Why So Many Empty Seats For Cup Competitions?

Coventry City hasn’t been in the Premiership since the 2000-2001 season, when they were relegated after finishing 19th with 34 points. The Sky Blues have spent every season since then in the Championship, so close to England’s top flight, but yet so far. They’re a proud club — they’ve been in existence since the early 1880’s, they were a founding member of the Premier League, and have won the FA Cup.

Before that dismal ‘00-’01 campaign, Coventry had spent the previous 34 seasons in the First Division/Premiership. Their fans had been used to seeing the best opposition in the world on a week-in, week-out basis, so the drop to the Championship couldn’t have been easy. They’ve come nowhere near promotion since then; in fact, they’ve nearly been relegated to League One on a couple different occasions.

The Carling Cup Second Round started today, with Coventry welcoming Newcastle to the Ricoh Arena. Newcastle is a popular team in England and despite their lack of success in recent years, they’re by no means a bad side. One would think that a chance to upset a Premiership team in a one-off game in a cup competition would be a draw for Coventry fans. One would think the crowd would really be up for this game, even if it’s just to see a team they don’t get to see anymore because the two clubs aren’t in the same league. It came as a bit of a surprise, then, when I turned on the game and saw a half-filled stadium with a crowd quieter than the ones at some of my high school games, at least until Coventry equalized right at the death through a long throw-in into the box (Newcastle eventually won 3-2).

This is the problem with both the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, though. For some reason, and I’m wondering what it is, matches in these competitions don’t ever seem to sell out unless it’s the quarterfinal stage or beyond. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is; a “Big Four” team could come to town and there still probably won’t be a full crowd.

I don’t understand this, and I’m hoping you can help me out. These are cup games. They have more individual meaning than most any game in a 38-match (Premiership) or 46-match (lower leagues) schedule. In the Carling Cup, one team will advance and the knock the other out on that given day. In the FA Cup, the same could happen unless the game ends up in a draw, in which case the tie is decided in the return leg. Victories propel a side one step closer to a trophy. If a Premiership team goes to one of those lower league sides, that’s the best, most talented opponent they’ll see all season. The Carling Cup winner and usually both the FA Cup winner and runner-up receive a berth in the UEFA Cup, which is no small consolation prize for many teams. The domestic cups provide another chance to win a trophy, and it’s hard to argue with that.

It doesn’t make sense to me. Is it because the games are played on weeknights? It’s not like they go on late into the night, meaning people can still get home at a decent hour and be ready for work the next day. It’s my understanding that ticket prices are lower for cup games and at lower-league clubs, so that can’t have much to do with it.

Why do I see so many empty seats like I did today?

Carling Cup Second Round Draw

For the most part, things went according to plan in the First Round of the Carling Cup, which was contested over a period of a couple days earlier this week. There were a couple upsets -- League Two side Rotherham United went to Sheffield Wednesday and bounced the favorite out in a shootout, and Yeovil Town made a trip to The Valley and beat Charlton Athletic 1-0 -- and some tricky games for the big boys at this stage of tournament -- Derby County needed extra time to put away Lincoln City, as did Wolves to overcome Accrington Stanley -- but other than that, the favorites held serve.

The 36 first round winners advanced to the Second Round, where they'll be joined by the 11 Premiership sides not playing in European competition this season and Manchester City, who is playing in Europe but got there through the Fair Play table and not last year's league position, thus not receiving a bye to the Third Round. In total, 48 teams from the Football League will continue their quest to pick up a nice piece of silverware.

The draw was held yesterday and the one-off matches will be played during the week beginning on August 25. Because of Manchester City's European commitment -- they'll be playing the second leg of their UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round tie at FC Midtjylland in Denmark on the 28th -- the Blues' Carling Cup game against Brighton & Hove Albion has been pushed back to sometime between September 22-29.

There are some interesting matchups here, most of all being Nottingham Forest-Sunderland. Sunderland boss Roy Keane made his name as a player at Forest, spending the first three seasons of his English career there before moving on to Manchester United. The Irishman hasn't been back yet for a competitive game as a manager, although his current team did beat Forest in a preseason friendly there earlier this summer.

