Since it’s inception in 1960 the League Cup, or Capital One Cup as it is now known, has been given the rather unfair title of a ‘Mickey Mouse competition’ despite it being one of the three domestic trophies up for grabs each season. The cheap ticket prices and the chance to see fresh young talent grace the first team has made it arguably just as exciting as the beloved FA Cup, as it brings something different to the table.
Manchester City were victorious this year after overcoming Sunderland 3-1 in the final at Wembley. Stunning goals from Toure, Nasri and Jesus Navas after Liverpool loanee Fabio Borini’s equally brilliant opener allowed The Citizens to lift the cup. Despite the obvious and immediate joy of winning the competition for the third time in the clubs history this could be a huge hindrance in the long run.
Almost every single side that has lifted the trophy since 2007 has hit an unexplanatory bad run of form during their remaining games of the season. Of the 81 league games played by the winners after the final there have only been 34 victories; that’s a win rate of just 42%.
This curse first came about when Jose Mourinho held aloft his last trophy with Chelsea in the 2007 League Cup, edging out a young Arsenal side 2-1 at The Millenium stadium. The west London club were gunning for the title for a third successive season, going head to head with an impressive Manchester United team inspired by the likes of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Blues drew all of their last five remaining games, including a 0-0 draw against their Premier League title rivals at Stamford Bridge in May. In the end they marginally missed out on the Championship despite being four points behind with a game in hand at the start of this poor run, a stalemate away to Newcastle. The sweet taste of a trophy was made bitter when they lost out on the one prize the fans wanted, the Premiership.
The runners up themselves were having a bad season to begin with but an already difficult campaign for The Emirates faithful was made even harder as they went on to lose three and draw four of their remaining games. Wenger’s men were once more cut adrift from the teams fighting for the league.
12 months later all attention was drawn towards Wembley as the stadium hosted it’s first League Cup final since the year 2000 when Leicester triumphed over Tranmere Rovers. Quite fittingly it was two London clubs that graced the hallowed turf in the first cup final at the ‘New Wembley’. Tottenham Hotspur and the holders locked horns in front of 87,000 fans, Spurs overpowering rivals Arsenal 6-2 on aggregate in the semis while Chelsea had to deal with a tough Everton side. It seemed that the hard work had paid off when Didier Drogba scored his first at the stadium later to be dubbed his ‘home away from home’. Juande Ramos’ men did not read the script, in fact they wrote one of their own. Berbatov struck home a penalty before Woodgate headed the ball in during extra-time to seal the clubs 14th major domestic honour.
What happened next for the Lilly Whites was nothing short of disastrous. Since the 24th February, the date of the Wembley showpiece, they managed to collect 14 points out of a possible 36. This sparks the question, why did Spurs go on this winless streak? Many point to the fact that their season, for one reason or another, had ended that day. One can only assume that the managers’ aim was to qualify for the Europa League for a second year running and by winning the cup they automatically got put through to the qualifying rounds. They realistically had nothing else to achieve. A cup was won, Europe was secured, they were out of the FA Cup and as of March their Europa League adventure had ended for another season. Perhaps the lads lost the desire.
This theory is completely epitomised by the following years final. Spurs would go onto play another giant of English football when they faced off with Manchester United in the slightly later date of March. The game ended 0-0 after 120 minutes played, penalties were due. United converted all four of their penalties while Tottenham could only nestle one in the back of Ben Foster’s net, Anderson got the decisive spot kick. Both clubs had everything to play for this time around. Sir Alex Ferguson's team were going for a quadruple while the north London side harboured hopes of a European place through league position.
The Red Devils went on to win the league over fierce rivals Liverpool as they steamrolled to victory, winning nine of the 12 games after the penalty shootout win. Hopes of a quadruple were abolished when they failed to summon up their penalty heroics in the FA Cup semi-final with Everton. Heartbreak at Wembley and heartbreak in Rome too, losing to Barcelona 2-0 in the Champions League final. Spurs also broke the trend. The club won just seven league games before the final but managed to equal that in the few games that remained as they propelled themselves higher up the division. It was however too little too late as Roy Hodgson's Fulham deservedly qualified and actually got to the final that year.
The holders returned a year later to face an Aston Villa side boasting a young Ashley Young, James Milner, Stewart Downing and a not so young Emile Heskey. Things looked to be going to plan for Martin O'Neill's crop of young talent as James Milner converted an early penalty. The Villains never looked the same since as a Michael Owen goal coupled with a Wayne Rooney header condemned the runners up into a negative spiral. A 7-1 demolition at Stamford Bridge in late March typified this as faint hopes of a Champions League spot slipped away. United once again managed to defy the curse as they went on to drop a total of just five points out of a possible 30.
Villa’s rivals Birmingham City upset the odds a year later with a win over outstanding favourites Arsenal. A sublime Robin van Persie volley cancelled out a towering Nikola Zigic header before Obafemi Martins arrived off the bench to tap home a late winner. One of the biggest League Cup shocks in the history of the competition had implications for both sides.
