mar20.qxp_Jan 2014 Aff 02/03/2020 19:53 Page 48
Fry’s Footie Corner There has been a lot of talk in recent months about the role of the League Cup in the football calendar and all this chat has stemmed from comments made by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool chief Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp bemoaned the fixture calendar (despite a summer tour to America) with high profile league games, sandwiched between the World Club Championships, which his side qualified for following their Champions League success last year against Tottenham Hotspur.
Klopp decided to play the youth team in the League Cup tie at Aston Villa, sent the youth team manager and saw his side well beaten. “Eliminate competitions, take out this competition,” he said when asked how to relieve fixture congestion over the festive period. “So less games, less competitions, less teams, more quality, less quantity. People can live without football for a while. It’s too much.”
As someone who has worked in the game for more decades than I care to remember in a variety of positions at a number of different football clubs, I can assure you that the League Cup means everything to 95% of clubs. Ask Aston Villa supporters whether they were looking forward to the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City last month. They will say yes. For Premier League clubs it is a chance to secure silverware. For clubs outside of the elite, it is the chance to draw a top side, attract a large crowd and make money that keeps those clubs afloat. It doesn’t matter to clubs in League One or Two if Liverpool play Mo Salah at their stadium or not. They are coming to watch because it is Liverpool. They will take as much glory out of knocking a Liverpool B team out as they would a first team squad. The League Cup, alongside the FA Cup is part of our game. It should be celebrated not chastised. There is a place in the schedule for it, there always should be. Yes, scrapping replays and sending ties level straight to penalties should be the case in all rounds of the competition and the semi-finals should be played at a neutral venue over one tie, but don’t ever dispose of it.
This countries football pyramid is celebrated around the world. The cup competitions are a focal point of that. Whilst I get the tiredness angle in the Premier League, don’t think that it doesn’t creep in as a factor in the EFL – after all, we play far more matches than they do anyway.
Barry Fry
