The format of the competition remained constant throughout the six years of its existence, and indeed the format was the same as the last edition of Its forerunner, the Texaco Cup [REF].
In the early years, around half of the English clubs were drawn from that season's First Division (excepting clubs playing in Europe), although by the latter years of the tournament only two or three top-level English sides were playing, with participation stretching down to Third and Fourth Division sides.