A question was sent to the Roker Report editors to pass on to the writers last week – in 300 words, how would the Carabao Cup be rejuvenated? Why the question came a few weeks after Sunderland were eliminated
from the competition I have no idea, and the request was responded to by our chief editor, but not before triggering a lengthy debate among a couple of us writers.
There is no doubt that, as with the FA Cup, the importance of the competition has faded poorly from where it used to be, particularly in the early rounds. Pitted against the prize money and saturation coverage of the Premier League, what were our two main cup competitions have suffered from a ‘lack of love’.
Yet, what has not changed is that domestically they are still the two most realistic chances most clubs in the top flight will have of winning a trophy. Of the twenty clubs in the Premier League, you can pretty much pick the title winner from four or five (and usually the same) clubs each season, unless something completely bizarre like Leicester winning the league occurs.
So what does that leave the rest to go for?
Yet, up and down the country, come the first stages of the Carabao Cup or the third round of the FA Cup, clubs play what basically amounts to a reserve team.
I get the argument, after our defeat by League One Huddersfield a few weeks ago, that this season above all others, as far as Sunderland is concerned, our focus should be on survival in the Premier League in our return to the top flight. This season, myself and any other cup lovers have to accept where our priorities lie, and for all the excitement of our good start to the season with a completely overhauled squad, my own ambitions still look no further than a 17th-place spot at the end of the season.
But playing a second-string outfit in the early rounds of the cup hasn’t been restricted to Sunderland or any other club just this season and is largely down to the discretion of the head coach at the time.
The Carabao, or League Cup, for me started to lose its importance in the 1990s when Arsène Wenger of Arsenal began playing his youth team in the early rounds. Other clubs followed suit, and so began the mentality which has become commonplace, where nobody seems to be particularly bothered if their understrength – reserve team is knocked out of the cup at the first stage by a club two or even three tiers below their own.
One of the best moments of our spell in the Championship for me was when Tony Mowbray’s team went to Premier League Fulham in the fourth round of the FA Cup back in 2023 and completely terrorised the home team in a 1-1 draw. That was a full-strength Sunderland side.
One of the lowest moments in our spell in League One? When Phil Parkinson took us to Gillingham in an FA Cup first-round replay and played a reserve team which didn’t even register a shot on target as we lost 1-0.
For myself and any others who love a good cup run, it’s saddening at this time of year to see the apparent lack of interest in the Carabao Cup. Come the time of the semi-finals and final, then everyone is on board, the full-strength teams are sent out by the coaches, the games sell out, and there is a scramble to get tickets for the final.
But you can’t start a tournament at the semi-final stage just because that’s where everyone starts taking it seriously, and you will never get the fans enthused in the early rounds if just about every team is putting out their second string in front of fans who have paid their hard-earned money to see their team play.
Last week, new Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou made eleven changes to his starting eleven from his team that lost 3-0 to Arsenal on Saturday after vowing ‘to do things his way’ for the tie at Swansea. Even though the home team themselves made six changes, Ange’s reward was a 3-2 defeat despite leading 2-0.
Last night, Liverpool made eleven changes to the team that beat Everton at the weekend and watched their side scrape through 2-1 against Southampton. Incredibly, the attendance was given as just short of 60,000, even though there seemed to be quite a few empty seats on TV.
There are a few ideas around as to how to revive it and the FA Cup, which has also lost its sparkle compared to where it used to be. A ‘carrot and stick’ approach would be one suggestion, with the carrot taking the form of better prize money, especially for the early rounds, to offer clubs a greater incentive to progress in the competition and not see it as an opportunity to give the majority of their first team a couple of days off.
The stick would be a limit on the number of changes to the first-team squad or even starting eleven from their previous match. This would raise wails of protest from coaches bemoaning their players having to play twice in a week, but the Premier League is not a 46-game season like the Championship and lower leagues. Unless a club is involved in Europe, then in the top flight, playing a midweek fixture is not a regular occurrence.
If Sunderland do establish themselves firmly in the Premier League this year, then going forward I would love us to have a serious tilt at a cup run in either the Carabao or FA Cup over the next few years. Cups have given us some of our best memories over the years.
Aside from the above-mentioned FA Cup match at Fulham, how about getting to the sixth round with Martin O’Neill (he played full-strength teams in all the rounds), Fabio Borini putting us ahead at Wembley, or John Byrne’s semi-final winner at Hillsborough? What about Howard Gayle’s sensational 25-yard screamer in extra time at Roker Park against Brian Clough’s Forest, or the incredible displays from Chris Turner in the next round, and of course my first-ever memory as a Sunderland fan – 1973? Peter Reid’s all-conquering 1998-99 team started with a full-strength team at York in August, beat Everton away along the way, walloped Luton 3-0 in the fifth round, and took Premier League Leicester to the wire in the semi-finals.
Incidentally, when Lee Johnson broke our Wembley hoodoo after 50 years of defeats, it was… a cup! And we have begun to turn into serial winners at the national stadium ever since.
Are we giving up on all of that at the first stage every year?
