Do you value the capital one cup?

A good post on the whole, but 'proper teams'?

Everton, Spurs, Aston Villa are not proper teams?

Taking them for any Accrington or Woking.

(Last time I checked Woking were in the conference so couldn't play in it, mate's mom is a supporter but you get the point)

Normally but this season...not after the night that should not be named.

Why/why not? I definitely don't see it in the same light as say the FA Cup. Many teams don't take it seriously as well which lowers it's prestige but then a trophy's a trophy I suppose.

Yes because it's a trophy albeit not overly prestigious but a trophy nonetheless which helps to instil a winning mentality in the team. As a Man City fan having seen my team been starved of success for many years until recent years, winning the League Cup would have been celebrated massively. Even in this day with our riches I still would be happy winning the League Cup but I would hope it would act as a catalyst for further success.

Furthermore it gives smaller clubs the chance of a trophy, a Wembley appearance and a possible place in the Europa League.....and if they win the Europa League the following season they will (as of this season onwards) secure a Champions League spot for the following season.

Interesting to think that if that rule had always been in place we could easily have seen Middlesbrough and Fulham play Champions League football in the last decade!

Yes I do and so called top teams like Arsenal should also take it seriously as they have no chance on winning the PL or the CL in the near future.

Couldn't care less about it. Wenger once said that finishing fourth is more important than winning it and he's right. When even Championship and League One clubs are now playing weakened teams in a 3/4 empty stadium, something is badly wrong. There's barely any prize money and changing the sponsor name every few years doesn't help. In my lifetime i've seen it being referred to as the Coca Cola Cup, Worthington Cup, Carling Cup, Capital One Cup... hardly sounds prestigious does it?

As far as i'm concerned it's the Football League Cup, so it should be for Football League teams. Maybe add a rule that Premier League teams should have to play their reserve teams, because the u21 league really doesn't do much for their development.

Lol at disputing whether Arsenal are a top team. There are about 5 clubs in Europe with indisputably bigger credentials

Wall Street Valuations:

Manchester United - $3.6billion
Real Madrid - $3.44billion
Barcelona - $3.22billion

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2014/07/15/wall-street-says-manchester-united-most-valuable-team-in-world-after-adidas-deal/


Average Shirt Sales Per Year*:

Manchester United - 1.4 million
Real Madrid - 1.4 million
Barcelona - 1.15 million

*based on the last five years.

Source: http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2012/10/08/exclusive-manchester-united-and-real-madrid-top-global-shirt-sale-charts-081001/


Most Supported Football Club**

Manchester United - 354m
Barcelona - 270m
Real Madrid - 174m

Source: http://talksport.com/magazine/big-picture/2011-10-13/worlds-most-popular-football-club-revealed-man-united-liverpool-arsenal-barca-real-or-chelsea?p=12

**Research by the German company SPORT+MARKT has revealed an estimation of how many supporters each club has around the world. A sample of 1,000 people from 34 countries.

What have Arsenal ever done in Europe? Why should anyone who doesn't follow English football regard them higher than Chelsea or City?

Even someone like Ajax or Red Star Belgrade has more European pedigree than Arsenal.

Lol at disputing whether Arsenal are a top team. There are about 5 clubs in Europe with indisputably bigger credentials

The fact that people around the continent are perfectly aware that Arsenal have been one of the top 3 English clubs for nearly a century? Trust me, if you speak to a German or Dutch person for instance about English football, they know perfectly well the difference between the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal.

And besides, taking European games as test matches Arsenal can point to victories over Barcelona, Real(at the Bernabeu), AC Milan(x2), Juve, Inter, Roma, Bayern, BVB, Ajax, Marseille, Lyon etc etc. 17 years of non-stop CL knokout football tends to put a club on the map. Not to mention a final appearance which we were unlucky to lose and a Cup Winners Cup. Going further back, any football historian will tell you just how famous and preeminent Chapman's Arsenal were back in the 1930s/40s.

The fact is that when people recall that Arsenal are yet to win the CL/EC, they remark how odd this is. They expect a club of Arsenal's pedigree to have at least one and this is essentially vindication of that pedigree.