Magic of the Carling Cup?

With a lot of things in life we’re told you get out what you put in and I couldn’t help thinking of that maxim when looking at some of this week’s Carling Cup clashes.

While Arsenal’s hungry youngsters and Rotherham’s brave underdogs grabbed the opportunity others shrank back and balked at the experience.

It seems the Carling Cup has become a chameleon of a competition that almost every club looks at differently.

The top tier teams (I get bored of the phrase 'Big Four') treat it as a sideshow, a chance to boast about the depth of their squads.

Only at the latter stages of the competition do the big guns get wheeled out, particularly if the team realises it might be their only shot at a trophy.

Midtable Premiership sides tend to see it as one of the few opportunities for silverware not sewn up by their richer counterparts (although Portsmouth's triumph in last season's FA Cup somewhat muddied the waters) and is also another route into Europe.

Just look at Spurs who managed to turn a below par season in to a memorable one by claiming the trophy last term.

For the sides battling against relegation to the Championship it is simply an unwanted distraction that can only serve to deplete the resources of their threadbare squads.

Then for those lower down the league stratum, even though it lacks the (apologies in advance for the most overused cliché in football) 'magic of the FA Cup', it is still a competition that offers a money-spinning tie and a chance to prove that every dog has his day.

With all these varied permutations and attitudes it always seems to serve up excitement and drama, even if there is a kind of underlying sense of 'it doesn't really matter at the end of the day'.

It is certainly the least predictable of all the major competitions top flight teams take part in these days.

It seems some teams relish in the lack of pressure and relaxed attitude towards the Carling Cup, such as Arsenal's youngsters, while others see it purely as another opportunity for embarrassment and damage to moral between two league fixtures.

In a cup competition there is a sense almost that none of it matters except who walks away with the trophy - you might as well lose in the third round as much as the semi-final.

But try telling that to fans of Rotherham, who beat Southampton, and Watford, who pipped Premiership West Ham, after last night - even if they don't stand a hope in hell of winning the
cup.

Do we have to put so much emphasis on the final destination? In the Carling Cup at least why
shouldn't we just try and enjoy the journey?