With nearly half of all The Championship club being knocked out of The Capital One Cup this week it begs the question, do clubs actually want to play in the cup? or is it an unwelcome distraction from the league?
With 9 clubs from the second division now out of the secondary cup I’m starting to wonder whether they actually want to play in this cup. For clubs in The Championship there is, in fairness, things you have to prioritise over the cup. The League has to come first for every club hoping to make the step up to The Premier League.
Taking Leeds United for example, they’re a club who are on the brink of being bottom half or top half, and if you’re top half you have a good chance of being close to the play offs. They were knocked out of the club by local rivals Doncaster Rovers on Thursday night, will they be too bothered that they’re missing a midweek home tie against lower opposition at the end of August? I doubt it. For a team who is on the brink of have a great chance of playoffs or struggling against relegation they will be desperate to keep players fit and make sure they have as little injures as possible.
The League Cup is a prestigious trophy to win, and every team wants a fairytale such as what Bradford had a few years ago, making it the Wembley for the final. Also every fan wants their day out at a big club or a local rival from the league above. For Leeds to make it to the third round and be drawn against Manchester United away would bring in a lot of money for the club in television revenue.
However getting knocked out in the first round of the cup to lower league opposition is embarrassing, and every club wants to avoid embarrassment, especially to local rivals. I think though if you asked any Leeds fan would you rather make it to the Capital One Cup 4th round or push for the playoffs in the league then nearly every single one would say finish higher in the league.
In my opinion teams from The Championship would much rather be in it to win the league rather than in to win the secondary cup. It’s difficult to make a point for the cup when eventually you will play a team full of £20m reserves and get knocked out, similar to what happened against Leeds when they played Manchester City and Chelsea in the past few years.
A cup run can bring with it huge confidence, and if you beat a big team then it helps the whole spirit around the squad. However it can put unnecessary pressure on the team. In 2010 when Leeds beat Manchester United in the FA cup they were about 12 points clear at the top of League 1, then the wheels came off on the league season due to the cup run and they only just managed second.
I think at the start of the season its important to get a good start in the league and if that means going out of the cup early then it’s a small price to pay for a good run in the league.
