ScoRoss Posted April 5, 2019 Posted April 5, 2019 How would you change the English League Cup to make it better? Seeded draws? Home draws for higher seeds? One off Semi Finals? Teams in European competitions entering later? Having the final before Christmas?
Devil-Dick Willie Posted April 5, 2019 Posted April 5, 2019 Fucking scrap it. It just devalues the FA cup and if it wasn't for sponsorship money it wouldn't exist. It's there for all the wrong reasons
Subscriber Pyfish+ Posted April 5, 2019 Subscriber Posted April 5, 2019 Merge it with the EFL Trophy and make it just EFL clubs (and no Under 21 Premier League sides like in the Trophy). It would give some value back to The FA Cup.
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted April 5, 2019 Subscriber Posted April 5, 2019 Play the matches with academy youth only and maybe a limit of 4 first team regulars, how many times over the years have clubs been fined for not playing a strong squad and resting the first team regulars? either that or do what the @Devil-Dick Willie man said, Fucking scrap it. There are so many competitions flying around, EPL, FA CUP, Champions League, EUROPA and then we have the bloody Internationals even with stupid friendlies, injuries being the norm now and a lot of clubs (managers) when an International is on the horizon will suddenly declare one of their players who has been selected are suddenly injured (in training normally lol) and pull him out of the match and once the match is over with they are suddenly fit again for a league match.
Administrator Stan Posted April 5, 2019 Administrator Posted April 5, 2019 Teams in Europe don't need to be in it.
Eco Posted April 5, 2019 Posted April 5, 2019 2 hours ago, Devil-Dick Willie said: Fucking scrap it. It just devalues the FA cup and if it wasn't for sponsorship money it wouldn't exist. It's there for all the wrong reasons This. Get rid of it. Less is more.
Subscriber Dan+ Posted April 5, 2019 Subscriber Posted April 5, 2019 I'm struggling to think of any viable solution but scrapping it feels like a cop out. The majority of teams view it as a distraction. I think sadly the fix for anything in football is money. You'd fix the FA Cup in seconds if you made the prize money significant enough for teams to think it's worth taking risks in it for. As it is now you get teams just taking it half heartedly until they hit around the quarter finals where they think they might have a chance. My Dad always tells me how the FA Cup third round was his favourite weekend of the season growing up. Reckons we played Leatherhead at home ages ago who were in the 7th tier, we won 3-2 from 0-2 down and that the atmosphere was one of the best he'd been at. You play that scenario out now we'd probably get booed off in front of 17,000.
tlr Posted April 5, 2019 Posted April 5, 2019 Don't subscribe to this 'make it under 21s only' or 'ensure they field full strength teams' carry on; anyone, be they Man City or Yeovil Town, have the right to field whatever XI they choose for any fixture in any competition. I would either disqualify whichever teams have qualified for Europe (in any capacity) the previous year and have the prize as a decent entry level into the Europa League, or abolish it and spread the league fixtures more evenly across the year - including having all FA Cup rounds on weekends.
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted April 13, 2019 Subscriber Posted April 13, 2019 Unpopular opinion here but there's nothing actually wrong with it. It's a tertiary event in English football, it will never be more important than the league for Premier League clubs and it will never be more important than the FA Cup. Any more weird gimmicks or initiatives they try to make it more important will be exactly that, gimmicks which will only devalue it further. It's a tournament that exists and is less important that other tournaments. If you have four competitions, one of them has to be the bottom priority and that's okay. Not everything has to be the Champions League. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and the League Cup ain't broke.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 3, 2019 Posted June 3, 2019 Yeah I think the most reasonable option is just scrapping it, tbh. But if that's not being done, then the sides that have qualified for Europe shouldn't be in it.
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted June 4, 2019 Subscriber Posted June 4, 2019 22 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said: But if that's not being done, then the sides that have qualified for Europe shouldn't be in it. But you could say the same about the FA Cup, if teams are involved in either the UEFA Cup or Europa Cup then they should not play in the English League Cup either? I still say play with the youth option or as mentioned scrap it, but TV and money are more important nowadays so people like us are just a voice in the wilderness.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 4, 2019 Posted June 4, 2019 1 hour ago, CaaC (John) said: But you could say the same about the FA Cup, if teams are involved in either the UEFA Cup or Europa Cup then they should not play in the English League Cup either? I still say play with the youth option or as mentioned scrap it, but TV and money are more important nowadays so people like us are just a voice in the wilderness. Most leagues in Europe have a domestic cup though. We've got two. The FA cup is a far superior competition to the league cup. It includes the entire footballing pyramid, it's the oldest knockout cup competition, and the final isn't at some weird point mid-season it comes around the end of a season like a normal final. There's nothing wrong with the League Cup in theory, but in practice there's a lot of teams that just don't give a shit about it unless they make the later stages of it (which they often don't when they don't give a shit about it). I would hate to see the FA Cup get scrapped. I wouldn't give a single shit if the League Cup was scrapped. And I say that as a fan of the side that I'm pretty sure has won the League Cup more than all of the rest.
