The entire concept of Live Carling Cup competition was conceived by a certain Mr. Alan Hardaker the secretary of the Football League for about two decades starting from 1957 to 1979. He is rightfully known as the Godfather of Football.
The new Live Carling Cup was called the ‘cup meant for the common good’ however did not quite impress the so called tough brigade of the top division and failed to leave an impact whatsoever. Six of the top division absolutely refused to enter the whole tournament. However every speck of doubt was removed immediately and the so-called naysayer’s were all proved wrong in the first Live Carling Cup held in 1960-61 season. In the first opening match the Second Division Rotherham United finished second to the Aston Villa. In the Live Carling Cup’s consecutive year the team from Rochdale became the first Fourth Division team to reach the Carling cup final. Keep it in mind that it was also the first major final to have not only feature a club from the major league but this was the match where a team from Second Division Norwich City went on to become victorious and win the coveted trophy.
After this pretty soon, the big league players started to show an interest. Finally in the first of a series of the all-top division finals held in the year 1963, the team from Birmingham City won and eventually gained victory over its local rivals the Aston Villa. The next year’s final match saw the teams from the Midlanders Stoke City and Leicester City to battle it out for the cup. Eventually the Foxes won the match. The attraction of the Live Carling Cup was gradually increasing. The year 1965 saw the first participation of the classy ‘glamour club’ take part in the final. Chelsea and Leicester were pitted against each other and the final results showed that Chelsea won with an aggregate score of 3-2.
The demand for the smaller clubs playing at the Carling Cup made a comeback with the advent of the Wembley ticket and in the year 1967 Rodney Marsh (still in his youth) absolutely helped QPR to their first victory and win in its first silverware. The team reportedly beat rivals West Brom to 3-2 and thus created history by becoming the first team from the Third Division club to have won a major trophy. The Super Hoops also contributed a few weeks later by picking up the Third Division title just like QPR. The Live Carling Cup was soon becoming a sort of ‘Lucky Cup’ and there were about 98,000 football fans in the Wembley at the 1967 final. In about a span of seven years the Cup had earned the right to stand in the same league as the FA Cup.
The 1968′s Final match saw the clash of the big teams namely Don Revie’s Leeds United and Arsenal battle it out. Leeds secured a 1-0 win over Arsenal and eventually grabbed their maiden major trophy. The Carling Cup matches in the year 1969-70 drew bigger crowds and there were more soccer fans filling up the stadiums for the Carling Cup than the FA Cup. Another unique feature of this tournament is the Carling Cup Draw . According to the Carling Cup Draw , chosen soccer clubs would be those who are eligible to compete in the First Round of the tournament and the ones who have finished the highest in the entire English football league system last season.
That season saw the strong Manchester City make its record-breaking appearance for the third time in the final. Aston Villa soon equaled the feat of the Baggies’ in the year 1971. However this time they came back as the Third Division side and lost against the Tottenham Hotspur team with an aggregate score of 2-0.The next year that is in 1972 Stoke City’s maiden major trophy win happened against the likes of Chelsea. Gordon Banks the Potters’ goalkeeper picked up yet another League Cup winners’ medal and this was his second one the previous one was won by him with Leicester around a period of eight years back. In the year 1975 a couple of Second Division teams reached the finals and Aston Villa beat Norwich 1-0.
The Carling Cup Draw is something that determines the teams. For this round, all the clubs are divided in to two sections, the northern and southern sections. A certain half of the clubs from every section is seeded while the other half is not. Firstly a draw takes place that absolutely determines the fate of the seeded club and if the seeded club is to play at home ground or somewhere away thus we can see the major importance of the Carling Cup Draw . The soccer club is then drawn and put against an unseeded club from the same section.