Do You Want To Play In The Carling Cup

I think that, although sometimes tedious, it is a great chance for
a) top clubs to give young players game time and keep squad players fresh
b) gives teams like aldershot a chance to play teams like us!

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Of course I want us to play in the carling cup. It gives us the perfect opportunity to give our youngsters a chance.

Plus it also gives other premier league teams a shot at winning a cup, would you really want to see a championship or lower league team in the europa league?

It's strange in a time when every manager is complaining about too many games that England is the only major European country that has 2 cup competitions.

I understand one is owned by the FA and the other by the Football League but really is there a need for it?

If there's not going to a carling cup how can we play in it?
Seriously though I still think we should keep premiership clubs in the league cup but I'd like to see scottish clubs in it as well to spice things up a little.

i read something about them having sponsored it for 14 years yesterday...that can't be right can it? i'm sure when the scousers beat us in final in about 2003? it was known as the worthington cup? and the coca-cola cup before that...

Rumbelo's Cup and Milk Cup before that and just plain old League Cup at its inception.

It would be a shame if we couldn't participate in the cup, it gives young players a chance, gives us the opportunity to meet up with old 'friends' like Leeds,it's the chance of a trophy which is always good, i like the idea of a two legged home and away semi final rather than one game at wembley like the fa cup. In terms of importance to in the domestic calender it's probably on a par with the fa cup at the moment in terms of how seriously the big boys take it.

The other aspect your not considering is the financial benefit to the lower leagues that will be lost.

With no PL teams the TV money will drop dramatically and so participation money, regardless of whether the match is shown on live on TV or not, will be significantly reduced, this includes money for highlights which are sold as a package deal.

Also the Carling cup acts like a bit of a lottery for the smaller teams. Not only does a live game against the top PL teams, broadcast across the globe, bring in a lot of money, but an away game at a 50000+ stadium would also bring in a lot of revenue as they get a share of match day profits. One commentator suggested a couple of years back(can't remember who) that when a small football league club gets drawn against a big club like United, then they should automatically play at the PL clubs ground. Because 1-in the financially hard times that we live in, the chairman and manager could well do with the much higher match day revenue ; 2-in some cases the smaller team may get more fans in to watch the game as an away sector(15% allocation for carling cup) at somewhere like Old Trafford may hold more than their entire stadium; 3-the players from the lower league may never get the opportunity to play infront of massive crowds at iconic grounds in their careers, so why not gift them that chance in the cups.