How to make the league cup worth winning.

[yellow hammer 0]

If they made the League Cup a prize worth winning then it would change everyody''s perception of the competition. I''ve always thought that the winners should receive a wild card promotion to the Premiership. Now that would really spice things up.

The permutations and possibilities of promotion would really liven things up. Imagine Accrington Stanley playing for a place in the Premiership... of course, in reality it would be teams like Norwich that have a better chance of winning than A.S. but everybody gets a chance to dream.

The top half of the Premiership should not be eligible to enter - since they don''t care about the competition it''s no big deal, and if the winner of the League Cup came from the bottom half of the Premiership, they''d be guaranteed Premiership status in the following year should they end up in the relegation zone at the end of the season.

This would also free up an extra berth in the EUFA cup which could go to the next highest finisher in the Premiership, so the top Premiership teams get something out of being ineligible for the League Cup.

It''s a win-win situation.

What do you think?

[Northern Canary 0]

Thats a pretty good idea. Premiership teams should not be allowed in but any club in the next three divisions that wins it can be promoted. The only problem is, someone from the league above would have to be unfairly relegated.

[Syteanric 1]

when u open a history of the league cup it wont tell u that the competition was devalued by bigger sides, that weaker teams were fielded etc..

it will just tell u the winners.. which in the last 5 years have included Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Thats all people need to know about the league cup.. its the back door into europe, just incase one of the big teams slip up. Therefore it isnt devalued.. if it was temas like us would be winning it every season. Take nothing away from us but the fact the bigger clubs still want to win it speaks volumes.

jas :)

[rich 0]

they could win the right to playoff against the fourth from bottom team in the league, the sides already in europe should be the ones excluded.

ANything that makes the thing more interesting is certainly welcome.

[yellow hammer 0]

Problem with the current football league structure is that the top half Premier teams are more interested in Champion''s League entry and League Cup is off the radar screen for them. The bottom half of Premiership and top half of Championship are all about staying in/ getting into the Premisership. Again, League Cup is just a distraction that no body wants so early in the season while there''s everything to play for.

It''s only a half dozen clubs at most like Evertion, Middlesborough who are unlikely to make it into the Champions League and unlikely to be relegated, who get anything out of the League Cup as they see it as a backdoor to Europe.

The real prize that every team wants is promotion to the Premiership, so let the League Cup winners get that and the competition is worth winning.