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.
The cup was not treated with the utmost respect and then Manchester City won it, that’s the way it worked for a good while.
No-one is dismissing it now and the competition has one of its most compelling finals in prospect when Newcastle United and Manchester United meet on the last Sunday of this month.
If you can briefly park any disgust at the club having to sell its soul to the Saudis to get to this point, then to be at St James’ Park for their progression to a first Wembley final in 24 years was an absolute thrill.
But one of the most significant moments of the Carabao Cup semi-final second legs came in the 63rd minute of Manchester United’s completion of formalities against Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford.
How important is Jadon Sancho to Manchester United's success in the second half of this season? Comment here
After an absence in excess of three months, Jadon Sancho returned to work with a smile on his face. Erik ten Hag never went into intricate detail about the reasons for Sancho being away from the first team squad but he did explain that the player’s difficulties were physical AND mental - and that the two were intertwined.
Just as he has done when faced with most challenges during his relatively brief reign as United manager, Ten Hag has handled the Sancho situation with class and consideration. He has been honest without exposing the player to unnecessary scrutiny and firm but fair to the player himself.
Since he was earmarked for stardom when playing alongside Phil Foden in Manchester City’s youth team, Sancho has been lauded AND vilified.
That, you may say, goes with the territory of being a high-profile footballer, for elite club and for country. Deal with it. Enjoy your millions and deal with it. But we are all wired differently.
Who knows the long-term extent of the hurt caused by the racist abuse suffered by Sancho after he had missed that penalty in the Euro 2020 final?
Who knows how he mentally coped with being held up as a prime, expensive example of what was going wrong at Old Trafford? All the money and adulation in the world cannot buy you permanent peace of mind.
Ten Hag clearly saw beyond a drawn-out drop in form, he saw beyond the price tag, saw beyond the wages, saw beyond the life-style.
And, of course, Ten Hag has an obvious vested interest because a Sancho at his best would be a valuable asset to any team in the world.
We do not know the extent of Sancho’s mental struggles - as if you can ever put some sort of sliding scale on mental struggles - but know that Ten Hag identified an issue and, between them, the manager and the player are dealing with it.
“Footballers are not robots,” Ten Hag said when first explaining Sancho was going away for some help. And he is right … which was why Sancho’s smile was one of THE moments of a competition that has surprised us all.