Smiley Culture Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 Take out the sides that are competing in Europe, for a start. That way, you won’t get the same cycle of clubs winning it every year or two and you’ll also offer the chance of European Football and a trophy to a side that doesn’t regularly compete in Europe or win trophies regularly. I think you’d then generate some interest from fans of some clubs, knowing they have a genuine chance of a trophy and European Football. I’d probably start the competition earlier too, in a similar way to the Scottish League Cup, which has replaced friendlies and offers competitive games to sides earlier on in their season. I’d have Round One (which is between Championship, League One and Two sides) taking place in mid-July on a Saturday afternoon. I think that would generate a little more interest than normal First Round games. You’re probably going to get people who are bored without football turning up and hopefully, the weather will be good and you can’t really beat sitting in the sun watching Football. I’d like to do the same with Round Two but there’s no way you’re gunna get the Premier League allowing their sides to play in the League Cup as their first game of the season, which is a shame but you’re also getting into logistics when there’s International tournaments, because that’s a shorter turnaround. By starting the competition earlier, I’d hope that you could get the competition finished earlier, preferably before Christmas, so you could have the League Cup as the pre-Christmas tournament and then the FA Cup as the post-Christmas cup competition.
Administrator Stan Posted June 5, 2019 Administrator Posted June 5, 2019 2 hours ago, Smiley Culture said: Take out the sides that are competing in Europe, for a start. For a good few years I've thought this is a good place to start. It's the Football League Cup and to give them the best chance of success and getting further in the competition, not having the European-qualified clubs would help. And I'm pretty sure it'd give our clubs in Europe better chances of progressing as it's a good amount of games they won't have to prepare for and then keep players fit/fitter. No doubt they'd appreciate it - I guess financially it'll barely make a difference not being in the competition, either. 2 hours ago, Smiley Culture said: By starting the competition earlier, I’d hope that you could get the competition finished earlier, preferably before Christmas, so you could have the League Cup as the pre-Christmas tournament and then the FA Cup as the post-Christmas cup competition. Unlikely this would happen because EFL clubs play FA Cup 1st/2nd round games in November & December. So unless there's changes to those games where there's no replays and instead extra-time/pens on the day, it makes the schedule around those months very compacted. Starting the season earlier works in Scotland as usually there's less teams involved so their season can be spread out more (less mid-week games presumably throughout).
SirBalon Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 abolish it. simple fox really. It’s a crap competition. Sorry
Smiley Culture Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Stan said: For a good few years I've thought this is a good place to start. It's the Football League Cup and to give them the best chance of success and getting further in the competition, not having the European-qualified clubs would help. And I'm pretty sure it'd give our clubs in Europe better chances of progressing as it's a good amount of games they won't have to prepare for and then keep players fit/fitter. No doubt they'd appreciate it - I guess financially it'll barely make a difference not being in the competition, either. Unlikely this would happen because EFL clubs play FA Cup 1st/2nd round games in November & December. So unless there's changes to those games where there's no replays and instead extra-time/pens on the day, it makes the schedule around those months very compacted. Starting the season earlier works in Scotland as usually there's less teams involved so their season can be spread out more (less mid-week games presumably throughout). There’s literally a very, very small chance any League One or Two club would be in the latter stages of the League Cup if it were ending in November/December. We’ve had one third tier finalist in however many years and not many semi-finalists from that tier. It wouldn’t be an issue at all.
ScoRoss Posted January 22, 2020 Author Posted January 22, 2020 David Moyes wants to make the League Cup, a British Cup.
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted January 22, 2020 Subscriber Posted January 22, 2020 On 13/04/2019 at 13:02, RandoEFC said: Unpopular opinion here but there's nothing actually wrong with it. It's a tertiary event in English football, it will never be more important than the league for Premier League clubs and it will never be more important than the FA Cup. Any more weird gimmicks or initiatives they try to make it more important will be exactly that, gimmicks which will only devalue it further. It's a tournament that exists and is less important that other tournaments. If you have four competitions, one of them has to be the bottom priority and that's okay. Not everything has to be the Champions League. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and the League Cup ain't broke. I have to pretty much stand by this. People's main gripe about the League Cup is that it causes too much fixture congestion for teams competing in Europe. This is obviously total horseshit, not an opinion, an objective fact, as both European finals last season were all-English affairs. This is actually besides the point though because why should we, anyway, be looking to restructure this tournament to suit the select few teams that are already the best in the country? They already get compensated for playing the extra fixtures by the huge amounts of money they get for qualifying for Europe in the first place. I get some people's arguments for this but I just think streamlining the competition even more just plays into the hands of the Man Citys, Liverpools and Chelseas of the world and gives teams like Colchester, Bristol Rovers and Plymouth fewer opportunities to get the marquee tie against a Premier League club which can be the highlight of their season and generate them some serious cashflow in the process. The way most League 1 and League 2 clubs are run these days, winning the cup draw lottery once every few years is almost essential for them.
