THOMAS FRANK wants the Carabao Cup to scrap its two-legged semi-finals – to prevent the same old “boring” teams hoarding all the trophies.
The Spurs boss also says it would ease the burden on teams that are already being pushed to breaking point by fixture congestion.
Tottenham visit reigning champions Newcastle in the fourth round on Wednesday.
But before the Toon won the competition last term, the previous 11 winners had all been familiar big boys Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool.
Frank said: “There should only be one semi-final.
“I think for two reasons. For the smaller clubs, if you want to beat a bigger club, it’s much much easier to play only one game.
“We really want someone to break out so it’s not the boring same teams that are winning – of course except Spurs.
“(The second reason is) we need to skip one semi-final for everyone else that plays so many games.
“It should only be one. If it’s about money then someone needs to fix it.
“If it’s Premier League paying money to the EFL, because as far as I understand it it’s because of that, someone has to fix it that knows more about this than me.
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“It should be very, very easy.”
The last time the Carabao Cup had one-off semi-finals was in 2021 – due to Covid.
My View: Tom Barclay, Spurs reporter
IT seems ironic that Thomas Frank is making this point now after Crystal Palace and Newcastle have just won the last two domestic cup competitions.
But go back further, as his argument, and it is clear that there has been a monopoly on the cups from the traditional Big Six – excluding Spurs.
And we all know winning the FA Cup and/or the Carabao Cup does not mean anything like as much to those perennial winners as it does to the smaller, success-starved sides.
Any suggestion that would lead to more variety of champions – and therefore more fans getting to experience the ecstasy felt by Eagles and Toon supporters earlier this year – is welcome.
Frank’s suggestion is a shrewd one – and should be implemented ASAP.
Ironically, it was Frank’s teams past and present involved in one of the semis, with his Brentford side losing 2-0 to Jose Mourinho’s Spurs.
Mourinho was then ruthlessly sacked just days before the final, which Tottenham lost to Manchester City.
Newcastle had not won a domestic major trophy in 70 years before last season, a few months before Crystal Palace stunned City to lift the FA Cup.
But barring that Eagles’ triumph, and that of Leicester in 2021, only City, United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have clinched the famous old competition in the last dozen years.
The grip on the Premier League title has appeared even more of a closed shop, with only Blackburn in 1995 and Leicester’s miracle-workers of 2016 winning it outside of the traditional Big Six.
Frank added: “The interesting thing about the Carabao Cup is that before Newcastle won, the traditional top six had won 11 in a row.
“Then it’s Newcastle, who you can easily say is part of the top seven.
“I think the real outlier is Crystal Palace. What they did last year when they did well and they still needed the fine margins to beat City in the final so fair play to them.”
