The Mag
·19 August 2024
Carabao Cup shambles – Why the delay?
![Article image:Carabao Cup shambles – Why the delay?](https://image-service.onefootball.com/transform?w=280&h=210&dpr=2&image=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.themag.co.uk%2Fassets%2Fcarabao-cup-efl-logo-black-newcastle-united-nufc-2000.jpg)
The Mag
·19 August 2024
The draw for the Carabao Cup second round was made on Wednesday (14 August).
The draw still split into north and south at this stage.
Newcastle United ball number 15 in the Carabao Cup second round draw and were picked out to play Nottingham Forest away.
Those second round ties to be played in the week commencing Monday 26 August.
In reality, the Carabao Cup second round matches will start to be played on the Tuesday (27 August).
So in effect, when the draw was made, it was 13 days before the first games will be played.
All of a bit of a shambles, as five days after that draw and still no fans of the 50 clubs (see below) knows when their team will be playing, yet it is only eight days before many of their teams will be playing. With of course 25 of those 50 clubs playing away from home.
It makes no sense whatsoever, especially when Sky Sports are making all these Carabao Cup second round matches available to watch. Yet not even any explanation as to why there is this daft delay in announcing when the matches will be played.
I ‘love’ the fact that ahead of the season we hear all of the various football authorities and broadcasters claiming fans are at the heart of everything, that they will guarantee as much notice of when games will be played/moved, yet very quickly, as always, those promises turn to dust.
As Newcastle United fans, we then also have the major added obstacle of the ridiculous way they sell tickets.
Rather than getting all season ticket holders to apply at the same time, give them for example 24/48 hours to say they want a ticket, then allocate the available tickets to those with the highest number of loyalty points. We have instead this ludicrous ‘system’ whereby you have painfully slow points drops, usually daily (except on weekends!) and then later on maybe twice daily. For Bournemouth, this took 17 days and 17 different points drops before the available tickets were all sold!
You would assume (hope!) that today we will finally get a date and time for the Newcastle United match at Forest,, but as for when the final NUFC fans will find out whether they have got a ticket (or not), your guess is as good as mine.
The full Carabao Cup second round draw here:
Northern section
Grimsby Town v Sheffield Wednesday
Everton v Doncaster Rovers
Blackburn Rovers v Blackpool
Fleetwood Town v Rotherham United
Shrewsbury Town v Bolton Wanderers
Nottingham Forest v Newcastle United
Barrow v Derby County
Leicester City v Tranmere Rovers
Middlesbrough v Stoke City
Barnsley v Sheffield United
Harrogate Town v Preston North End
Walsall v Huddersfield Town
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Burnley
Southern section
Coventry City v Oxford United
Swansea City v Wycombe Wanderers
AFC Wimbledon v Ipswich Town
Birmingham City v Fulham
Watford v Plymouth Argyle
West Ham United v Bournemouth
Queens Park Rangers v Luton Town
Brighton & Hove Albion v Crawley Town
Crystal Palace v Norwich City
Cardiff City v Southampton
Millwall v Leyton Orient
Colchester United v Brentford
Newcastle United schedule to end of October 2024:
Sunday 25 August 2024 – Bournemouth v Newcastle (2pm) Sky Sports
Week commencing Monday 26 August 2024 – Carabao Cup round two matches will be played
Friday 30 August 2024 – Summer transfer window closes at 11pm.
Sunday 1 September 2024 – Newcastle v Tottenham (1.30pm) Sky Sports
(The first international break of the season)
Sunday 15 September 2024 – Wolves v Newcastle (4.30 pm) Sky Sports
Weeks commencing Monday 16 September AND Monday 23 September – Carabao Cup round three (This round split over two midweeks)
Saturday 21 September 2024 – Fulham v Newcastle (3 pm)
Weeks commencing Monday 16 September AND Monday 23 September – Carabao Cup round three (This round split over two midweeks)
Saturday 28 September 2024 – Newcastle v Man City (12.30 pm) TNT Sports
Saturday 5 October – Everton v Newcastle (5pm) Sky Sports