The minnows went on to be relegated in the 2010/11 campaign due to the poor results after the final and Arsenal’s hope of ending their trophy drought continued indefinitely. Both sides fell off the wagon in dramatic circumstances, in fact they won on just four occasions between them. Birmingham secured their first piece of silverware for just under 50 years and by the looks of things it will take a long while until they win their next, this is why this season will be remembered fondly by the fans and certainly not for their league form. The St Andrews faithful saw their beloved club fall from 14th to 18th during the last few months of the season, a fall they have yet to recover from. Seven losses from 12 games is as they say relegation form and this proved to be the case yet again as a final day defeat at White Hart Lane condemned their fate. Trouble with the owner and various other factors have left the team from the second city languishing near the bottom of the table within the Championship.
Arsenal hadn’t had it any easier after their humiliating defeat at Wembley. The player’s nerves were shot and the confidence appeared to just drain out of the team who were challenging on all fronts up until that point. To put this into perspective the Gunners were four points behind leaders United with 12 games to go, in the sixth round of the FA Cup and had beaten Barcelona 2-1 at home before the final. The side then blew out of the title race and eventually ended 12 points off first, finishing off the pace in fourth place. Beforehand the achievements in the first leg of their tie with Barcelona were undone by Lionel Messi. A 3-1 win at Camp Nou, a game where the visitors failed to get a shot on target, was enough to see them Catalan club through on aggregate. Four days later they had lost that FA Cup tie at Old Trafford and the league campaign was effectively over in April when they came out of a dramatic game with Liverpool with only a point. Six years of hurt seemed so close to ending which is why it hit harder as it fell further and further away.
Another big side who had gone on a trophy drought was Liverpool. Although it wasn’t as lengthy as Arsenal’s it was still five years trophyless for England’s most successful club side. They had their chance to end this in 2012 when they met Cardiff, the Welsh side vying for promotion in the second division. Many put their money on a Liverpool win but as shown the year before, no final is a foregone conclusion. The underdogs opened the scoring when Irishman Joe Mason struck in the 19th minute of the game and the Blue Birds managed to hold the lead until Martin Skrtel propped up with a goal to put the game into extra-time. A goal from Dirk Kuyt seemed to put the game beyond Cardiff but Ben Turner scored with just two minutes remaining to send the goals to penalties. Both Gerrard’s on the pitch missed their resulting spot kicks but it was Antony’s that was the most decisive. Kenny Dalglish had secured yet another title with the Merseyside club.
Once again the winners completely capitulated. King Kenny’s men lost eight of the their 12 matches after the final. What makes things worse is the fact that the majority of these defeats came to inferior opposition, including home defeats to Wigan, Fulham and West Brom. The curse struck again. Considering the amount of money Dalglish spent on Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Andy Carrell the board felt the Scotsman should be doing better after the backing they gave the Anfield legend. He ultimately lost his job despite winning some silverware and also guiding the club to an FA Cup final but they fell at the final hurdle to Chelsea. Cardiff petered along to the play-off semi-finals that season but it became a struggle after the club recorded seven draws. They would have killed for a couple of draws against West Ham in both legs of the semi-final but the Welsh side failed to score and the Hammers put five past them.
It’s fair to say that the effects were short term. Both sides have gone onto bigger and better things since the 2011/12 season, Liverpool gunning for the title and Cardiff fighting relegation in the Premier League.
Another side that’s gone on to excel since a League Cup final in Bradford City. The Bantams went on a phenomenal run to reach the final in 2013. The then League 2 side knocked out Premier League sides Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa but couldn’t do enough to defeat Swansea in at Wembley. Phil Parkinson’s team gained many friends as their cup run went on, the English do love an underdog. None more so than those located in the city, Bradford’s attendances reached double figures at Valley Parade almost every game after the final. There was no sign of any curse this time around, how could there be? Such a tremendous run can only do the club good and in the end that proved to be the case.
The victors on the day? Well the less said about Swansea the better. Michael Laudrup's ice cool attitude looks good when his team dominates and more importantly win games but when a sides struggling it doesn’t seem to please fans. This may be a factor as to why he was sacked towards the back end of 2013 but the main reason was of course down to results. Everything was going swimmingly for the Swans when the former Barcelona man took the reins at his new club. A League Cup victory and an excellent bit of businesses in the transfer window, coming in the form of Micu, inevitably circulated rumours about the Dane moving to a bigger side. It’s fair to say they were not to complete another convincing win after their 5-0 demolition of Bradford. In fact they struggled to come up trumps in any of their remaining games, winning just twice in ten league games.
The curse seems to be up to it’s usual tricks again. It looked to be going that way for Manchester City with a home loss to Wigan in the FA Cup followed up by a 2-1 away defeat at the hands of Barcelona. The northern outfit have appeared to steady the ship and are now on track to go above Liverpool at the top of the league due to a reasonably favourable fixture list. The same can not be said for fellow finalists Sunderland, the Black Cats have claimed just a point from a possible 15 following a return to league football. Gus Poyet’s men have one game in hand over their relegation rivals but with games away to Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United it looks as if the games at the Stadium of Light are crucial to their survival. Will the curse strike again? We’ll just have to wait and see.