Fresh off their upset at Charlton Athletic, Yeovil gets another chance to pull off a shocker as they host Middlesbrough. Leeds United takes on Crystal Palace in a battle of former Premiership teams. Newcastle pays a visit to the Ricoh Arena and Coventry City

Here's the complete draw (home teams are listed first, Premiership teams are in bold):

Ipswich Town vs. Colchester United
Coventry City vs. Newcastle United
Hartlepool United vs. West Bromwich Albion
West Ham United vs. Macclesfield Town
Huddersfield Town vs. Sheffield United
Cardiff City vs. MK Dons
Swansea City vs. Hull City
Rotherham United vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers
Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Manchester City
Reading vs. Luton Town
Blackburn Rovers vs. Grimsby Town
Wigan Athletic vs. Notts County
Leeds United vs. Crystal Palace
Crewe Alexandra vs. Bristol City
Middlesbrough vs. Yeovil Town
Fulham vs. Leicester City
Queens Park Rangers vs. Carlisle United
Nottingham Forest vs. Sunderland
Burnley vs. Oldham Athletic
Southampton vs. Birmingham City
Bolton Wanderers vs. Northampton Town
Watford vs. Darlington
Preston North End vs. Derby County
Cheltenham Town vs. Stoke City

Carling Cup First Round Draw

With all of the deserved hype surrounding Euro 2008, the 2008-2009 Carling Cup first round draw, which was conducted yesterday, has more than flown under the radar.

All 72 Football League clubs will be in action during the week beginning on August 11. The first round, therefore, is made up of 36 ties and is divided into North and South regions. Both regions are divided equally with a pot of seeded and unseeded teams based on the clubs' final positions in their respective league tables last season.

Remember, unlike the FA Cup, these are winner-take-all games that have to be settled that day. Extra time and penalty kicks are used if necessary.

North Region (home teams are listed first):

Preston North End vs. Chesterfield
Chester City vs. Leeds United
Leicester City vs. Stockport County
Sheffield United vs. Port Vale
Grimsby Town vs. Tranmere Rovers
Crewe Alexandra vs. Barnsley
Hartlepool United vs. Scunthorpe United
Derby County vs. Lincoln City
Notts County vs. Doncaster Rovers
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Rotherham United
Shrewsbury Town vs. Carlisle United
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Accrington Stanley
Bury vs. Burnley
Rochdale vs. Oldham Athletic
Nottingham Forest vs. Morecambe
Huddersfield Town vs. Bradford City
Macclesfield Town vs. Blackpool
Walsall vs. Darlington

South Region:

Coventry City vs. Aldershot Town
Milton Keynes Dons vs. Norwich City
Wycombe Wanderers vs. Birmingham City
Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Barnet
Gillingham vs. Colchester United
Southend United vs. Cheltenham Town
Swansea City vs. Brentford
Luton Town vs. Plymouth Argyle
Exeter City vs. Southampton
Watford vs. Bristol Rovers
Bournemouth vs. Cardiff City
Bristol City vs. Peterborough United
Charlton Athletic vs. Yeovil Town
Millwall vs. Northampton Town
Swindon Town vs. Queens Park Rangers
Crystal Palace vs. Hereford United
Dagenham & Redbridge vs. Reading
Ipswich Town vs. Leyton Orient

Aldershot Town are the reigning winners of the Conference League Cup, aka the Setanta Shield, and the Blue Square Premier division. The Shots will be making their first appearance in the Carling Cup as they've never been a part of the Football League in their brief history (founded in 1992). I'll be interested in seeing how they do against Coventry City, a team that was nearly relegated from the Championship last year but have a decent manager in Chris Coleman.

The Spurs Have Come Marching In

Jonathan Woodgate’s extra-time header completed an impressive comeback for Spurs as the North London club beat West London rivals Chelsea today 2-1 to win the Carling Cup.

I don’t want to focus as much on the game itself here as I want to talk about how this result was good for the Premier League as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, Tottenham deserves a lot of credit and this trophy will look great in their cabinet, but as I mentioned yesterday, it’s more important in the broader sense for the 16 teams outside the “Big Four”.

There are three major competitions to be won in England: the Premiership, the FA Cup, and the Carling Cup. Simple multiplication tells us that over the past 12 years, 36 big trophies have been on offer, not counting this year’s Carling Cup.

Guess how many of those trophies were won by “Big Four” clubs.

30.

How about over the past six years (18 trophies)?

16.

These figures work out to be astoundingly high, ridiculous percentages, especially if you’re a neutral fan like me. I want to see different teams win these competitions; it gets boring to see the same teams win over and over again just because they have more money to spend than everyone else.

Worldwide TV rights for the Premiership will be hotly contested by major corporations when they next become available after the 2009-2010 season. The Premier League needs to do a better job of distributing that revenue equally amongst its 20 teams. I would even go as far as to say that all prize money won for playing and/or advancing in the Champions League and UEFA Cup should be distributed equally amongst the 20 Premiership teams as well, rather than having the individual teams who play in European competitions pocketing all of that money for themselves like they do now. It’s a case of the rich only getting richer because the same teams are the ones playing in Europe year after year.

