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.

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)

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.