The History

The League Cup made it's first appearance in the fixture list in 1960. Mr. Alan Hardaker (Football League Secretary) promoted to around the league clubs as competition to generate new income. For this reason it started with all games including the final being played out on a two leg home & away basis. Only the 92 league members are allowed to enter. After ten years the final moved to Wembley for the first time. But the competition struggles to maintain it's position in a full fixture list and although it's regarded as an easy access to European football for the winner it still lacks the gloss of the FA Cup. It's reputation with the fans is also not been helped by a succession of name changes over the years and more recently the bigger clubs are looking it it as a chance to field players regarded as second string. No wonder then that attendances right up to the semi-final stage are representing that with first round games only interesting the hard core supports.

The Past FA Cup Winners

Liverpool 7 - Aston Villa 5 - Nottingham Forest 4 - Leicester City , Tottenham Hotspur 3 - Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Norwich City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United 2 - Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Leeds United, Leicester City, Luton Town, Middlesbrough, Oxford United, Queen's Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City, Swindon Town, West Bromwich Albion 1