Importance of English soccer competitions

[eurythmech]

My assumption would be

CL >> Premiership > FA Cup > UEFA Cup >>>> League Cup

[gusmahler]

Hypothetical: Chelsea wins the FA Cup and Carling Cup this season, but finish second in the Premiership, and don't win the CL.

Is the season a success?

Same question for Arsenal.

[KDawg]

sucess for aresenal, failure for chelsea. Though the FA Cup can certainly provide some solace. It has everything to do with the fact that abramovich splashes out globs of cash and wants european glory for chelsea, along with them having a realistic chance of winning the league. Aresenal don't have a realistic chance of winning the league, so bringing home any silverware is a good thing

[PokerFink]

Agreed with KDawg. Chelsea has higher expectations than Arsenal. That scenario would be a mild failure for Chelsea - not a disaster, but certainly not a success.

[gusmahler]

So the fact that the hypo includes winning two trophies doesn't rescue the fact that the Carling Cup isn't highly regarded?

[PokerFink]

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So the fact that the hypo includes winning two trophies doesn't rescue the fact that the Carling Cup isn't highly regarded?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure what you mean?

The Carling Cup just isn't worth much, so winning it adds very little "success factor" to your season.

For a team like Reading, winning the Carling Cup would be huge. Arsenal and Chelsea don't really care - they play mostly backups in Carling Cup games.

[The once and future king]

FA Cup >>> UEFA cup for most English fans. The whole country used to stop for the FA cup final and it was shown both on ITV and the BBC. It isnt as big as that now, but is still prety big and seems to be making a resurgence. This year is big because the final is to be the first game played in the new Wembley Stadium, the spiritual home of football.

What TV channel cup games are shown on is a good indication of how big the competition is. FA Cup games are shown on BBC1 and Sky, UEFA cup slums it on channel 5.

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So the fact that the hypo includes winning two trophies doesn't rescue the fact that the Carling Cup isn't highly regarded?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure what you mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

I meant that I figured that winning the FA Cup or Carling Cup alone wasn't as big as the Premiership. So what is the effect of winning both.

Also, Chelsea will be playing a lot of starters in the Carling Cup (of course, with their injuries, he won't have much choice). Mourinho seems to value that trophy more than most other managers.

[ThaSaltCracka]

he's never won it, so mayeb thats why he wants it

[gusmahler]

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he's never won it, so mayeb thats why he wants it

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Mourinho (and Chelsea) won the Carling Cup in 2005.

http://rsssf.com/tablese/engleagcup05.html