2017/18 Checkatrade Trophy thread

[Forza Imps]

Not that I can make midweek games, but would only go if it was the final vs a real team.

 

[Kenneth E End]

2.691 I think the attendance was this evening

 

[BlackHaddock]

No show from me again this year. Full Boycott, the only way.

Love the game organised by some of our supporters to play the Doncaster Rovers supporters at the same time as we play the Shove-a-trade match against their team at Grimsby. Really hope the gate is larger than the one at Blundell Park.

 

[Superobin]

Only 801 tonight to watch us lose to Swansea.... that's about 300 less than went to the Everton game last year. Happy to see it decline.

 

[Indian Dan]

Had a disappointingly large 2,082 against West Ham. On the plus side, we lost 3-2.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Am I allowed to say I went along last night and actually quite enjoyed it, without being harangued?

 

[GTFCfish]

Am I allowed to say I went along last night and actually quite enjoyed it, without being harangued?

No, SCAB!!!

 

[Tom_CUFC]

No, but I would expect nothing less. At least you'll be able to enjoy playing them in a league game in a few years.

On another note, Plymouth are now changing their manager's words to promote the EFLT (after giving out a ton of free tickets and pushing through a boat load of propaganda on their game last night), but it's fine, we're not being manipulated by the league or our clubs at all.....

https://twitter.com/LatentHankMoody/status/897719381416869889

 

[smileycov]

So, if say all the U23's sides win and qualify. Then go on and knock virtually all league teams out...will it make a difference to the format. Or will the FA like it and force it through the following season? Another (and more realistic) route to Wembley lost to money!!

 

[AdamStag]

Won't be attending any - home games aren't easy in midweek with me being in Manchester as it is.

However, I wouldn't watch this if it were taking place in my own front lawn. I'm not doing down the route of lambasting folk for going - I don't agree but everyone's entitled to their opinion and what they do with their time.

 

[#Beebot]

The powers that be seem hell bent on introducing B teams regardless of attendances, so I don't see the point of a boycott.

 

[Buxton Vale]

Complete boycott for me.

 

[Camborne Gills]

Not sure the boycott thing has reached Plymouth yet, nearly 4000 last night

 

[Si Robin]

Only 801 at Whaddon Road last night for our game against Swansea U21s. Finally got one below 1,000.

I won't be going to any of these unless we get to the final, and only then because I promised my lad that if we ever get to Wembley again I'd take him.

 

[Kenneth E End]

No, but I would expect nothing less. At least you'll be able to enjoy playing them in a league game in a few years.

On another note, Plymouth are now changing their manager's words to promote the EFLT (after giving out a ton of free tickets and pushing through a boat load of propaganda on their game last night), but it's fine, we're not being manipulated by the league or our clubs at all.....

https://twitter.com/LatentHankMoody/status/897719381416869889

I don't agree with the U21/U23/Reserve/development teams that are frequenting this competition. Far from it. And you don't need to tell a Luton fan how to hate the footballing authorities. But I don't go to see them. I go to watch my team play and to support them. Now another reason was that this season I'll rarely get to Tuesday night fixtures for work reasons, as I work out of town and abroad many weeks of the year, so I'm taking the opportunity.

What does a boycott do to this competition? Last season it led to an extension of the competition. The opposite affect. I note that it seems to stop as soon as a team gets to a semi final.

That said I found it quite disappointing that quite a few very very talented players in that Spurs team last night will never play senior football. They are rotting away in reserve football learning nothing. They need to be playing Championship football and below, being an asset to their clubs, rather than be a worthless asset to their parent clubs.

 

[Tom_CUFC]

The boycott did work, it was undone by the final which have them some excuse, but they have had to grovel to the bigger teams, let them play whatever dates they want (look at how out of sync this year's group schedule is), relax the rules on fines, and most importantly, hand picked the groups.

They are desperate for this to work, but if crowd numbers had been respectable last year they'd have kept it as is. We have backed them into a corner and forced them to start swinging, but we ALL have to stand our ground and keep boycotting to lay the knockout blow.

Attending is exactly what they want to push this cause, attending is benefiting your team, it's benefiting the B team cause, which will lead to the downfall of all of us in the long run.

Just. Don't. Go.

 

[Dan Phillips]

If you disagree with the entire concept and ideology behind it, and refuse to attend any games, do it, by all means.

If you want to attend the games, feel free.

If you disagree with it but also want to attend, that's fair enough.

Whatever our opinions, don't bother trying to ram it down everybody's throats. It's a personal choice. Everybody is entitled to one.

Me personally - I'll attend every game. I have an ongoing streak currently running of consecutive Vale games (home/away, league/cup/friendlies) that stretches back to April 2015 so I want to keep that going on a personal level. Doesn't mean I agree with the concept. I just don't see why some silly little ruling should mean I miss out on watching my team. I support Port Vale FC regardless of what the apparent long-term plan is in regards to B teams etc..

So I'll be at Oldham away, and the Crewe and Newcastle home games because it's my choice to do so. However, I perfectly understand and appreciate those that choose to stay away. What I refuse to accept and will damn sure condemn is those exact same people crawling out of the woodwork should their side get to the latter stages and potentially make a Wembley final.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Me personally - I'll attend every game. I have an ongoing streak currently running of consecutive Vale games (home/away, league/cup/friendlies) that stretches back to April 2015 so I want to keep that going on a personal level.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Aber gas]

The powers that be seem hell bent on introducing B teams regardless of attendances, so I don't see the point of a boycott.

