It’s that time of year again, the first fixture is penciled in for the 13/14 season in the form of the first round of the League Cup.
Ipswich have been given an away tie against Stevenage, but does this fixture or any other League Cup fixture benefit the Tractor Boys over the course of the season?
Most managers don’t take the League Cup seriously despite the fact that there is a place in Europe up for grabs. It is likely that Mick McCarthy will only see the game as an addition to his pre-season friendly list and will use the Stevenage match as a chance to experiment.
By that logic, surely these fixtures do serve some purpose; a good chance to get things right before the league campaign or perhaps a chance to see what some younger players have to offer. In terms of what Stevenage get out the game; I’m sure the prospect of Championship opposition will bring in a half decent crowd for them without quite being a sellout.
However, I’ve mentioned a few times before that I am not a fan of the League Cup but I can’t deny that last seasons cup was something special. Both Swansea and Bradford got to the final and both reaped the benefits of their unexpected success.
My opinion is still that the League Cup is more of a hindrance than a help for most of the teams in the competition though. I have mentioned in the past that the cup only really benefits mid-table Premier League teams as it gives them a route into Europe without needing to be overly successful in the Premier League. Swansea must have been thinking along these lines as they showed right from the start of their campaign that they wanted the League Cup trophy.
Perhaps the League Cup also offers something for smaller teams like Bradford financially, but it is important to remember that more often than not the lower league teams that go on long cup runs also suffer in their league campaigns as a result of the cup. Most League One and Two clubs don’t have the squad depth to deal with a cup run and even now a lot of Championship clubs are losing their strength in depth in order to adhere to financial fair play rules.
The bottom line is that I still do not believe that it is right to run a cup competition which only benefits a very small percentage of the clubs that enter it, and that is exactly how I would describe the League Cup.
Yes, the Stevenage-Ipswich game may well be useful in some ways but it would technically be better to play the fixture as a friendly match there would be more flexibility with substitution rules. I can’t see either Stevenage or Ipswich benefiting from the League Cup and both sets of supporters will no doubt be more exited to when the real fixture list is announced.
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