Think we lost a final in that to Forest before my time.
Wtf actually was it?
Walsall away - still got bad memories of losing there in the FA Cup to a last minute goal as a yoof ... 1978 ... was 18 ...
And they keep pretending it isn't a cartel.

Said for years teams in Europe shouldn't compete in the league cup. Bulk of the tournament is done pre Christmas the same time as the European group stages so would help with congestion massively.
Not only that but the competition would be wide open meaning many clubs would take it more seriously as they'd have a genuine chance at winning it, in turn making it a much more exciting tournament.
Give the winners the conference league spot and you'd get a different winner every year too.
It's a compromise.
The 'big' clubs would have just ended up pulling out of the competition if they'd played the first couple of rounds. It's not really much different to the FA cup proper, where premier league clubs etc. enter in round three.
It's better this for the league cup, than have it abandoned completely. It's a great competition that should be maintained.
What should happen is fewer European competitions but that's never going to happen.