League Cup 2nd Round - Wigan Athletic (H)

[TopDeck113]

It was indeed 1994. I also went to both ties. Oh, the delights of Springfield Park...

[PeterWithesShin]

Lamptey was excellent in those games, although I think Wigan were pretty much bottom of Div 4 at the time. A week after the 5-0 home leg was Inter at home.

[Ad@m]

I assume the North/South thing is an attempt to cut costs given the way attendances for the early rounds of this competition have gone in recent years.

[AV5nobs]

Wigans kit at VP was identical to the Inter kit, it was surreal, also remember Fontolan having a blonde haired double playing for Wigan.

[adrenachrome]

From Twitter:

"Dear Sky. For the next League Cup Draw can I suggest FOUR pots, one of which contains a Scorpion"

That made I larf.

[cdbearsfan]

I assume the North/South thing is an attempt to cut costs given the way attendances for the early rounds of this competition have gone in recent years.

No. It was a cack-handed method of ensuring that Newport didn't draw West Ham as both sides have to play away from home due to stadium/pitch refurbishments.

[eamonn]

North and South section splits is common in countries with less funding for footy.

Whatever the reason, it's good that away fans don't have to travel too far on a midweek night.

[Richard]

The whole draw was a farce ! How come Derby were seeded when they haven't even got through to Round 2 yet ?

[UK Redsox]

I assume the North/South thing is an attempt to cut costs given the way attendances for the early rounds of this competition have gone in recent years.

No. It was a cack-handed method of ensuring that Newport didn't draw West Ham as both sides have to play away from home due to stadium/pitch refurbishments.

Couldn't they have just said the Newport were the away side in the first tie, then then drawn the home side and, only at that point, put West Ham's number in the pot ?

[cdbearsfan]

Yes. Or just said the first seed drawn was at to Newport, the first unseeded team drawn was at home to West Ham.

No idea why they needed to regionalise the whole draw just for that.

[cdbearsfan]

The whole draw was a farce ! How come Derby were seeded when they haven't even got through to Round 2 yet ?

I suppose because otherwise you'd have to have an extra team waiting around for the outcome of the Grimsby v Derby match, one seeded, one not. As it is, Grimsby effectively inherit Derby's seeded status if they knock them out. Similar to how it works in the early qualifying rounds of the European competitions.

My personal preference is just get rid of seeding altogether. Seeding in a knockout competition is shite.

[PeterWithesShin]

First round was regional as well so maybe the second round would have been regardless of the Newport/West Ham situation.

[cdbearsfan]

This suggests otherwise...

https://www.efl.com/news/2017/august/carabao-cup-clubs-to-learn-round-two-fate/

Also, last season the First Round was seeded but the Second Round wasn't.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'd keep it regionalised in future for the first 2 rounds, sod seeding though.

[cdbearsfan]

I don't really like seeding or regionalisation. We live in a little country, no need. Plus it can leave the draw uneven.

Depending on League placings, you could easily have a situation where a Northern lower-league club could play teams like Villa, Leeds or Sunderland while a Southern club would have far fewer potentially "big" opponents. I think part of the fun of cup draws is imagining who you might get, particularly for the smaller clubs. It takes away some of the potential excitement if you massively reduce the number of potential opponents.