One knock out cup is definitely enough. To be honest though, I would much rather get rid of the FA Cup. Each year there is all this hype about it and every year it disappoints. All the pundits say that each Premier League vs Lower League represents a chance of an upset (which technically it does), but they hardly ever happen if the Premier League team actually tries. All this 'magic of the cup' nonsense is precisely that. Upsets don't happen in the FA Cup more than any other cup; the rules of chance are where the upsets come from, not due to magic. The later stages of the FA Cup are just as bad as the openings. Most games produce hardly any goals and tend to be boring affairs. I have seen roughly five entertaining FA Cup games in the past five years. Maybe I am just too young. I have only been around since it has been devalued. As far as I am concerned the FA Cup is simply 3 rounds of predictably mismatches and a lot of all championship clashes, followed by a few more rounds of dreary Premier League teams playing half harted. I don't see what all the fuss is about when people talk about the cup. The Carling Cup on the other hand is great. Firstly, there are evening kickoffs, which are always better games than afternoon ones. The big teams play some youngsters or out of favoured players, so everybody is desperate to show what they can do. Lower league teams seem slightly more engaged in the Carling Cup too, to the extent upsets actually look possible. Teams think they have a chance of winning it, because it is a shorter competetion, so try very hard in the latter rounds. Finally, it seems to produce exiting games over all. Spurs' games this year, Man United vs Blackburn, Spurs vs Arsenal last year, Burnely's games this year,etc. I know I will get slated for this, but I honestly think that it is a good idea getting rid of a cup, just hopefully not the Carling Cup.
Get rid of the FA Cup and everything you like about the Carling Cup would be lost as a direct result.
The competitions should remain the same. These two cups help give much needed money to clubs in the lower leagues. Football in England is not all about the Premiership Big Soccer Member above says in his opinion the FA cup is boring. Well so is the Premiership. Many very poor quality games and predictable league positions with the 'Big 4' So lets get rid of that too.
Why would they get rid of a tournament that people still pay to watch? If the grounds were all empty and the ratings plummetted then you can suggest scrapping it.
Saying that the Carling/Coca-Cola/Milk/Littlewoods/Rumbelows/Worthington/League Cup is somehow better than the FA Cup - the oldest Association Football competition which this year featured over 700 teams just shows you ......... are mistaken Night Games are better than afternoon games? The League Cup has more upsets than the FA Cup??!? The League Cup produces better games -- its a random draw!!!!!??? Bah
Keep it. As someone above mentioned, it gets money to the smaller clubs. Not only that, people continue to pay to watch. I enjoy it.
I am not surprised someone eventually put forward the idea of scrapping the FA Cup. I'm certainly not surprised to see lots of people questioning the value of the Fizzy Drinks' Cup. But I never thought I'd see the day when I came across someone who didn't like the FA Cup and wanted it replaced by the Fizzy Drinks Cup. Mental.
Are you bonkers? The oldest knok out cup cimpetition in football? Get real. The League Cup was only invented as a way of clubs making the most of flood light technology and it allowed them to put games on during the week, and has never been a truly valued competition. If one has to go, it has to be the league cup. Personally, I'd like to see it stay, though.
The idea of domestic cup competitions isn't to fill the pockets of the few, to the detriment of the many. To keep a cup purely for fiscal reasons is to lose focus of the real aim of the game. The bigger clubs would like to see it go in some respects because if they put out weaker teams they're accused of "not respecting" it, but if they field strong teams then, coupled with the league, the FA Cup and any European competition they're in, they risk burning out their players before the season has finished. The abolishment of the league cup would, however, limit the playing time that a number of squad and reserve players get. The likes of Wellback at Utd would play considerably less than they do now if the league cup was scrapped.
I have an idea for the Carling Cup... end it before New Years / FA cup third round. Also, make it open for all clubs in the EPL except for clubs that are in Europe (CL group stages/ Euro Cup group stages). That way clubs playing in Europe don't have this added distraction whereas clubs not playing in Europe get a shot at this competition. The Carling cup will then not coincide with the FA cup as it will be over by the time the FA cup starts. Just my two cents...
Many people have suggested that EPL clubs be exempt from the League Cup altogether. That with the FA Cup already in place and the Premier League having split from the Football League 15+ years ago, that this is a possibility. To be honest I think a revision needs to take place. Some specualte that our clubs are already at a dis-advantage in Europe because we don't have a winter break. With two domestic cup competitions thrown in as well as a packed league fixture schedule, it's impossible for the top clubs to prioritise every competition, which is why I get hacked with fans of other clubs criticising the top 4 for putting out reserves and saying that they "don't respect the cup" etc.
I think they are exempt if they want to be. Same goes for the FA Cup. Many just use it as a good chance to give fringe players experience. Even my own club have done that for several years now. I'm not too thrilled about them doing the same for the FA Cup though. The seeds of the lessening importance of the cups was sown in the mid 1980s, when a plethora of additional cups were created. The associate members cup for the lower divisions was quickly followed by the full members cup for the top two divisions, excluding the 6 clubs who would have played in Europe in 1986, who went into the screensport supercup instead. Looking back to that era, and comparing the crowds of England's last two European finalists, Liverpool & Everton (CWC), you get the surprising stat of seeing that Liverpool's highest cup crowd that season was an FA Cup replay at home to York City, which drew 3500 more than the European Cup semi-final. Everton did get their biggest cup crowd for the semi-final visit of Bayern Munich, but their second biggest was for an FA Cup tie v Telford United. Even the league cup was popular and regarded as important back then, but those extra cups introduced a cup apathy which spread to the others. The Champions League also didn't help, further squeezing the fixture list by more or less doubling the number of games a champion would need to reach a final.