Carling..Coca Cola...League....whatever you call it...

Yesterday was the third round of the Carling Cup in England. It is the 2nd top level CUP competition in the country. Let's look back on some of the history of the cup. It was founded in 1961. Basically the generic name is the Football League Cup. Why has the name change for so many times? Sponsors. The cup has been called(recently first) Carling Cup, Worthington Cup, Coca Cola Cup, Rumbelows Cup, Littlewood Challenge Cup and Milk Cup...Yes, Milk Cup sponsored by the Milk Marketing Board.

The most successful club has been Liverpool with 7 wins, followed close behind by Aston Villa with 5.

So whats the difference between FA Cup and this League Cup? The League Cup only includes those clubs that play in the Football League which means clubs from the Premier League down to League 2. In present times the winner of the competition gains a UEFA Cup spot. In the case where the winner has won a Champions League spot, the next best finisher in the League will received the UEFA spot.

So whats my beef with it. Its become a laugh of a tournament really. Top sides are fielding youth or reserve teams. In a way, kinda taking it easy for the tournament, almost disrespecting it(arguably). This is most probably a fact, but it must be bottom of the list for the top sides in terms of priorities. Arsenal fielded their youngest team ever last night and still romped to a 6-0 win.

I watched Football Focus on Tuesday and they were debating on this topic and i was intrigued by one of their suggestions. Steve McMahon was proposing to change it to a youth competition say under 21 or 23. Then of course, one would see the results on Tuesday and say surely Arsenal would win it. Hell yeah it could be just that. But if u observed the past winners of the FA Youth Cup(U-18), Arsenal has now won it since 2001.

Here's my take on it, English football is in shambles. Internationally i mean. So why not use this tournament to display the best youths of the nation. Then again u can tell me the top sides can just field an international 11. To tackle this, why not use Blatter's concept of 6+5 or even more emphasis on English-born players.

So turn it into a Under 21 knock out tournament featuring the League clubs with a minimum number of English players required to be in the playing side. You get the opportunity to watch and scout upcoming youngsters at the same time. Of course this is in the ideal world. Why this idea will not probably take off? Money. No matter what, a more glorified YOUTH cup wont bring in the cash such as the present Football League Cup. Money makes everything tick around here...cough robinho....

So thats my two cents worth on the present League Cup. Dun really bother about it. Just watch the final when it comes around to it.



picture from http://frikifootball.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/carling_cup.jpg