Thomas Frank requests for the implementation of a major Carabao Cup rule change to stop ‘same boring teams winning it’.
The Tottenham boss calls for the Carabao Cup to switch to single-leg semi-finals to make it easier for smaller clubs to upset bigger teams and prevent the same dominant sides from monopolising trophies, while also easing fixture congestion amid player welfare concerns.
He argues the current two-leg format favours the “boring” traditional Big Six, whose grip was briefly broken by Newcastle last season and Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.
He was asked: “Do you think that the cup competition continue to be teams to be competing and win outside traditional Man United Man City Liverpool that’s a trend that’s going to continue?”
Frank replied: “The interesting thing about the Carabao Cup is that before Newcastle won, the traditional top six had won 11 in a row.
“Then it’s Newcastle, who you can easily say is part of the top seven.
“I think the real outlier is Crystal Palace. What they did last year when they did well and they still needed the fine margins to beat City in the final so fair play to them.”
Frank continued: “One thing I’ve been thinking about is that there should only be one semi-final.
“I think for two reasons. For the smaller clubs, if you want to beat a bigger club, it’s much much easier to play only one game.
“We really want someone to break out so it’s not the boring same teams that are winning – of course except Spurs.
“Then we need to skip one semi-final for everyone else that plays so many games.
“It should only be one. If it’s about money then someone needs to fix it.
“If it’s Premier League paying money to the EFL, because as far as I understand it it’s because of that, someone has to fix it, that knows more about this than me.
“It should be very, very easy.”
When he was a Brentford manager, he said: “There needs to be someone that is responsible for this tournament that needs to cut the double semi-final.
“I know we’re not there yet, but let’s say we don’t make it tomorrow, then I can’t speak about it.
“I can’t do that after the game. It doesn’t sound as great if we sent out of the tournament.
“And I know it’s probably for some financial reasons, but the top clubs, don’t want to have an extra game to the schedule.
“The smaller clubs like us, we don’t want two games because last 10 years the top clubs taking very serious.
“The last 10 years has been Liverpool, Chelsea, I can’t even remember, but it’s the top six clubs that won it.
“We want that little bit of surprise. We want that smaller club to go on that fairytale run. And we like to do that.
“We just know we were facing City and United or the Tottenham or else within or two legs because some people are better than us. That means we have less of a chance to beat them.
“So there is no reason or no good argument why we should have two semi-finances.
“And I know it always comes down to finances, but there must be some sensible persons that can go into a room and find a good way to solve it. And I’m happy to facilitate the meeting.”
Here’s how fans reacted as Thomas Frank requests a major Carabao Cup rule change to stop the ‘same boring teams winning it’…
@themachcoys: Fully agree
@saeedkidwai: Been a fan of this for years. No need for two legged ties.
@JuceeRob: Just exclude anyone who qualifies for Europe from it? If they all hate it anyway. Can guarantee if they weren’t in Europe they’d want to be in the Carabao because it offers a European place 😂😂
@ForClubAndCntry: I’ve always thought the League Cup should change to not include the Premier League. Let the lower league teams play and make the prize promotion-to-the-next-tier. It would be hugely entertaining. (Also the premier league players have too many matches and it is bad for them.)
@BigSammyJ: Teams who qualify for Europe via league should be removed. Leaves teams who want to actually fight for the reward. I’m sure majority of recent winners are all top 6 finishers, so it’s pointless. Would make the FA Cup mean a bit more again too.
@AntStrange: sadly if u was do to do that it would die as the sponsor’s wouldn’t pay for it they want the prem teams in it
@epl_tipster: Teams not in Europe be better
@Robison35032341: Absolute rubbish. Where do I even start FFS. The entitlement is breathtaking. Spurs have won 1 cup in 567 years, and once they do some fans now think it’s beneath them. It’s the league cup , hence all teams in the league can and should be able to compete
@tjohnston_terry: Let’s get to the semi final first 🙏🏻
@sutchdesign: I like the two legs. It’s been the way it has been for as long as I can remember in the 90s. It makes it a little bit different. I’d argue that they should reduce the games in Europe as that is what causes the issue. You don’t need 8 group games to try and finish in the top 24
@AntStrange: or maybe reduce the number of international games and let the players play for the people that pay their wages there are far to many friendly’s
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