I have to take issue with that opening paragraph of your post.
No Everton manager has ever taken the League Cup "massively seriously"?
Billy Bingham, Steve Burtenshaw and Gordon Lee certainly did as they were the three men at the helm in the 1976/77 season which culminated in the Villa trilogy.
Not only did Howard Kendall "take it seriously" in 1984, but the League/Milk Cup run restored our fortunes and built the confidence which saw our young team embark on an unprecedented three year glory spell.
You cite the fact that "teams such as Boro, Birmingham and Blackburn" have won it as if it was some sort of proof that the "top teams don't take it seriously" when the reality is that in the last decade the League Cup has been won by Chelsea on three occasions, by United three times and once each by Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester City.
That is pretty much a comprehensive roll call of the "top teams" in this country.
Only Arsenal and Everton missing.
And it is still a mystery to all who watched the game how Arsenal lost to Birmingham the year the latter won it.
I might be old fashioned in an age when a beaten generation of Everton fans tends to link us to a group containing "Boro, Birmingham and Blackburn" but I tend to think of EFC as a "top club" which would indeed use a win in the League Cup as a "springboard for success".
IMO there is far too much snobbishness among people on this board about the League Cup.
Already it is exciting the fans and the Norwich tie will be a fantastic night at Goodison.
Thank goodness we have a manager whom will indeed "take it seriously"...,,..just like our most successful manager ever did back in 1984.
