There was a time when the current sponsorship of what was founded as the League Cup in 1960 symbolised how the competition had become a fringe event, to say the least.
We did not know what or who Carabao was, for a start, and then there were the draws. One took place in Beijing, one in Ho Chi Minh City, another in a branch of Morrisons in Colindale, north west London.
An inquiry about staging the 2017-18 draw for the last four on the International Space Station - 400km above the earth and orbiting the globe in the time it takes to play one leg of those semi-finals - was politely rebuffed.
