Burnley Boss Dyche Reveals Why He Appreciates the League Cup as Clarets Prepare to Take on Leeds

The League Cup may not necessarily be within the same bracket as the FA Cup in terms of prestige, although the competition did win Sean Dyche's parents a flash television set back in his playing days, and that's one of the many reasons why the Clarets boss appreciates the English domestic tournament. 

Dyche's Premier League fold take on Championship hopefuls Leeds United at Turf Moor on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup third-round and the 46-year-old - speaking to the media (via Mirror) - began by reminiscing about the time he scooped a 'high quality' piece of kit as reward for a Man of the Match display, which he thoughtfully gifted to his parents.

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“When it was the Rumbelows Cup, you used to win a TV if you were man of the match." He said. "I gave it to my mum and dad. It was a proper, real, good, high-quality Sony TV. It was worth more than my week’s wages.

“When you’re a player at Chesterfield, you’re probably not thinking that you’re going to win the league, so you enjoy the games, and you get a nice little Brucie bonus, if you’re man of the match, by winning a TV, which I did.

“The next year, I won a bike. Coca-Cola sponsored it, and because they weren’t going to get a crate of Coca-Cola, you got a bike.

“Nicky Law, who played alongside me at Chesterfield and is now one of our scouts, had his kid buy it off me for about £40.”

But, sweeping the moment fond nostalgia aside, Dyche insists that the Carabao Cup is indeed a competition which his squad wants to 'do well' in, whilst proclaiming that the Premier League is still the stage which he his fully focused on maintaining.

“The fact is that the Premier League is where everyone wants to be. It’s nothing to do with downgrading a cup. It’s just a fact. Everyone is clamouring to be in the Premier League," Dyche claimed.

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“Clubs don’t just want the riches. They want the kudos, they want what being in the Premier League brings from a brand and a club point of view, and the knock-on effect for the area.

“The whole town of Burnley benefits from the team being in the Premier League in some way or another.

“I’ve had some great times in cups, as everyone knows. I don’t look at it as a lesser competition. I look at it as a competition we want to do well in.”