[Greg]

I know there is already a Carling Cup thread but this is more of a discussion on the Cup itself rather than this seasons competition.

My question for discussion is whether the Carling Cup should be dumped?

I'm sure there are stats somewhere to show the average attendance per game for the Carling Cup when compared to the Premier League and FA Cup. Take Man U for example, their last game had 20K less attendance than for a league game.

The top teams don't seem to take it seriously and play kids or their reserve team, so is the cup still a worthy addition to the fixture list?

Being an Everton fan perhaps I am being slightly hypocritical in that I would love us to have any silverware even if it was this cup, but from a more general view given the constant moaning about too many fixtures, perhaps this is an easy cup to dump.

[johnscarlet]

I had often thought that exclusion of the Prem teams may be the answer. But if you bin off the League Cup , what do the top teams then do with the FA cup ?

[kopchoir]

No with the top4 pretty much not bothering with the carling cup it gives other teams a chance to win a bit of silver spurs won it the other year and they havent won anything for years so it was nice for their fans to win a trophy.

The likes of villa city everton have a real chance of picking up some silverware i know its not the most famous trophy to win but for some fans its a nice day out i owuldnt mind winning it either a trophy is a trophy at the end of the day and we havent won anything since the fa cup a few years ago.

It will go nicely with the league title this year for us

[BlackCountryBob]

I read a article earlier in the week that made the point that actually while the big teams like ManU and Arsenal had less than full attendance, the real problem was with smaller teams. Getting 50,000 for what is really a reserve match at £45 a ticket (in ManUs case) is great going but teams like Stoke were less than half full.

Cup Not Empty For The Big Boys

I actually like the Carling cup in the way it is used to help blood youngsters. The format could do with some tightening up perhaps but in general I think it does more good than bad.

That said, it has never been a cup with a perceived prestige and weight of history like the FA Cup so I would not shed any tears if it went away.

[amd mad]

they should get rid of the prem teams in this one then at the end of the season the carling cup winners play the fa cup winners