Spike Posted February 29, 2020 Posted February 29, 2020 On 22/01/2020 at 10:01, RandoEFC said: I have to pretty much stand by this. People's main gripe about the League Cup is that it causes too much fixture congestion for teams competing in Europe. This is obviously total horseshit, not an opinion, an objective fact, as both European finals last season were all-English affairs. This is actually besides the point though because why should we, anyway, be looking to restructure this tournament to suit the select few teams that are already the best in the country? They already get compensated for playing the extra fixtures by the huge amounts of money they get for qualifying for Europe in the first place. I get some people's arguments for this but I just think streamlining the competition even more just plays into the hands of the Man Citys, Liverpools and Chelseas of the world and gives teams like Colchester, Bristol Rovers and Plymouth fewer opportunities to get the marquee tie against a Premier League club which can be the highlight of their season and generate them some serious cashflow in the process. The way most League 1 and League 2 clubs are run these days, winning the cup draw lottery once every few years is almost essential for them. Are you Jamie Redknapp by chance?
Dr. Gonzo Posted February 29, 2020 Posted February 29, 2020 Take all the clubs that qualified for Europe out of the competition
ScoRoss Posted June 19, 2020 Author Posted June 19, 2020 Should they use seedings to ensure that all the teams from the EPL / Upper EFL have home games through the first few rounds they are involved in? Would enable the smaller teams to guarantee an away game (and the gate receipts that come from it) and avoid repetitive same division games. As of just now, can't imagine a 3rd round League Cup tie between Watford and Bournemouth would excite many.
Smiley Culture Posted July 2, 2020 Posted July 2, 2020 The start of the season is quite congested if you’re a Premier League club. Between the start of the season, where you want to start off on the front foot, you’ve also got three international breaks in as many months to deal with, potentially European Football to contend with if you’re lucky and the League Cup. It’s no surprise that it falls so far down the list of priorities and sees so much rotation in starting XI’s. You then think of fans. They’ve likely laid out a load of money for a season ticket a couple of months before and quite possibly bought some form of new merchandise for themselves or their kid(s). Throw in the possibility of paying for some European home games if your club is in Europe and has that opt out ticketing scheme. It’s an expensive time as a fan and then when you consider the League Cup campaign starts around September-October, when you’ve just got kids back to school, have quite possibly not long since paid off your summer holiday and have to look forward to Christmas and the money required for that, it’s little wonder that a game against a lower league club doesn’t whet the appetite. I can see the merits of letting the sides playing in Europe forgo the competition and I’ve championed that before but I’m not sure you’re going to see much more of an uptake for tickets for West Ham v Morecambe than you would under it’s current format. I don’t particularly like three International breaks in as many months. The league season seems stuttered and doesn’t feel like it really gets going because as soon as you feel a bit of momentum, you end up with a week off so that players can go and play, largely, meaningless qualifiers, especially from an England point of view, where our qualifying record is ridiculous but upon further inspection, it’s bound to be against San Marino, Lithuania and the like. I’d rather see International breaks spaced out evenly over the course of a calendar year but I can see two sides to that. It benefits club football but probably harms the support of the national side. It’s probably inevitable that we scrap it, really. We’re the only one of the five major leagues in Europe that has a second cup competition, I think, so I can’t see it lasting another ten years. I can’t see the competition surviving if it was purely for clubs outside the Premier League either, you’d just see Championship managers treating it as the League Cup is treated now and it would go down the pan further.
Administrator Stan Posted July 2, 2020 Administrator Posted July 2, 2020 16 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said: I don’t particularly like three International breaks in as many months. The league season seems stuttered and doesn’t feel like it really gets going because as soon as you feel a bit of momentum, you end up with a week off so that players can go and play, largely, meaningless qualifiers, especially from an England point of view, where our qualifying record is ridiculous but upon further inspection, it’s bound to be against San Marino, Lithuania and the like. I’d rather see International breaks spaced out evenly over the course of a calendar year but I can see two sides to that. It benefits club football but probably harms the support of the national side. With more international breaks spread across the season, would this not just mean that no side can ever gain proper momentum and only ends up playing 3-5 games between each break anyway?
Smiley Culture Posted July 2, 2020 Posted July 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Stan said: With more international breaks spread across the season, would this not just mean that no side can ever gain proper momentum and only ends up playing 3-5 games between each break anyway? Didn’t say that, or certainly didn’t mean that. I’d have the four we have now (March, September, October, November) spread evenly across the year, maybe March, June, September, November.
Administrator Stan Posted July 2, 2020 Administrator Posted July 2, 2020 10 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said: Didn’t say that, or certainly didn’t mean that. I’d have the four we have now (March, September, October, November) spread evenly across the year, maybe March, June, September, November. Apologies, misunderstood that point! I think get rid of the August international break. Like you say it breaks up the initial momentum just as everyone is geared up (players/staff/fans) to go for domestic football. With the amount of international games taking place in a year, how long would you envisage these 4 breaks to be? Couple of weeks?
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