Is the World Cup, Cups or League Most Important?

It seems nowadays that managers are only really interested in the league. Something like the World Cup is a good distraction, but it's never really seen as important as the Premier League. Even if England won the World Cup, it would be quickly glossed over by the Premier League. European football competition is of course seen as important, especially to the big teams. It seems that many of the Premier League teams see the FA and League Cup as distractions and of no or little importance. This is especially true in the earlier rounds.

Many Premier League sides will put reserve or youth teams out to protect the first team players; which in a way makes a mockery of the whole competition. But in the 2010 season things turned even more bizarre. The then Blackpool manager Ian Holloway decided not to turn up for a League Cup game against MK Dons. The manager decided to watch some other football rather than his own side. This was a clear indication of the priority order between the cup and the league.

The reality is team's priorities nearly always lie with the league. Many of the smaller Premier League sides forget these competitions offer silverware and a route into Europe. It would be nice if the big clubs took it seriously as well. But if they have a Premier League title chase and competing in the Champions League, then you can in a way understand their position. They play their reserves, but they tend to be very strong reserves. So what happens is they are the ones that reach the Finals. The bottom line is the reserves of the smaller teams are not up to much, so playing them is a total waste of time.

I certainly would not dream of telling any manager how to run his team. But the cups do offer huge potential. There is money, silverware and Europe all up for grabs. Hopefully in the future teams will take them more seriously. That said, there are probably only a few teams in the Premier League that are interested. Teams like Manchester United will be in Europe anyway and already have plenty of money, and teams further down the league are more worried about relegation, than Europe. So they are only really going to interest teams like Sunderland, Blackburn and Fulham.

Source:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/25082010/58/carling-cup-holloway-misses-blackpool-defeat.html