EFL Trophy

First round of group games in the shiny new version of the Associate Members Cup/Autoglass Trophy/Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

As I say, new format, with a group stage of 16 groups of 4 teams before the knockouts begin. No Extra Time, teams level at 90 minutes get a point each for a draw, but also play penalties for a "bonus point".

As you've probably heard, as well as the usual League 1 and 2 teams, there's 16 Premier League and Championship academy "B" teams participating, one in each group. They have to field at least 6 u21s in the starting eleven.

Other urls found in this thread:

skysports.com/football/news/11712/4456278/foxes-sunk-by-millers
twitter.com/JPMcnamara7/status/770693709063196676
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Fuck, that autocorrected from shitty to shiny.

The regular teams also have rules about fielding players, to make it more appealing they have to start at least 5 "first team" players, whatever the fuck that means.

I have no idea if the rules then mean that if a B team gets to the final, they can bring in actual first team PL players alongside the kids, or whether it's only players registered with the Academy.

The only reason I care is because it's £10K for a win in this silly trophy and Morecambe need cash.

Mate im just letting you know now, precisely 12 people in England care about this tournament. Therefore no one will likely be in this thread, so go have a wank or something

Think 3 overaged outfielders and a goalkeeper are allowed, like in the development leagues.

5 players from the previous game.

>We've the champions of England at home
>No one is fucking bothered

This tournament sucks

Well 3/12 ain't bad.

Lot of fans boycotting an already poorly attended tournament, the u23/B teams are bad enough, the group stage is ridiculous, especially since there's a likelihood of games in the last round where neither team can get into the knockouts on a win.

Few of the owners who voted for it feel mugged off as most of the big PL clubs don't want to get involved, so they've got to sell tickets for a rainy midweek game with Blackburn Rovers reserves.

>tfw listening to live commentary from the game while sitting at work

The guys who do commentary are kinda comfy but I care too much.

I guess yeah, apparently they're not allowed to call them u23 teams but it looks like the usual reserve rules plus six have to be even younger.

How to fix this tournament

1. Revert to previous format
2. Have clubs bundle the tickets with league matches
3. Winners play winners of League Cup at wembley pre-season a la community shield so little teams might have a big day at Wembley against Arsenal, Chelsea, United etc.

Or alternatively, throw it in the fucking bin next to the Full Members Cup.

It could be saved if there was a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow like promotion but then you're fucking around with the league structure for the sake of a handful of shitty tuesday night games.

I think my proposal is as close as you'll get to fixing this shithouse.

Nah I prefer having more games.

Swap U23 teams for some conference sides in preparation for when the FA fuck up everything with the 5 league format.

I'm a selfish fan of a Champs club who are in it. Youngsters need more games so I'm happy.

this looks absolutely fucking shite

well done FL on managing to make a tournament nobody cares about until the final somehow even worse than it was

Then have a fucking rule saying the team has to be 100% English

I'm not going either mate. I'll be surprised if there's more than 1 or 2 thou

Just pissed off that 5 of our players from Saturday have to play. Hopefully Moore to get some fitness and Hussey because he's wank and wants replacing.

Mullin yay I guess

> Literally played Sheffield United just 5 years ago
> They now have to play our youth team in a competitive match

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yeah, the Football League (or trendy new "EFL") are like a poor cousin of the FA, and should stick to running the 3 leagues properly rather than fucking about with cups.

The 5 league format is going to ruin the top end of non-league, which is perfectly fine as is. If it were my team, I'd much prefer being around the top end of the Conference than endless midtable results in "League 3"

>time is 19:44
wtf we're playing way too many regulars

I'm glad Reed, Chapman and Fleck are getting game time but why not start some kids like Brooks and Whiteman?

I completely missed the new sponsor for this as well: Checkatrade.

Should have gone the whole hog and called it the Talksport Listeners Cup.

Is DCL injured?

How many of those are in your normal XI?

The best player we're playing is Gray. The rest are players we're about to sell or loan out

I'd only ever agree to 5 leagues if the bottom ones were regionalised. Carlisle or Morecambe Vs Plymouth should just not be allowed to happen. It is not cost effective.

