The Cup Of Joy Is Overflowing

The Carling Cup is dying, they say.

It should be killed off – no one wants it we are told.

Managers aren’t fussed if their teams lose. Neil Warnock’s reaction when QPR were beaten by Rochdale in the second round was to say this: “"I don't think [Premier League teams] do care. And you've got to look why. We've lost an influential player [Orr] who played well on Saturday and for what? We're not going to win the Cup."

And you never hear of a player who storms out because he wasn’t in a Carling Cup squad do you?

What of the fans in all of this? I’ll be honest, I went to my teams game last Tuesday, if not exactly with a heavy heart, then certainly in a more downcast way than normal. My brother met me with the words: “well this is pointless, let’s get it over with.” (We still went though, devotion is subject we have covered before in these blogs.)

There are many reasons for this apparent apathy from supporters. One is that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, almost a “well the players don’t care, the manager will put out a weakened side, why should be interested?”

And certainly the crowds last week were pitiful. Just over 7,000 at Wolves, 15,000 odd at Stoke, even less at Blackburn.

In short, there is much weight to the argument that, after all this time, the cup needs to be put out to pasture.

And there is historical evidence too, if you look at the competition at its inception, clubs didn’t even enter, the final had two legs and the attendances in the early rounds were way down. It has always been very much the thing that no one wants.

And yet, in one small corner of Hampshire they just about love this competition to bits right now. Aldershot, who like Wimbledon before them, went over the brink and came back again, pulled out Manchester United at home in the draw for the fourth round.

Their Chief Exec Paul Duffy was on the Football League Show last weekend talking about how the tie could secure the financial future of the club, although I notice yesterday he said that “there isn’t as much money in the tie as people think there is.”

Whatever, though, the Shots will get their night in the spotlight, the fans can snap up tickets – demand, apparently is “phenomenal” according to an article today on the BBC Website – Aldershot can maybe buy a player as a result of the game, and when you boil it down isn’t that the point in all of this?

All of which set Soccerbusiness thinking. Now, for our money the competition needs a revamp, so here’s my idea: Seed the thing to make sure these sorts of games happen. Make the big clubs go to these sort of grounds on a more regular basis.

That way everyone wins in the early rounds. Those teams that want to put out weakened teams can do so, but the lower division teams get a decent chance at a money-spinning home draw.

The big clubs will still win the cup, as they generally do, but by the time they’ve negotiated their tricky away ties, they will be more ready to put some of their better players in.

As Bruce Springsteen famously observed “nobody wins unless everybody wins” and whilst there is no such thing in football as a win-win situation, that is as close as you are going to get.