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Carabao Cup & Europa League

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Riyad_Mahrez_10

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I think they both should be scrapped. Most countries have one domestic cup competition, and the PL probably has the most prestigious and oldest one, the FA Cup. The Carabao Cup has become a meaningless side attraction with measly pay outs.

Winning the FA Cup is still special despite it losing some it's aura in recent times. Teams that win their respective domestic cup should not be playing teams that finished 5th and 6th in their respective leagues.

I would ask of the return of the Cup Winners Cup (CWC), and only having the winners competing. If a teams done the double they can compete in 2 European competitions. I reckon this will bring some of respect and prestige of a second competition.
 
They can have the league cup, but should automatically exclude the team that finished top 10 in the previous year from participating in it.
 
The League Cup has been outdated for decades. It's often forgotten, but it was actually introduced primarily to show off (or justify) floodlights - they'd recently been installed in most clubs, but only a few clubs actually had any need of them unless they were playing in Europe or just had some winter games in increasingly dark conditions, and so this cup was dreamed up mainly as a way of exploiting the fact they could now have midweek evening games. That was pretty much it. After that novelty wore off, and especially after more and more clubs were given the chance to play European midweek games, the cup lost all point.
 
We are quite succesful in this cup and it is good for our youngsters. It also gives a lot of clubs some nice chance to play good games. I want it to remain.
 
We are quite succesful in this cup and it is good for our youngsters. It also gives a lot of clubs some nice chance to play good games. I want it to remain.

Funnily enough, for years we were absolutely shite at the League Cup competition. When we were winning everything else we'd always bomb out of it, maybe out of not taking it seriously enough or a need to conserve energy. Then we suddenly couldn't stop winning it.

The only thing that holds it together these days is the European place for the winners. Remove that and it may as well be the Watneys Cup. The UEFA Cup though was way better and more legitimate than the Europa League.
 
The League Cup has been outdated for decades. It's often forgotten, but it was actually introduced primarily to show off (or justify) floodlights - they'd recently been installed in most clubs, but only a few clubs actually had any need of them unless they were playing in Europe or just had some winter games in increasingly dark conditions, and so this cup was dreamed up mainly as a way of exploiting the fact they could now have midweek evening games. That was pretty much it. After that novelty wore off, and especially after more and more clubs were given the chance to play European midweek games, the cup lost all point.

South Liverpool was the first club on the planet that ever had floodlights. Over the road from my aunties. I remember being dragged there to watch shit football when I was an infant. And I remember them 'going bust' when the clubhouse 'burned down' about 30 years ago. My cuz was particularly unimpressed as he was their resident DJ, playing all that awful shit people used to dance to at discos in the mid 80s.

The newish train station Liverpool South Parkway is there now. And the floodlights were just a load of lampposts, like in the street. Great for obscuring the view.
 
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In September 1949, Holly Park hosted the first match in the UK to be played under "permanent" floodlights, a friendly against a Nigerian XI (the first Nigerian side to tour the UK). The match was covered for BBC Overseas Service (now World Service) by Kenneth Wolstenholme, who would later earn fame for his commentary on the World Cup final of 1966.[3] The final score was 2-2, with the official attendance 13,007.

...At the end of the 1987-88 season the Reserve team and Youth team were scrapped due to financial reasons. The profitable club house was also burnt down and funds were very tight.
The club remained in the NPL until financial problems forced the limited company, South Liverpool Athletic & Association Football Club Co. Ltd., to fold after the 1990-91 season.
 
Funnily enough, for years we were absolutely shite at the League Cup competition. When we were winning everything else we'd always bomb out of it, maybe out of not taking it seriously enough or a need to conserve energy. Then we suddenly couldn't stop winning it.

The only thing that holds it together these days is the European place for the winners. Remove that and it may as well be the Watneys Cup. The UEFA Cup though was way better and more legitimate than the Europa League.
I totally forgot that it had changed it's name. My view is let's do away with Europa Cup, it's horrible in it's current format. Those teams that now qualify for a Europa League spot due to league position should not be able to get in to a European competition. Those that get kicked out during the group stages of the CL should then not be able to enter another European competition as they currently do now. All of this just devalues the Cup.

Let's have it so only Cup Winners get in (but not winners of the Caraboa Cup)
 
The only way to make the League Cup survive is to make it gimmicky. Introduce a quota to boost the British contingent in teams, or go the mad Scudamore way and counteract the over-use of Wembley by playing the final abroad, or re-introduce golden goals instead of pens, or use sin bins, or go nuts for VAR, or manipulate the draws so the big teams have to play the smaller teams, or... monkey tennis?

It can't go on as a second-rate FA Cup, because the FA Cup has already become a second rate FA Cup. It's either go crazy or go away.
 
I think the most sensible idea is that if you qualify for Europe you do not have to play for the league cup. It maintains its importance to midtable clubs and gives their fans something to actually go for and also gives the players playing in Europe a break. You could argue its an opportunity to blood our youngsters in, but we only need to do that because the youth leagues are poorly set up and generally disorganised.
 
I totally forgot that it had changed it's name. My view is let's do away with Europa Cup, it's horrible in it's current format. Those teams that now qualify for a Europa League spot due to league position should not be able to get in to a European competition. Those that get kicked out during the group stages of the CL should then not be able to enter another European competition as they currently do now. All of this just devalues the Cup.

Let's have it so only Cup Winners get in (but not winners of the Caraboa Cup)
The CWC was shite - half of teams competing in it were no better than pub teams. Please don't ever bring it back.

