So 92 teams from four divisions enter the League Cup and what happens? Middlesbrough and Bolton Wanderers will scrap it out in the final when the season’s first silverware is decided at Cardiff’s Millennium stadium on Sunday.
Boro and Bolton? It’s not quite what we might have expected when Arsenal and Aston Villa got to the last four.
But here they are, two sides who have never qualified for Europe before, fighting it out for a cup which provides Uefa Cup access. Two sides who lie in the dull no-man’s-land between mid-table and the trap-door.
Sure, Bolton can impress. We all love Nigeria’s Jay-Jay Okocha, French World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff and the hairstyle of Ivan Campo.
Middlesbrough boast the best centre-half pairing in England in Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu, while little Brazilian Juninho destroyed imperious Arsenal in the semi and Manchester United last week.
Throw in Joseph Desire Job, Gaizka Mendieta and Boudewijn Zenden and you can see why Boro, though 13th in the table, are worth a punt against Bolton’s wanderering stars.
Bolton lack a certain something up front,, though Kevin Nolan has a knack of finding the net right now.
On Saturday Bolton (Notlob to Monty Python fans) were beaten 3-1 at the Reebok stadium by Manchester City. Ouch. That was City’s first win in 14.
Boss Sam Allardyce says: ‘It looked like we had one eye on the final. We defended poorly.â€
Boro were little better. Their boss, Steve McClaren, like Allardyce one of the top-rated English bosses in the Premiership, saw his side go down to Newcastle 2-1 in the North East derby, which is never a wise move in Geordieland.
But for all the downbeat hypelessness of the first major 2004 cup final, the 75 000 tickets on offer for Sunday went with some gusto. Bolton claim their 30 000 allocation went in eight hours, leaving 1 000 regular supporters seatless.
Not bad for a pair of glamour-less but game galumphers.
And remember this. If Bolton win it and get to Europe, they may just get to hang on to Okocha, one of the Premiership’s greatest entertainers. Now that’s worth winning for.
Otherwise the guys in the pink ties will take it, and we can’t have that can we?