Carabao Cup is worthless, trophy for losers – Premier League Big Six stance and the reality | OneFootball

Ever since Newcastle United lifted the Carabao Cup, I have seen a lot of these comments from rivals fans, especially those who support Premier League Big Six clubs.

‘The Carabao Cup is for losers.’

‘A meaningless trophy.’

‘Carabao Cup is worthless.’

And so on.

So does this make sense, has it got substance?

In particular, when it is fans of Premier League Big Six clubs, are they on the money, or are they embarrassing themselves…?

I have done a little digging, you know, looking at the actual facts.

Before Newcastle United won the 2025 Carabao Cup – The last eleven winners of the League Cup

Man City 2014

Chelsea 2015

Man City 2016

Man U 2017

Man City 2018

Man City 2019

Man City 2020

Man City 2021

Liverpool 2022

Man U 2023

Liverpool 2024

Paul Scholes totally embarrassed himself, not for the first time (a great player but a useless and thick as a Whale sandwich pundit), when trying to belittle Newcastle United after winning the Carabao Cup, claiming that it is a competition that major clubs all try to get out of as quickly as possible.

It is funny that, as those 11 League/Carabao Cup winners from 2014 to 2024 prove, all of them Premier League Big Six clubs that have won the competition. They are trying to get out of the competition ‘as quickly as possible’ in a very strange way!

The thing is, the League/Carabao Cup has never been more popular than it is now in the modern era, all of the major clubs are desperate to win it.

Is it as prestigious as the other major trophies?

No. However, I think fair to say that the gap between the FA Cup and League Cup has never been closer than it is now,, in terms of prestige and clubs trying to win it. Sadly, the FA Cup has been massively messed around and devalued in recent times. You never know from one year to the next when the final will be played, this season it will be once again played BEFORE the end of the Premier League conclusion, no longer that massive finale of the season, purposefully downgraded. Rounds of the FA Cup held midweek at times, replays scrapped and so on.

Another thing on the Premier League Big Six and the League/Carabao Cup

It isn’t just who wins the League/Carabao Cup.

If you take the last eleven League Cup finals, including this 2025 Wembley final, the 22 clubs in the finals break down as follows:

18 Premier League Big Six clubs

4 Non-Premier League Big Six clubs

Apart from Newcastle United in 2023 and 2025, the only others clubs from 2015 to 2025 to have made the League/Carabao Cup Final are Southampton losing to Man U in 2017, as well as Villa losing to Man City in 2020.

Whilst if we go back further, you will find that before Newcastle United winning the Carabao Cup in 2025, the previous 20 League Cup competitions from 2005 to 2024 saw 18 trophy wins for Premier League Big Six clubs and the only exceptions a soon to be relegated Birmingham defeating Arsenal in 2011, then that strange 2013 League Cup final where Swansea beat Bradford.

Far from being an embarrassing trophy that no ‘big’ club wants to win, the League/Carabao Cup has instead become silverware that the Premier League Big Six see as their very own near exclusive property.