LC : performs an invaluable service in helping many of the clubs in the football league balance their books and for some PL clubs to blood youngsters who gain invaluable experience that they would otherwise be unable to achieve. Excluding PL teams would not only damage those lower league clubs (maybe even to the point of bankruptcy, the fees from a big match - and esp. replays - can keep them going for years) but be one less opportunity for top youngsters.

I agree the LC needs an overhaul but again bear in mind what can the smaller clubs afford/manage (maybe not VAR for instance). I'd suggest one beneficial, and interesting, change would be to make it a British Cup and include some Scottish, NI and Welsh clubs in earlier rounds. Imagine Celtic, Rangers or Aberdeen having to play at Bolton, Coventry or say Fulham .... it would create a lot of interest and likely the Scottish clubs would take it very seriously as a matter of pride.

Sorry but I find the general attitude towards the LC here to be that of the typical 'big club' fan, who has little to no regard for clubs not at the top end of the PL and their needs and maybe the dreams of their supporters (the chance to see major clubs come to their ground or get an away day to see their club play at an iconic or legendary stadium).

EL : I do not agree to excluding clubs knocked out of the CL, imagine how shite it would be without them. It doesn't generate massive interest now due to the overpowering and over-promotion of the CL, it would disintegrate without those good, and sometimes major, clubs.

The EL should however maybe have regional rounds and clubs knocked out in the final qualifying rounds of the CL could be included (if they are not already), maybe also give more spots to the clubs from the top leagues who currently have no European competition (who also have to play regional rounds so they don't overpower the competition). Just musing without any research into the pros / cons of those thoughts.
 
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Much as it would not favour us at the moment, the European cup should go back to being for the national champions only, plus the holders. UEFA cup should be for the next 4-5 teams. That would make UEFA more meaningful.

Also we should all go back to wearing flares, jacket & tie, swinging home made football rattles over our heads and tossing our caps into the air each time we score
 
Much as it would not favour us at the moment, the European cup should go back to being for the national champions only, plus the holders. UEFA cup should be for the next 4-5 teams. That would make UEFA more meaningful.

Also we should all go back to wearing flares, jacket & tie, swinging home made football rattles over our heads and tossing our caps into the air each time we score

Sounds all very good but it doesn't favour us at all so no thanks. I love the idea of a British Cup, suggest it to the FA and your MP. It can happen!
 
I think the League cup should remain Football League only - it still serves to give lower clubs games against bigger clubs but it minimises disruption. I can't imagine it would get much sponsorship attention but it is detrimental to the Premier League. Remove that and clubs will field stronger teams in the FA Cup. Surely the FA want that.
 
Maybe turn the League Cup into an U23 Cup for the Premiership teams and as it for everyone else.

Good fun for the lower league teams to go to Anfield etc., and great opportunities for the youngsters in the big clubs to shine. I think it would actually somehow get some renewed interest, if it were to showcase the best teams best youngsters up against rather potent Chamionship teams etc.
 
Much as it would not favour us at the moment, the European cup should go back to being for the national champions only, plus the holders. UEFA cup should be for the next 4-5 teams. That would make UEFA more meaningful.

Also we should all go back to wearing flares, jacket & tie, swinging home made football rattles over our heads and tossing our caps into the air each time we score

No way should we go back to a pure champions only EC. You must have a short memory Tom ! Way less interest in early rounds due to so many shite draws (champions of Spain vs Albania, England vs Macedonia and so on) and often only the 1/4s or sometimes even the 1/2s would provide any real interest. It was fine listening to them on a radio because you couldn't actually see how shite most of those teams were.

We would miss out on a ton of great matches too and of course the champions from the previous season aren't always the best team from that country the following season.
 
Does it really need to change?

The only thing it lacks is more cash for winning it.
 
I think the most sensible idea is that if you qualify for Europe you do not have to play for the league cup. It maintains its importance to midtable clubs and gives their fans something to actually go for and also gives the players playing in Europe a break. You could argue its an opportunity to blood our youngsters in, but we only need to do that because the youth leagues are poorly set up and generally disorganised.
Actually, that a really good idea, but how about taking proper advantage of it & not excluding any club that is eligible for Europe, but any player instead?

That way the big clubs still play in it, but with their reserve squads only, really leveling the playing field.
 
The Kumbaya cup should at least make one change and thats binning the two legged semi finals off.

But, as others have said, maybe it should be a cup for the teams not involved in Europe.
That would make it more competitive and you might see some inspiraitional and small club winners.
It wont happen though as we all know the big teams are the financial draws for any sponsorship deal.
 
The LC matches that I detest are the ones between Premier League clubs - because they take them half-seriously, not enabling the youngsters to get a chance to play. If they had known this draw was coming, more youngsters would have gone on loan etc. I think it could work much better if they had the 4 leagues if different pots and make it so prem teams can’t face each other until quarter-finals. That way the kids would play and there would be a fair number of upsets. And, we would all watch because we want to see what the kids can do. I definitely don’t watch when we are playing another mid-table prem team and giving the likes of Ings and Klavan a run out with the regulars.


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Maybe turn the League Cup into an U23 Cup for the Premiership teams and as it for everyone else.

Good fun for the lower league teams to go to Anfield etc., and great opportunities for the youngsters in the big clubs to shine. I think it would actually somehow get some renewed interest, if it were to showcase the best teams best youngsters up against rather potent Chamionship teams etc.

This is basically what the EFL trophy is now anyway.

I like the League Cup because we have a history of winning it, but bias aside, it should probably be scrapped.

The Europa League was well better as the UEFA cup. It's a joke now until the quarters, unless Man Utd are in it, then there's somehow no decent teams at all in it.

The Cup Winners' Cup would be nice to bring back. Doubt it will ever happen, though.
 
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