How can anyone take the Carling Cup seriously when it's final fights for air time with league games?

By Ian Winwood

Published 14:00 05/03/10

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Last weekend saw the first major final of the 2009-2010 season, when Aston Villa faced off against Manchester United in the Carling Cup Final at Wemberlee Stadium. And lost.

For many people, the game was a very big deal. The fans certainly seemed excited. Villains packed the pubs of Baker Street and Camden Town on Saturday night singing loud and slightly threatening songs about how their team were going to triumph in the next day’s game. What these supporters lacked in foresight they certainly made up for in volume.

The old League Cup has for a long time been seen as the poor relation in terms of the season’s silverware. You can tell this is the case because TV coverage is always bending over backwards to tell you how important the trophy is, a sure sign that for many it is anything but.

But surely the clearest indication that the Carling Cup is not quite the first class ticket is the fact that other matches were scheduled to take place at the same time as this one kicked off.

Seriously, what other major cup final would allow that?

Would the FA Cup Final be staged at the same time as the first round of the Football League playoffs, or anything else for that matter? Take a wild guess.

So if you want to add more shine to this really rather good knockout tournament then for God’s sake give it a bit of space in the football calendar.

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