Odd point as the National League isn't regionalised, little North Ferriby United went all the way to Dover the other week and they aren't even professional.

>aldershot v barrow is a competitive fixture in the national league
>so is gateshead v dover

Is it any fucking surprise why so many clubs in non-league go bust when shite like that's happening?

Bring back Division 3N & Division 3S

> All those 1st team players

Holy shit and just look at who we're playing. Someone's gonna die

Link to your lineup?

Our team isn't really settled yet but I've seen all but Reed and Chapman start.

Players who didn't start Saturday in brackets

Moore
Freeman-(O'Connell)-Wilson-Hussey
Coutts-(Fleck)-(Reed)-(Chapman)
Sharp-Done

Fleck and O'connell came on as subs

Hamer
Hernandez, Wasilewski, Benalouane, Chilwell,
James (c), Miles, Rowe, Ndukwu,
Gray, Muskwe


Ulloa refused to play, lol

let em come dan the den

I fear for the day truro manage to get promoted to a national league.

Oh god I know half of these. We won't score past that lot.

Pic related: people with nothing else to do this evening

holy fucking shit

That's a big ground

On the plus side we've nearly sold out Gills away this Sunday, even though it's on TV.

[spoiler]I'm going[/spoiler]

Jesus christ that's shocking. Football League must be proud.

I remember us playing in the same compeition when we were in league one and lost the northern quarter final to Rotherham. Good times. Still got about 10k for the home games though.

> Fryatt missed a peno

Wanker

skysports.com/football/news/11712/4456278/foxes-sunk-by-millers

Sold out Wimbledon away as well, sometime before Saturday when I learnt I'd be in London that weekend.

I live in London desu
Missed out on Wimbledon tickets but I was at the Den the other week and at the lane this weekend as I was home for bank holiday.

>Here boss can I have two days off for Darlington vs Guernsey FC

Gloucester City being in the National League North is bizarre too, something to do with Worcester being sick of moving North/South depending on numbers

They've close the two stands you can see and there's about 2000 in the stand the photo is taken from.

If that's right this will be our lowest attendance for a competitive game since the 19th century.

Jesus look at the XI

Henderson,
Jack Hobbs, Patrick Kisnorbo, Michael Morrison, Chris Powell,
Nicky Adams (Bruno Berner 61), Matt Oakley, Andy King, Lloyd Dyer (Ashley Chambers 45),
Barry Hayles (Matty Fryatt 45), Steve Howard.

King

Just think how bad Blackpool at home is gonna be. 500 fans at best.

> Hamer off injured already

Are we actually giving this mug a pay slip?

Forest signed him for about an hour last season, shows how much he's worth

Thank christ people have common sense and boycotted this tournament. I know atThere is hardly anyone at Bristol Rovers v Reading u23 (not much different from any game really)
twitter.com/JPMcnamara7/status/770693709063196676

He was terrible on loan at Bristol City

Can't wait to see what Wembley will look like in the final

>Reading U23s vs Blackburn Rovers U23

Will be hilarious

Hopefully it'll be two actual teams in the final, you'd think it would be anyway.

It'll be interesting how these youth teams get on, in the earlier stages when the League sides don't give a fuck they're actually probably stronger, but later on as they bring in more first team players, the youth will get lumps kicked out of them.

Fucking hell I was optimistic

Fuck this cup

Gone from being the only route to Wembley and a decent day out for some clubs to being a weird hybrid of reserve team competition and attempt to shoehorn B teams into English Football

All involved should be thoroughly ashamed

...

wembeeeeerley

fucking lol

Probably cost them more to put the game on than they made through tickets

>extreme oyston protesting.jpg

Yeah great day out for Bristol City fans, allowed us to win a double in 14/15

>that steward/fan ratio

Well done to the EFL. Boycotts are always difficult to get right compared to other forms of protest, but they've made it easier than ever.

As a Carlisle fan Plymouth isn't usually too bad, and it's always one of those fixtures people like to check off

That it was on a Tuesday last year was a complete shan, mind

Get a steward for every fan

>the pish
Wouldn't be shocked to see Junior Canaries at Wembley.

