[jack bauer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...otball/39571742

shows what a bit of fan power can do, mass boycotts throughout the early stages have led to this being thrown into the air for next season and a total scrap of the tournament being one possible option.

[Spire-Power]

Guess they will vote to keep it minus the academy teams

[brockwell-spireite]

All those terrible attendances in the group stages... best part of 75k there for the final...

[Mr Mercury]

Spire-Power, on 11 April 2017 - 08:25 PM, said:

Guess they will vote to keep it minus the academy teams

As they should do, but will the useless tool who championed the format fall on his sword!

[JonB]

Read earlier it would get two more years in a similar format with academy teams still in!

[azul]

Mr Mercury, on 11 April 2017 - 08:49 PM, said:

As they should do, but will the useless tool who championed the format fall on his sword!

Not a chance

Shaun Antony Harvey, businessman and arrogant ****, turned football expert

[moondog]

AC told me a couple of months ago he was going to arrange a fans vote on this and go with the majority, I'll send him a reminder

[Goku]

moondog, on 11 April 2017 - 09:55 PM, said:

AC told me a couple of months ago he was going to arrange a fans vote on this and go with the majority, I'll send him a reminder

how's it feel being his secretary bro

[SpireiteFitzy]

moondog, on 11 April 2017 - 09:55 PM, said:

AC told me a couple of months ago he was going to arrange a fans vote on this and go with the majority, I'll send him a reminder

Can you ask him to also let us know the official results beforehand as well, would hate to waste my vote on an option that doesn't exist

[peakblue]

Vote to scrap the competition or the format.
There was no need to change it.in fact im all for adding national league teams to it and keep it a straight knock out.
Maybe 2 legs all way to final.

[Benno Spire]

The big worry here is not fans opinions, it's how big the cheque offered which may compensate for low attendances.

Conversation may go like this

Bigwig: we want places in this competition for the U/23 teams
Chairman: I'm voting against this as our fans dont want them in
Bigwig: if they are allowed in you will get at least £2 million pounds
Chairman: I think having U/23 teams in the competition is a good thing and can only help the national team, it gets my vote, When do we get the money?

[60s 70s Spireite]

Benno Spire, on 12 April 2017 - 08:45 AM, said:

The big worry here is not fans opinions, it's how big the cheque offered which may compensate for low attendances.

Conversation may go like this

Bigwig: we want places in this competition for the U/23 teams
Chairman: I'm voting against this as our fans dont want them in
Bigwig: if they are allowed in you will get at least £2 million pounds
Chairman: I think having U/23 teams in the competition is a good thing and can only help the national team, it gets my vote, When do we get the money?

Apparently that's more or less how the discussion went a year ago isn't it?

This story is worth a read of how the system lets down kids of lesser clubs (in this case Stoke City...) - Academy student and family get seduced by inducements of bigger club (Liverpool)- look to leave lesser club, until Liverpool stopped in tracks by rules; now boy cant move without £49k compensation being paid; result, as Stoke fallen out with him/family and he cant move elsewhere because no club willing to pay fee. No legal advice offered to boy during whole process.
http://www.telegraph...ver-up-scandal/

[azul]

peakblue, on 12 April 2017 - 06:56 AM, said:

Vote to scrap the competition or the format.
There was no need to change it.in fact im all for adding national league teams to it and keep it a straight knock out.
Maybe 2 legs all way to final.

I would not object either but is only a decade or so since they included the top Conference teams. Don't know why they discontinued it but it obviously wasn't too successful

I don't know how much Checkatrade were paying in sponsorship but they couldn't have been happy with the bad publicity the current format generated

This post has been edited by azul: 12 April 2017 - 09:53 AM

[Sammy Spireite]

azul, on 12 April 2017 - 09:51 AM, said:

I don't know how much Checkatrade were paying in sponsorship but they couldn't have been happy with the bad publicity the current format generated

I guess it wouldn't be as much as you'd think, especially when you consider they were only announced as sponsors at the start of August, by which time the format had been published and widely ridiculed by the masses.

It was announced as a 'possible 5 year deal' but I'd imagine they'll be looking to get out, unless it is that low its a no-brainer (see The Van Yard...) as its still gets their name out there.

[JonB]

azul, on 12 April 2017 - 09:51 AM, said:

I don't know how much Checkatrade were paying in sponsorship but they couldn't have been happy with the bad publicity the current format generated

Didnt Checkatrade only start sponsoring it quite late on...all the fuss and bad publicity was well under way before they got involved. It was just the EFL Trophy to start with i think.

[azul]

JonB, on 12 April 2017 - 10:26 AM, said:

Didnt Checkatrade only start sponsoring it quite late on...all the fuss and bad publicity was well under way before they got involved. It was just the EFL Trophy to start with i think.

I was thinking about the dismal crowds as much as the initial stink

Although we all expected it, doubt Checkatrade or the EFL expected such a poor response

One thing for sure though, it won't be costing them much but I doubt that will be the issue

[JonB]

azul, on 13 April 2017 - 10:47 AM, said:

I was thinking about the dismal crowds as much as the initial stink

Although we all expected it, doubt Checkatrade or the EFL expected such a poor response

One thing for sure though, it won't be costing them much but I doubt that will be the issue

Be amazed if they didnt expect it.....there were no end of things on the web, social media making it pretty evident fans were against it.

[azul]

JonB, on 13 April 2017 - 10:50 AM, said:

Be amazed if they didnt expect it.....there were no end of things on the web, social media making it pretty evident fans were against it.

They wouldn't have spent 10p on it if they had known

One thing for sure if the competition wasn't unmarkartable before, it is now, no matter what happens

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

Sammy Spireite, on 12 April 2017 - 10:23 AM, said:

It was announced as a 'possible 5 year deal' but I'd imagine they'll be looking to get out, unless it is that low its a no-brainer (see The Van Yard...) as its still gets their name out there.

Sammy - how dare you suggest the Club were so desperate to fill a gap that our main stand sponsor paid only a fraction of others and is essentially enjoying the full lounge 'experience' for less than paying punters!

[JonB]

Apparently 66.6% of clubs have voted to keep it basically as is with a few changes mainly being they've reduced the restrictions as to what players clubs like us can pick and they've upped the prize money!

http://www.efl.com/n...medium=referral

Key changes :-
- EFL team selection criteria amended to allow increased flexibility for League One and League Two clubs
- An increase in the total competition fund to £3million
- Each group will continue to contain one invited Under-21 team with the remainder made up of EFL clubs from either League One or League Two. Groups will be formed to minimise overall travel time for EFL clubs and fans
- Invited Under-21 teams will play their Group games away from home
- Regionalisation until the Quarter-Final stage (improved from Round Two in 2016/17) to minimise overall travel time for clubs and fans
- Flexibility of fixture dates to allow teams to schedule games outside of international weeks
- As part of the proposals, the selection criteria for invited Under-21 teams will remain as ‘six players from the starting 11 must be under the age of 21 as at 30 June 2017.’

This post has been edited by JonB: 12 May 2017 - 10:11 AM