The League Cup (now sponsored by Carabao) gets underway tonight in a round of fixtures that inspires approximately zero fans. The first round draw took place this year in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as a way of way expanding the energy drinks market in Asia. Comical. A second rate English football trophy is now being flogged in Asia in front of erm, absolutely nobody.
It is time once and for all to give this second-rate competition the boot.
As we know, football managers do like a moan, but one thing we can reason with is that there are a huge number of fixtures to be played during the season. Sides who after playing in Europe or reach the latter stages of cup competitions can play upwards of 60 games during a single campaign and each game seems more important than the last in this media-hyped industry.
But let us get one thing straight. The League Cup is a drain on English football and takes away from other more important competitions. Take the FA Cup, whose preliminary rounds began this month. Football’s oldest competition has been dying on its feet for the past decade and it is due to sides playing weakened teams to save their star players for more important competitions.
Now, even the most forward-thinking football fan will agree that a cup draw in Asia is a little far-fetched. The EFL’s reason for doing the draws in Asia speaks volumes: “Staging (the draw) in this way it will give the competition both the maximum exposure in the UK, Chinese and South East Asian markets.
The #CarabaoCup kicks off tonight - are you heading to a Round One tie this week? 🏆
Why would the Asian market care about England’s second rate cup competition just because it is sponsored by an energy drink they recognise? Just to emphasise how little anyone cares about this competition, no UK television broadcaster picked up the first round draw, whilst any keen fan had to listen on the radio to the shoddily organised proceedings.
It seems not many people are interested in Asia are interested in watching Norwich City’s reserves take on Stevenage. More to the point no-one in England is enthralled by that sort of fixture and could do without it. It is a distraction to the Football League sides who are doing all they can to achieve promotion and it is even more of an unnecessary distraction for those Premier League sides who are desperate to stay in the top flight and maintain the income that comes with that success.
Most players and managers are not bothered if they remain or go out of this competition until the quarter-final stage, playing B teams and hoping to avoid injuries. Let’s leave the knockout competition to the world-renowned and respected FA Cup and let’s can this joke of a competition.