Competitive balance in the Premier League is essential to its growth as not only the most popular league in the world, but the top soccer league in the world as well, something it isn’t right now. You look at the fight for fourth place this season and things change every week. Teams 4-10 are separated by only seven points, and teams 4-8 by just three.

The more teams that are in the running to actually win something, the better. It allows these teams to go out and attract better players because they know they have a chance to win, and that appeals to the athlete and competitor in them. Rather than four teams monopolizing competitions, you could have anywhere close to 10 teams fighting it out for three trophies over the course of a 9/10-month season. This opens up more room for top-quality players; again, simple math tells us that the more teams involved, the more roster spots involved, and the more top-quality players who have somewhere to ply their trade rather than sitting on the bench at one of the “Big Four” clubs or playing elsewhere in Europe for less recognizable prizes.

I understand that if you’re a fan of a “Big Four” team, you like the way things are now. You essentially have a 25% chance to win any major competition in any given year, and that’s great. Let me ask you this though: If you were a fan of anyof the other 16 teams and knew your side basically had a 0% chance to win something, what motivation is there for you to really support that team, to really become a serious fan? It’s difficult to just show up to the stadium every week knowing that your team is just playing games for the sake of playing games, that they don’t have a real chance to win anything when all is said and done.

Great win for Spurs today. I’m excited to see someone break the stranglehold of the “Big Four” and I hope this becomes a continuing trend in England.

Big Chance for Tottenham Tomorrow

Tomorrow's Carling Cup final at Wembley represents the first chance at meaningful silverware this year in England. The Community Shield, whose winner does get a trophy, is generally considered to be nothing more than a glorified preseason exhibition match. I think I can safely say that tomorrow's game will be anything but an exhibition, and it should be a great 90 minutes (perhaps more) of action.

Both Tottenham and Chelsea will be pushing to win this game, there's no doubt about it. Chelsea are the defending champions of the Carling Cup and will obviously want to repeat. I'm not sure how much I buy into the opinion that they have an obligation to play their best team, but manager Avram Grant likely wants to put his own stamp on the team and win his first trophy in charge of the West London club.

This game appears bigger for Tottenham though, and for good reason. The goal of the other 16 teams in the Premiership is to break the stranglehold of the "Big Four". The only way to do that is by winning these cup competitions and trying to sneak into the top four in the league like several clubs are seriously bidding to do this season.

Spurs have been a new and improved club with Juande Ramos, who replaced Martin Jol as manager in late October 2007, at the helm. The North London club is 14-8-5 in all competitions under Ramos and have undergone changes in the roster and in tactical preferences. Spurs are playing with more passion and confidence and seem hungrier to win than they had been during Jol's last few months in charge.

Tomorrow's game also represents a route into Europe for Spurs, who are unlikely to get back into the UEFA Cup through their league position this year. If they don't beat Chelsea, they'll have to win this year's UEFA Cup to earn their way back into Europe's second-tier club competition. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that winning one game is more likely than prevailing from 16 teams in a knockout tournanent.

I've got Spurs winning this game 3-2 in a victory not only for the club itself, but for every other Premiership team outside the "Big Four" as well. It's important to the competitive growth and progression of the league that someone besides Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester United win something. The fans who want to see the same four teams win year after year are in the minority. As a neutral fan, I obviously don't count myself in that group and will be rooting for Spurs tomorrow.

Carling Cup Semifinals

The Carling Cup semifinal draw was made last night after Chelsea's 2-0 win over Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

The semifinal round will be contested over two legs, with the team that scores the most goals over both games advancing to the final. The exact dates have yet to be determined but the matches will be played during the weeks of January 7 and 21.

Semifinal matchups:
Chelsea vs. Everton
Arsenal vs. Tottenham

The North London rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham should make for an exciting two legs and I could see either team moving on to the final, though if I had to pick one, I would go with Spurs. My heart says Everton will knock off Chelsea to advance but my head says Chelsea will find a way to grind out a victory at Stamford Bridge and get a draw at Goodison Park. Chelsea are the favorites to win this competition now in my opinion and if they do so, they would successfully defend the title they won last year under José Mourinho.

Carling Cup Quarterfinals

We were down to the final eight teams in the Carling Cup; the "Elite" or "Great" eight if you're a fan of college basketball and the NCAA Tournament, the boring last eight if you're not, but six days ago, Everton sent West Ham out of the competition with a 2-1 victory at Upton Park. Three more quarterfinals remain to be played with two of them taking place today and the other to kickoff tomorrow.

