The League Cup kicks off tonight with Blackpool visiting their local rivals Preston North End as the first round, consisting of 70 teams gets underway. However, the competition is often seen merely as an irritation or inconvenience in a team’s season, but could this year be different? Will we finally start to see every team take the tournament seriously? I certainly hope so.
Every team seems to find an excuse why they can’t play their first team, or even a fairly strong team in the League Cup. The teams at the upper echelons of the Premier League will state that winning the title and qualifying for the Champions League is their main goal and the rest of the league will state that avoiding relegation and consolidating their top flight status is their immediate priority. As you head down the Football League the respective clubs will be citing promotion and relegation fears as the reasoning behind their weakened starting XI’s which is sad. It’s all just a bit of a cop out. After all, football’s about winning trophies, not just finishing 13th every year in the Premier League to help with clubs finance’s. So why might this year be a little different?
Well let’s start at the top, with the dominant three clubs in England: Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea. These three clubs have all changed their manager’s over the summer meaning each new gaffer (less so in Chelsea’s case) will need to prove themselves to the fans and the owners, and what better way to do that than the win the League Cup. With the final being relatively early in the season (2nd March) it is an ideal way to relieve the pressure on the team for the rest of the season, because no one wants a trophy drought. Just ask Arsenal fans. A team would gain a tremendous amount of confidence from such a win as it is a significant trophy; it’s always the teams who don’t win it referring to it as ‘Mickey Mouse’ and so on. So these title chasing teams should go for it this year, winning it could just save their job.
The 8 year drought. If there’s a greater incentive for Arsenal to go all out to win the trophy then I can’t name it. For years the media and rival supporters have mocked Arsenal for their lack of trophies and this is becoming a serious issue for the North London club. In the past excuses such as paying off the stadium debts have been given for the lack of investment in the squad and lack of silverware, but no such justification for such failings will be present now. Last season they played a relatively strong side yet were beaten by an inspired Bradford, but the fact that they played a strong side is good for the competitions status in English football. Wenger will no doubt go all guns blazing this year in pursuit of the cup as the pressure on him mounts.
The same logic should also apply to the rest of the Premier League, with Swansea as a shining example for all to follow. The majority of the teams in the League will not have won a trophy for a number of years, and realistically this along with the FA Cup would be the best opportunity to revel in Wembley glory. It is also the best chance mid table teams such as Fulham and Sunderland for example to get into Europe, and therefore to progress as a club, so in reality every team should be aiming for League Cup glory. Last year Swansea showed it was possible; teams would be wise to follow their lead, and respect the cups.
Finally there’s the lower league clubs, they too have a great incentive to progress in the Cup. Not only is there the prospect of a big payday with an away draw at Old Trafford around the corner after every win they earn, there is also the tantalising prospect of seriously advancing through the competition, as Bradford valiantly displayed last season. They, along with 2012 finalists Cardiff City are examples that every team has a chance in the Cup, and therefore every other club would be foolish not to adhere to this.
Everyone can win it. Everyone has a reason to win it. Someone will win it. I hope that the 92 entrants from the Premier League and Football League have a real go at winning the Cup this year, as that is what football is about; winning trophies, not just hovering in mid table.
The Sunderland Supporter 