> Youth Teams

We're playing:

Hamer (28)
Hernandez (27)
Wasilewski (36)
Benalouane (29)
James (25)

Thanks for the trophy btw, can't wait to fit it as a urinal in our East Stand

But Hamer is dog shit and will leak goals

What's the actual point of this trophy anyway? Not even talking about the current format, but it's entire existence.

to give smaller clubs a day out at wembley

which henderson la

hobbs and fryatt play together at forest with stephen henderson now

lower league teams get a genuine chance to win something.

Thanks satan, but Wasilewski will cripple the player before he can get a shot off

Good job he's been subbed off already then

All the big PL teams refused this competition, I wonder why? Even if they just sent their youth team it would be better experience than playing against other PL youth teams

>tfw got Rochdale (ground I've never been to) and Hartlepool (very close and a good night out) away but wouldn't feel right going to either

At least the mention of a cup game at the SoL is enough to drive everyone away regardless of competition

Chance that lower league players will just kick the shite out of their kids

That's doing a disservice to most lower league players but I've seen it happen at matches when a young lad tries something fancy

Don't want to be embarrassed by losing to league 1 and 2 sides. I'm actually being serious too, it would be detrimental to their youth development programs

But they know the lower league teams will mostly ditch this competition now. Attendances are awful, there are too many games as it is and now it's going to be harder for them.

As mentioned, a chance for smaller clubs to win something at Wembley against their peers.

As well as this FL Trophy, there's also the FA Trophy for teams in tiers 5-8, which is a cracking tournament for the best non-league clubs, and the FA Vase for teams below that who are the better ones in their counties. There used to be the Full Members Cup for teams in what are now the PL and Championship too.

There's no way the FA will have this shit continue next season. Massive fuck up on their part.

They'll scrap it, bring in the new leagues then bring this cup back for League 1, 2 and 3 sides.

>and the FA Vase for North East teams to kick shit out of whoever meets them at Wembley
fix'd

They have a real stranglehold on that trophy.

Arsenal should have entered this just so they might have a shot a winning something bigger than the Emirates Cup

Its a shame really that a team like Leicester who just won the first division wouldn't play just kids and give them a positive experience instead of stroking the ego of shite senior players

Our youth are playing in the Premier League 2 and League Cup.
Ain't got time for no Checkashite Trophy.

The FA Cup is more important than the Emirates Cup though.

No, I mean like kids, kids e.g. promising u19s instead of players who should have some pride and move on for first team football

Tru dat, Morpeth were class.

Putting the FA Trophy and Vase Finals on the same day for one ticket was a great idea too, wish I'd gone even without a team.

Tier 9 is really where it starts to get ridiculous. There's some really competitive leagues, then there's like the Essex Senior League with basically nothing feeding into it. Can't believe Hereford FC had to start here.

>tfw because of this we can sing we've never lost Wembley old or new

I imagine a lot of clubs can sing that but singing it at Wycombe fans last year was sweet.

I quite like being able to lose 4-1 and give absolutely no shits

>1,540 in attendance at Macron Stadium for tonight's @CheckatradeTrpy match. Thank your for your support. (63) 0-1 #BOLvEVE

5% full, not been a good debut for the Checkatrade EFL Trophy

...

Demari Gray and Ben Chilwell are in our 1st team squad.
Choudhary is on loan to Burton.

A few others play Brazil this weekend for England u18 and others for their countries.

ahahahahaha

this is truly what the football league had in mind

oh fucking dear

Coventry's ground always looks like that. They're too busy inbreeding

Could be worse.
We usually get about 6K for shitfests like this though.

There's a chance some of the kids we loan out shortly, having to come back to play for our Dev squad midweek. What a kerfuffle.

Coventry is absolute trash
No idea why they've got such a big stadium

fuck off furfag

Because they thought they were a big club.

I remember the chants they did when they sent us down to League One. Fucking mongloid tossers. 30 years they spent in the top flight consecutively, fucking kys cov scum

Get your mind out of the gutter pie boy. Shouldn't you be at work anyway?

> West Brom losing to lower league opposition again

These cunts need to get relegated

I genuinely don't know who even cares about this

Carlisle were leading 3-1 and blew it all in two minutes and I still don't care