“I like the Carling Cup,” The Manchester United manager said. “It’s a change of scene with different opposition, different managers and different players. It’s a refreshing competition that has served Manchester United well over the years.”
The Red Devils have a quarterfinal date with Championship club Crystal Palace Wednesday at Old Trafford. Ferguson plans to field a youthful team featuring highly-touted teenagers Zeki Fryers, Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison. He looks to progress in the knockout tournament United last won in 2010.
It is not an unusual move for the legendary manager. For much of his 25 years in charge of the club, he’s used the Cup as a way to introduce young players to the (must-win) demands of first-team soccer at Manchester United. David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt are just four of the many beneficiaries of Ferguson’s stance toward the tournament.
“It’s more than proved its worth by enabling me to give senior pitch time to players who are perhaps not quite ready for full action in the Premier League, but who need to play at the kind of level that will bridge the gap and get them there,” he added.
“We have won it five times altogether and it has also served us well in terms of being a valuable development aid for our younger players. It will be exactly the same as we welcome Crystal Palace. I’ll stick by the squad that has got us this far, continuing to stick to the format we have established for the competition.”
