games a week on tv the fa cup was an oppotunity to see the biggest names and clubs when your club was drawn against a big team. Something that is lost on the glory fans/foreign supporters of today...

[Rick B]

. Something that is lost on the glory fans/foreign supporters of today...


I'd make the suggestion that foreign fans should not automatically be seen as glory fans...... Many foreigners do know what the FA Cup means.....

[Clan]

I'd make the suggestion that foreign fans should not automatically be seen as glory fans...... Many foreigners do know what the FA Cup means.....


I would say it would depend on when they became a fan myself.
He has a good point - as do you.

[Boro_lad]

i wasnt suggesting they are one and the same, i was saying that it lost on both either glory or foreign fans. But as everyone knows they can be both more often than not.

[John L]

many "cup" competitions (at least international ones) appear to be Home-and-Away series - Total goals wins the series - (ties are OK, and if total aggregate is the same after the two games, then European competitions have the Away-Goal Rule, and then to Penalties) - European championship games (and some semis) are ONE GAME - South American usually continue the Home-And-Away series

But I know that the FA Cup is one-game, winner take all, and if there's a tie the game is replayed as soon as can be scheduled - Thats what makes even the early rounds between Priemier and lower division teams so interesting - (well - sometimes)

Is the League Cup (or I guess now the "Worthington" Cup) also a one-game competition?

For either the FA or League cup games, are the gate receipts split evenly?

[RichardL]

But I know that the FA Cup is one-game, winner take all, and if there's a tie the game is replayed as soon as can be scheduled - Thats what makes even the early rounds between Priemier and lower division teams so interesting - (well - sometimes)

Games in the FA Cup used to be replayed on the Tuesday or wednesday following the first match, and the week after that if a second replay was needed...and then after if a third replay - essentially there didn't used to be penalty shootouts, you had to win playing football. The record was a qualifying tie which went to six replays. It was all part of the "romance of the cup" as the cliche goes. Actually, as anyone whose ever been to a third replay will tell you, as much as you appreciated the purity of the idea, it was something of a pain in the arse. Taking 4 miserable games to see of non-league Welling United was more of an ordeal.

It is always assumed these days that the switch was brought about by the premiership etc, and the need for more european fixture dates. It was actually ended by the police, who changed their deamnds to football clubs and said they needed a minimum of a week's notice to organise policing a match, and this made scheduling multiple replays too impractical.



Is the League Cup (or I guess now the "Worthington" Cup) also a one-game competition?

it is one game, with extra time and penalties if need be. It used to also have multiple replays for it's one-leg matches, but some of the earlier rounds, and the semi final, were played over two matches. It was thought that the two-leg matches were putting the fans off, as some games were more-or-less settled after the first leg. Once in the 1980s, when Liverpool were still truly world class, they beat a (then lower division) Fulham side 10-0 in the first leg. In the programme for the second leg at Fulham were the not excatly necessary words "should the aggregate score be level after 90 minutes, an extra half hour will be played". Sadly Fulham missed out on the extra half hour by a whisker, being a mere 11 goals behind after 90 minutes. Off on a similar tangent, in about 1961 the excellent spurs team of the era (it was a long time ago) were playing a cup tie against 4th division Crewe Alexandra. Legend has it that a Crewe fan turned up at half time, and on being told the score was 7-1 replied "who to?"


For either the FA or League cup games, are the gate receipts split evenly?
I think in both cases receipts are split 50/50.

Away clubs used to get a share (about 10%) of league receipts too until relatively recently.

[Boro_lad]

league cup semi final is a home and away leg

FA cup is on a neutral ground with the seat allocation split between the fans to allow a fair chance for both

[RichardL]

league cup semi final is a home and away leg

...as we in Reading might have found out if the referee hadn't made two fundamental mistakes* gifting Boro a 90th minute winner in our quarter final tie in 1998. Curses!



*he pointed in the wrong direction for a free kick. Almost all the Reading players went forward to the Boro box, only for the ref to spin round and point the other way, by which time the Reading players were jogging upfield not looking at the ref. Only a few Boro players were awake to it. One of them, who'd been off the pitch receiving treatment, but had not yet been given the signal to come back on, ran on quickly and took a quick free kick. The two Reading defenders who'd stayed back were easily outnumbered and Boro scored. The ref then played 8 minutes of stoppage time in the hope we'd equalise. Ah, what fun.

[bloonhead]

This thread interested me, so I read a bit of history of the League Cup. It actually used to be called the "Milk Cup"?.

Anyway, I looked at who has won the League Cup since 1994 and the position they finished in the league that year. Half the teams finished the top five, while two finished outside of the top 10, which was 11th. So clubs must take it seriously.


Plus something that I don't has been mentioned here, the FA CUP is the oldest football competition in the world.