As the 2nd round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy approaches, here's a few thoughts on how to make professional football's worst tournament just a little better.
''We're never going to win the FA Cup or Carling Cup, so the only trophies we can win are promotion or the Johnstone's Paint.''
These were the thoughts of Leyton Orient boss Martin Ling ahead of his side's trip to Roots Hall to face Southend in the first round of the JPT. Both teams made changes for the fixture, Orient more so, and the O's were good value for their 4-2 success. Orient traveled back home to East London that night knowing their chances of winning the trophy were still very much in tact.
However, Ling's pre-game comments, whether he intended them to or not, raised a question about the season's schedule and in particular the existence of the two minor cup competitions. For the purpose of this article we'll assume that the vast majority of people are content with the current format of the FA Cup and see it a more important tournament than the JPT or Carling Cup.
The Johnstone's Paint Trophy does exactly what it says on the tin. It is and will remain a knockout competition for lower league clubs. The only real change the tournament has undergone since it's Auto Windscreen Shield and LDV Vans Trophy days (names which now sound relatively prestigious compared to the JPT) is the reduction and eventual removal of top tier non-league clubs from the draw. The final is at Wembley and generates a reasonable amount of fan and media attention but the early rounds are full of weakened sides, low attendances and a general lack of interest. There have been moves to counter this such as the introduction of minimum first-team player quotas and reduced ticket prices but the stigma and stagnation remains. The relative derby of Orient vs Southend on September 2nd drew a crowd - even with adults paying just £10 each and concessions even less - of 3,499. The same league fixture later that month, even with prices nearly doubled, secured a gate of 9,261.
Meanwhile, teams like Orient also get placed into a seeded Carling Cup first round draw. The only blessing for traveling fans is that the draw is also regionalised but nevertheless is still pits many League One or Two teams against Championship sides. The resulting effect for a fan of a lower league side is that you see your team drawn against a club who will probably beat you without there even being the silver lining of it being a glamour tie. In a cup draw you generally want to get Manchester United or Macclesfield but the Carling Cup produces ties that are the worst of both worlds. In recent years, aside from an excellent victory against QPR, Orient have been comprehensively defeated in first round ties against Ipswich, West Brom, Luton and Cardiff. At the time these were all Championship sides and all saw off the O's comfortably, and without a hint of glamour in sight.
My proposal then would be to keep the two lesser cup competitions but make the Carling Cup for the top two tiers only and the JPT for the bottom two. That way everyone is playing in a tournament they've got a realistic chance of winning and fixture congestion is also reduced slightly. Clubs might then - with only one minor cup competition to worry about - show a bit more respect for the JPT by playing stronger sides and therefore helping restore the competition's reputation. This would hopefully be backed up by greater media attention as the JPT became equally as prestigious as the Carling Cup, in relative terms, for those who competed in it. Fans would also get behind the trophy more, especially as they would no longer have to shell out for this match and a Carling Cup tie.
The down side of this, some might say, would be that lower league teams who have often used the JPT to give squad players a run out could no longer do so for fear of being thrashed by the full strength line-ups of others. There would be nothing, in excess of the current quotas, to stop clubs picking whoever they wanted but the truth is that for teams like Orient and many other lower league sides there isn't really a second eleven anyway. Squads are so small that players are either first team squad members or youth teamers; there aren't the perennial reserve team players that you would find at Premiership clubs with 40-strong squads. Most players will therefore get either league or youth team football at some point in the season anyway and if those on the fringes of the first-team do get put in the JPT line-up, they shouldn't really be outclassed if they've got genuine starting eleven aspirations.
Unfortunately, I doubt any of this will ever happen. A smaller Carling Cup would mean fewer televised ties and less sponsorship / advertising money for a start. Plus, sad thought it may be, a number of lower league chairman probably don't mind getting beaten 5-0 by Preston as long as the game draws a reasonable gate of paying spectators on the night. That said, if it does all come to pass, you heard it here first.