That's the spirit mate

 

[Aber gas]

I don't agree with the U21/U23/Reserve/development teams that are frequenting this competition. Far from it. And you don't need to tell a Luton fan how to hate the footballing authorities. But I don't go to see them. I go to watch my team play and to support them. Now another reason was that this season I'll rarely get to Tuesday night fixtures for work reasons, as I work out of town and abroad many weeks of the year, so I'm taking the opportunity.

What does a boycott do to this competition? Last season it led to an extension of the competition. The opposite affect. I note that it seems to stop as soon as a team gets to a semi final.

That said I found it quite disappointing that quite a few very very talented players in that Spurs team last night will never play senior football. They are rotting away in reserve football learning nothing. They need to be playing Championship football and below, being an asset to their clubs, rather than be a worthless asset to their parent clubs.

You're part of the problem and as a Luton fan you should know better tbh. Just stop it.

 

[#Beebot]

That's the spirit mate

The only thing that has any impact on whether B teams are introduced or not is whether EFL chairmen grow a spine or not. Losses from last year's poor attendances are being subsidised so whether we attend or not makes fuck all difference.

We saw with EPPP that when offered a short term cash injection then club chairmen will roll over.

I don't know whether similar incentives will be offered if it is eventually put to a vote for B teams to join the league. Make no mistake though - if enough subsidy is offered to offset a drop in attendances then chairmen are likely to accept.

I don't think it will happen, as any subsidy would be huge and likely beyond what the PL would be prepared to pay in comparison to the trivial Trophy, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that the powers-that-be don't have the resources to offset any losses our teams will make if we don't attend games.

 

[Super_horns]

Not sure the boycott thing has reached Plymouth yet, nearly 4000 last night

Think they gave out free tickets etc.

 

[Gladders]

http://codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?article=6392

 

[Son of Cod]

http://codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?article=6392

I wonder how many other Town fans this particular sentence elicited a wry snigger from...

"If there are other explanations for these developments, it would be good to hear them from the venues and from the club."

 

[ccfctommy]

Cannot be arsed with it. Didnt go to any games bar the final last season.

 

[PoolieTom]

I will be firmly boycotting all EFL Trophy games this season

 

[GTFCfish]

I will be firmly boycotting all EFL Trophy games this season

Don't worry you have the FA Trophy now instead, just as prestigious a competition.

 

[DangerousSausage]

OK I'll vent seeing as the poor folk on the Notts forum are probably sick of hearing it from me now.

Notts attracted 1400 against Everton U21/23/whatever, which is about 1300 more than I was hoping for and a couple of hundred more than we usually get in that competition. This is bad news as it will be interpreted by the Football League (refuse to call them the EFL, sorry) as the fans slowly coming around to the inclusion of B teams in football. If crowds are anything but laughable, chairmen will want to keep them in the Trophy. And from there it's only a matter of time until some bright spark executive suggests allowing them to compete in the League. First the top clubs, then the rest of the Premier League, but eventually Championship clubs will also want a piece of the pie.

So what's so bad about it? I live in Germany and (still) watch my football in the fourth division. The German league system is a total mess and a lot of it is due to B teams. I know how unattractive they are to fans (even the B teams of the biggest clubs get home crowds in the low hundreds and take absolutely no-one away) and I know how they distort the competition (playing the B team of a Bundesliga team during an international break? Tough luck, you'll be up against a far stronger team than the one that lines up against your promotion rivals a week later).

England's professional league system is something to be proud of and this is a threat to it. Believe me, the Checkathingy Trophy is only the thin end of the wedge. The best way to support my club in the long term is by resisting B teams in senior football, and the best way to resist B teams in senior football is by boycotting these matches. Or, as that Grimsby blog put it, "support does not mean helping the club build its own gallows".

The picture shows Kaiserslautern II play Pirmasens in the fourth division a couple of years back. It was a local derby, so drew an above-average attendance(!) of 480 in a stadium that holds nearly 50,000. If you support this competition, you bring this a step nearer to the Football League.

 

[Dan Phillips]

Sorry to hear that.

Mansfield.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

The more worrying thing is the depths clubs seem to be going with regards this competition and the fanbase which i find staggering.....Plymouth and Notts had openly attacked their fans beforehand if they chose not to go, then Plymouth media seem to change their managers comments on purpose to mass praise the competition. Add in they all do massive massive deals for these games (But f*ck their fanbase for league games) just in order to drag a handful extra fans (lured in for free) just in order to be able to 'claim' they got a semi decent attendance for their games.......if you can all suddenly afford kids for free and adults cheap for these games then make it the same for all games!

Now this Grimsby stuff.......it is as if Clubs relish in the fact of trying to slate, slag off and attack their own fans while kissing backside to Harvey the Monkey for the premierships Organ Grinder.

IF ever there is proof that many of these clubs would introduce B teams into the league it is these hints where clubs will openly attack their own fans to try and make this a 'success'