For your viewing pleasure today we have Blackburn-Arsenal at 2:00 PM ET, live on Setanta. Arsenal are coming off their 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday and with the short turnaround, combined with Arsene Wenger's preference to play his younger, reserve lineup in these cup matches, you'd have to fancy Blackburn getting the win today at home. Blackburn played miserably in defeat at Wigan on Saturday; Roque Santa Cruz bagged a hat trick but Rovers conceded five goals and lost 5-3. They are still alive in the FA Cup as well, and I would expect manager Mark Hughes to go after the silverware in these cup competitions. Blackburn gets it done today in extra time, 3-2

Manchester City host Tottenham today although that game won't be televised live here in the US. Tottenham beat City at White Hart Lane 2-1 on December 9th but this game will be at City of Manchester Stadium, where the home team has won 10 consecutive fixtures. Spurs are coming off a huge 1-0 win at Portsmouth on Saturday and they've shown signs of turning it around under new manager Juande Ramos. City's 4-2 victory over Bolton upped their home record to 9-0-0 in the Premier League and thrust them back into the race for the the last Champions League spot. Could be goals galore today at Eastlands, and I'll go with the home team here: City-3, Spurs-2

The last quarterfinal will be played tomorrow and is easily the tie of the round. Chelsea will welcome Liverpool to Stamford Bridge as both teams will try to rebound from 1-0 losses to their bitter rivals on Sunday (Chelsea to Arsenal, Liverpool to Manchester United). Both teams will have a say in who wins the Premier League this season although neither will actually win it, so I would expect two relatively full-strength sides as whoever wins this game will be the favorites to win the whole competition and the silverware that comes with it. Chelsea may have a record home unbeaten streak in the league, but they've been pretty shaky at Stamford Bridge in cup and Champions League competition. Liverpool will escape London with a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

Carling Cup 2nd Round Draw

The 2nd round schedule for this year's edition of the Carling Cup has been released, with all games set to be played on Tuesday, August 28. Premier League teams make their entry into the tournament at this stage and there are 48 teams left overall.

Notable fixtures include (home team listed first):

•Birmingham City vs. Hereford
•Bristol City vs. Manchester City
•Bristol Rovers vs. West Ham
•Derby County vs. Blackpool
•Luton Town vs. Sunderland
•Middlesbrough vs. Northampton
•Newcastle vs. Barnsley
•Nottingham Forest vs. Leicester City
•Portsmouth vs. Leeds United
•Shrewsbury vs. Fulham
•Swansea City vs. Reading
•Wigan Athletic vs. Hull City
•Wolverhampton vs. Morecambe
•Wrexham vs. Aston Villa

The complete 2nd round match list can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/league_cup/fixtures/default.stm

Notable Carling Cup 1st Round Results

•Leicester City-1, Accrington Stanley-0
•Bristol Rovers-1, Crystal Palace-1 (Bristol Rovers win on PK’s)
•Cardiff City-1, Brighton-0 (Extra Time)
•Nottingham Forest-0, Chester-0 (Nottingham Forest win on PK’s)
•Coventry City-3, Notts County-0
•Leeds United-1, Macclesfield-0
•MK Dons-3, Ipswich Town-3 (MK Dons win on PK’s)
•Norwich City-5, Barnet-2
•Morecambe-2, Preston North End-1
•Sheffield United-3, Chesterfield-1
•Charlton Athletic-2, Swindon Town-0
•Watford-3, Gillingham-0
•West Bromwich Albion-1, Bournemouth-0
•Peterborough-2, Southampton-1
•Wolverhampton-2, Bradford City-1

One more 1st round match is scheduled for tomorrow. See the complete list of results at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/league_cup/results/default.stm

Carling Cup 1st Round

League Two side Peterborough beat Championship squad Southampton today 2-1 in the first game of the Carling Cup's first round. Most of these games will be played tomorrow at 2:45 Eastern Time, though two are scheduled for Wednesday and one more for Thursday.

The Carling Cup is considered to be the third most prestigious trophy in England after the Premier League title and the FA Cup. It was won last season by Chelsea, a 2-1 victor over Arsenal.

To see the complete list of first round matches, head over to http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/league_cup/fixtures/default.stm

Carling Cup draw-1st Round

The full list of matchups can be found on the BBC's website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/league_cup/6747987.stm), with the home team listed first. A few of the ties jumped out at me, and they are listed below. Matches begin the week of August 13th.

Sheffield United v. Chesterfield
Watford v. Gillingham
Swindon v. Charlton Athletic
Cardiff v. Brighton
West Brom v. Bournemouth
Macclesfield v. Leeds United
Chester v. Nottingham Forest