Should Premier League teams stop playing in the Carling Cup?
Every year, the Premier League plays on when major leagues across Europe pack it in for a winter break. We’ve talked about the need (or lack thereof) of a winter break in the Premier League before, with medical opinion supporting the case for a short break in December and January.
There are two arguments raised against the winter break - one, the players are already paid so much so they have no right to complain (can the underpaid players go on strike then?) and two, there are just too many games to fit into an already tight schedule for a winter break to be feasible.
While the wages debate is a separate issue (and the case of “high wages = must play all year long” is thrown in everywhere whether relevant or not), a legitimate case can be made for reducing the number of matches teams play over the course of a season. There are several ways we can do that (reducing teams, scraping the Carling Cup altogether), but scraping replays and pulling Premier League teams out of the Carling Cup are probably the easiest to manage.
Reducing replays is a no-brainer - it would immediately cut down on the number of pointless extra games teams have to play, but what if Premier League teams were not in the Carling Cup?
Pros:
- Fewer matches per season - allows teams to juggle fixtures around and squeeze in a break of at least 2 weeks (more likely 3).
- Raises the value of the FA Cup.
- Increase the value of the Carling Cup for the Football League and gives them a great chance for winning titles every season.
- Less risk of injury near the end of the season.
Cons:
- Many fringe players would not get games at the club as a result - especially goalkeepers.
- It would force people to change, something footballing authorities are loathe to do.
- Less chances of Premier League teams winning a cup (FA Cup automatically gets more attention from the top 4, the rest don’t get a shot at the Carling Cup).
What do you think? Have your say in the poll below.
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Discussion - 3 Responses
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No, the Premier League teams should not be banned from participating in the Carling Cup, but they should be forced to play an under 23 team.
This would give youngsters at all PL clubs the opportunity to be blooded against hardened and tough professionals from the Football league.
It would also give outstanding young players at the biggest clubs, an early opportunity for a leadership role. For instance, I could see a 19 year old like Anderson leading the “Young Red Devils” to Wembley with boys like Danny Welbeck under him - against similar, for say, Arsenal. Or a young Chelsea team playing in a Wembley final against a team from the Championship, say a Barnsley (!) or a West Bromich Albion. Spurs v. Arsenal under 23s would be fun; as would Man Utd v. Liverpool.
The football is likely to be more refreshing and could provide for very watchable contrasts in style, experience and physical strength. It would be a wake-up call for some of these boys; an opportunity to make a name for themselves for others.
And it would help re-focus the attention of some of the EPL clubs on developing their own young players. When they get knocked out the competition, many of the players could then be sent out on loan to continue their football education in the lower leagues. The really good ones would be added or remain in the first team squad.
Should be no entry into Europe for the winners. The European place lost should go the side finishing 6th/7th in the EPL, which is a better indication of merit over a season. Gives good EPL sides a better opportunity of getting into Europe than almost inevitably always having to beat more than one of the Big Four to land the Carling Cup.
If you ban Premier League clubs from entering the Carling Cup it won’t increase the value of the competition at all; you immediately devalue the competition instead. Sponsors won’t want to pony up as much money as previously and this would result in reduced prize money. A lot of clubs make very little money from cup competitions up until they face Premier League opposition. The clubs from the lower leagues need Premier League clubs in the competition to give them the opportunity of making some money from gate receipts.
Changing the competition rules to remove replays is a good starting point; but, I don’t think changing the rules to force Premier League teams to play only U23 teams is a workable answer. Differing entry/qualification rules might not stand up to serious scrutiny if somebody was to challenge it.
Another thought is that if you remove the European place for the winner why would Premier League clubs try to win it? They would be more interested in trying to get into the last European place in the league.
An alternate suggestion might be to move the Carling Cup to the start of the season rather than have it run throughout the season. Rather than starting the League season in August move the start of the League season back to mid-September and have the Carling Cup run through August/September. You could start with the 48 clubs from Division 1 and 2 and lowest 8 from the Championship in Round 1. Then round 2 you add the top 16 clubs from the Championship and all 20 Premier League clubs. You could have the first 2 rounds home and away and then move forward with just single, no-replay games from round 3. If you play each round on Saturday/Sunday and Tuesday/Wednesday it would mean that the whole competition would take less than a month from start to end.
Round 1: Sat/Sun of Week 1 (56 Clubs)
Round 2: Tue/Wed of Week 1 (64 Clubs)
Round 3: Sat/Sun of Week 2 (32 Clubs)
Round 4: Tue/Wed of Week 2 (16 Clubs)
Round 5: Sat/Sun of Week 3 (8 Clubs)
Round 6: Tue/Wed of Week 3 (4 Clubs: Semis)
Round 7: Sat/Sun of Week 4 (2 Clubs: Final)
Nope, Premier League teams will be missing out on a lot of they pull out out the Carling Cup. It’s a good competition to blood youngsters, plus it’s a competition lower league clubs like as they usually have a decent chance of a good run.
And if a Premier League club prioritises finishing 9th over a piece of silverware, a day of glory for the fans, and a spot in Europe, then the’re a bit daft, frankly.
And what Bowch said about sponsorship.