Mayor of Greater Manchester is ‘worried about where English football is heading’ after seeing changes to this season’s Carabao Cup

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has voiced his concerns about "where English football is heading" following changes to the Carabao Cup.

A new seeding mechanism has been introduced to the competition in a bid to ease fixture congestion prompted by the expansion of both the Champions League and Europa League.

For the first time since 1992, the Champions League format is about to change, with 36 teams competing in a league phase.

The number of matches in the new format will increase from 125 to 189, which will naturally increase the already-intense workload on many top clubs around Europe.

But following concerns surrounding the pressures of this season's calendar, the Carabao Cup will adopt a seeding system.

To ensure there is no clash with European and Cup fixtures, the EFL have enforced new rules for the third round of the draw which will see teams playing in Europe avoid each other in the early rounds.

In fact, six of the seven teams competing in Europe – Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Spurs and Manchester United – cannot be drawn against each other.

The above clubs actually took part in a pre-draw before Newcastle's win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday to decide if they will be at home or away in the third round.

Andy Burnham, who is the Mayor of Greatest Manchester, reacted to the changes ahead of the draw on Wednesday night. He wrote: "I worry about where English football is heading."

I worry about where English football is heading. pic.twitter.com/Tq4R3iPhni

— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) August 28, 2024

Here's how fans on social media reacted to Burnham's statement.

One said: "Hideous this. The beauty of cups in England is fact it isn’t seeded. This is embarrassing," while another commented: "I thought this was a joke at first."

A third wrote: "What a joke of a draw system. If the UCL lot don't wanna play the league cup (they clearly don't) just don't enter, job done."

A fourth said: "More to do with UEFA cramming two more games in so it makes scheduling two teams in Europe against each other impossible," and a fifth added: "That’s dreadful."

Concerns have previously been raised around the fixture schedule.

After they reached the FA Cup final last season following a win over Chelsea, Pep Guardiola mentioned the potential repercussions of the busy period.

He said: "When we play the Champions League [then] – hopefully we will qualify – it is the same week as the Carabao Cup. How are we going to play? Will we play EDS [development squad] in the Carabao Cup? After next season we go to the Club World Cup [too]."

Guardiola added: “We are incredibly happy, a lot of money, incredibly prestigious. But how many days do I give off to the players? Two weeks off and start the season again. It’s unsustainable.”