Capital One Kicks Off League Cup Activation
League Cup sponsor, Capital One, has stepped up its activation of the competition ahead of Round 2 this week, by celebrating the replay of the first ever final of the competition – Aston Villa v Rotherham United – and covering the costs of lower league clubs swapping shirts, a tradition that was banned by some cash-strapped teams last year due to budget constraints.
The first ever League Cup Final will be recreated when Aston Villa and Rotherham United meet in Round 2 on Wednesday 28th August, with Capital One offering fans who attended the inaugural Final the chance to watch the game for free.
It will be the first time the teams have faced each other in the League Cup since 1961 and fans doing the historic double just need to visit the club ticket office in person and show their ticket stub or programme from the 1961 Final to claim a complimentary pair of tickets to the Round 2 clash.
The famous 1961 final took place over two legs and saw Aston Villa turn around a two goal 1st leg deficit to win 3-2. Since that initial triumph Aston Villa have gone on to win the trophy five times, while the game remains the only major domestic cup final in Rotherham United’s history.
Keith Bambridge, who lined up for Rotherham United in 1961, said: ‘The Final was one of the highlights of my career. It’s great to see over the following 52 years the competition becoming such a pivotal part of English football. Capital One’s decision to offer free tickets to the fans who attended the final is a tremendous gesture. I’ll be looking for my original ticket stub at home.’
Meanwhile, the credit card provider has also ensured League 2 players are able to swap shirts with their Premier League peers in Round 2 this week by offering to cover the cost of replacing any shirts swapped by League 2 players with Premier League teams.
This follows instances in recent years that saw clubs ban their players from swapping shirts in cup competitions.
The move from Capital One comes after the credit card company celebrated the launch of its #GetShirty Twitter campaign. The competition gives fans the chance to win £100 if they tweet a snap of themselves with their club’s shirt to @CapitalOneUK with the #GetShirty hash tag between 12pm on Monday 26th August to 12pm on Thursday 29th August.
Four League 2 clubs have accepted the offer: Burton Albion, who face a visit from Fulham; Morecambe, who welcome Newcastle United; Bury, who travel to Norwich City; and Newport County, who face West Brom.
Stewart Day, chairman of Bury Football Club, said: ‘We’re really grateful to Capital One for their support. It’s always a special evening for our club to face Premier League opposition, and the Capital One Cup fixture against Norwich City gives our squad a chance to test themselves against some truly top class players. It’s great that they’ll have the opportunity of swapping shirts and grabbing a souvenir from what will hopefully be a memorable night in the club’s history.’
Michael Woodburn, chief marketing officer at Capital One, added: ‘Swapping shirts is one the great traditions of cup football and we’re delighted to help this continue in this Round of the Capital One Cup. Round 2 promises to be as exciting as ever and hopefully fans will join in the fun by taking a photo of themselves with their club shirt on and sending it to us via Twitter.’
