Here is a revised version of the title: “Premier League mega-squads causing issues for League Cup – solutions proposed by MATT BARLOW”

If Newcastle beat Wimbledon in the tie rearranged when parts of the pitch at Plough Lane vanished in the rain, there will be 13 Premier League teams in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.

That figure is as high as it has ever been and if you zoom in on the details, five of the seven top-flight teams no longer involved lost in all-Premier League ties. The other two lost on penalties.

So strong are the elite that Arsenal could breeze past Bolton with a 16-year-old in goal and Chelsea’s £415million reserve team could smash five past Barrow in the third round on a night when their Under-21s were across London beating Bromley in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

It reinforces what we know is a widening chasm. The three teams promoted to the top flight last year went straight back down and none of those promoted this year have yet won.

The steady rise of the mega-squads has led us to a point of utter domination of the Carabao Cup by clubs who mostly consider it a bit of a nuisance.

The steady rise of mega-squads has led us to a point of utter domination of the competition

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Good friends who support Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham and Swansea tell me how winning the trophy is the fondest memory of their lives watching football.

But the finals since Swansea beat Bradford in 2013 have produced six wins for Manchester City, two each for Manchester United and Liverpool, and one for Chelsea.

Four clubs with other priorities for whom the Carabao Cup is neither here nor there.

Seven of the last 10 finals have been contested by teams from what we regard as the Big Six. The first 12 editions of the plain old League Cup, as it was then, produced 12 different winners and a first major trophy for Norwich, Birmingham, Leicester, Queens Park Rangers, Leeds, Swindon and Stoke.

It has been part of the furniture since 1960, a year when UEFA introduced their second competition – the European Cup-Winners’ Cup – and more than a decade before their third, the UEFA Cup, which has morphed into the Europa League.

And it is entitled to feel aggrieved when UEFA bully it into the margins so the draw for the third round is complicated by a seeding system effectively keeping the strongest teams apart to accommodate more European fixtures.

Just one more layer of assistance for the big clubs to go with all the others (such as five subs and all the technological advances, including the now pristine pitches and better access to better data, diluting the random factors of anything-could-happen cup football).

And at the crux is a contradiction because the EFL represent the other 72 but they need the lustre of the Premier League – and especially the Big Six – because their global appeal boosts broadcasting revenue and attracts sponsors like Carabao, who are committed until 2027.

The finals since Swansea beat Bradford in 2013 have produced six wins for Manchester City

Supporters of EFL clubs recall how winning the trophy is one of their fondest memories

Executives of the Thai energy drinks company know which clubs attract the most eyeballs to their brand, and they do not include Swansea or Bradford.

And this annual windfall is one of the few reliable financial lifelines still flowing through the football pyramid.

To sever it would be fatal to many smaller clubs at a time when a new wave of owners in the Premier League seem loath to accept responsibility for the wellbeing of the lower leagues or the grassroots of the game.

They are too busy eying money-making opportunities on distant shores to truly care about that sort of thing.

And when stars such as Alisson, Rodri and Son Heung-min tell us they play too much football and should be playing fewer games of a higher calibre, they are not doing it for their love of the Carabao Cup.

All of which leaves a fine old competition spluttering along in the form of glorified reserve-team football right up until the point when 80,000 descend on Wembley and armchair audiences for the final top 3million, and the EFL declare it another resounding success.

Big-name players such as Rodri and Son Heung-min have criticised their hectic calendars

But is it? Wouldn’t the EFL clubs be better served by a competition they might have some hope of winning? Something that might reward the thousands who follow those clubs? Not just serving up something to keep an under-pressure Premier League manager in a job.

If the elite feel they have more lucrative horizons to pursue, let them pay their way out as part of a broader system of redistributed wealth.

Properly compensated within the confines of the Football Governance Bill, the EFL can revive their signature knockout competition as an EFL Cup for the 72 EFL teams.

It won’t help Tottenham or Newcastle end their respective trophy droughts but it would enrich English football with something of a unique identity and a potential showpiece with thrills akin to the play-offs.

With fans at the final to savour the occasion, attending in genuine hope of glory and not in fear of humiliation at the hands of Manchester City.

And it might be the key to reform the rest of domestic cup football.

FIVE THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

1. Big-name brothers

Two names in Chelsea’s Under 21s at Bromley would have raised interest at Crystal Palace. Richard Olise is the younger brother of Michael, who left Selhurst Park for Bayern Munich, and Sam Rak-Sakyi is the younger brother of Palace winger Jesurun, who is on loan at Sheffield United.

2. Jimenez’s purple patch

None present at the Emirates Stadium will forget the sickening sound of contact or the urgent calls for help when Raul Jimenez smashed his skull playing for Wolves against Arsenal during the Covid lockdown.

Nor will anybody, whether present or not, begrudge him an upturn in fortune. Jimenez scored 27 in the season before his injury and hasn’t been close to those numbers since.

He has hardly carried the same threat but, with four in six for Fulham, he is deep into a purple patch and his goal against Nottingham Forest was his 50th in the Premier League.

Raul Jimenez is enjoying a purple patch and now has four goals in six games for Fulham

3. Stewart inspires next generation

An hour spent listening in to one of Paul Stewart’s safeguarding sessions was to appreciate why the former Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool and England forward regards the prizes for his work off the pitch in the last seven years more highly than any caps and medals from his playing career.

Stewart has poured his personal heartache as a survivor of abuse into helping and inspiring young footballers of the future.

4. Supporters chip in for Rudge

Port Vale will unveil a statue of legendary former boss John Rudge next month on his 80th birthday thanks to £100,000 raised by supporters, with help from Reading fans who joined the campaign as a mark of solidarity with those who travelled to Berkshire when the teams met in January.

The League One fixture was abandoned amid protests from the home crowd against owner Dai Yongge.

Rudge managed Vale for 843 matches (1983 to 1999) and ground was broken for the statue’s plinth last week.

Port Vale’s match against Reading last year was abandoned after protests from supporters

5. Fire still burns for liquidated clubs

There can be life after liquidation. Macclesfield, Scarborough and Bury all slid out of the EFL in financial ruin to be wound-up then reformed.

That all three are now once more within one victory of the FA Cup proper is a triumph for all those who kept the flames alive.