EFL Trophy
 

or The Paint Pot Trophy, will now contain 'proper' teams academy sides etc. I for one think Stanley should withdraw from it - or play their 1st year apprentices. The money we make on the gate is negligible so I think we should be the ones to make a proper stand against this ridiculous move.

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There's a petition on the go as well. 335 signatures within the first half hour or so. Gerron it and share it to facebook

https://www.change.org/p/the-head-of...ophy-proposals

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Done

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Done oer 600 now.

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Done

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Done. Almost as daft as the plan up here to include welsh and irish clubs as well as under 20s

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Done.

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#BoycottTheFA for too long these people have protected the bigger teams it's time we got someone in charge who looks after the lower leagues yes the big teams provide international footballers but where do them player spend thier youth on loan learning the trade? With the lower league teams, I remember not long ago joe hart was on loan at Shrewsbury and jack butlabd was at Cheltenham untill something is done it will not change, it's time to take a stand and take back our game from the top league fairy protectors #DycheOut

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Why boycott the FA if it is the FL? No idea why someone would refer to it as the EFA?

To be honest I thought most fans boycotted the FLT anyway hence the **** poor crowds. At least the PL are boosting the prize money, and Stanley may draw a team other than Carlisle.

Joe Hart was never on loan at Shrewsbury, it is where he played until 10 years ago fully on the books.

Why not blame FIFA, UEFA and the MLS too?

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We don't really need any more 'Tin Pot' fixtures.
Under the present format it's perfectly OK to give the competition a 'bit of a go' for the first couple of rounds early on in the season, as it gives managers a chance to play about with squad variations. Although then if you do get through to the later stages it is worth playing your best eleven as it could earn a bit of extra cash and kudos.:rolleyes:

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Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Reading, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
All the teams to get involved

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up market lancashire senior cup then

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its just the start to get u20,s involved in more competitive football. as its been mentioned before the next step is to put them into the football league as it could be regionalised. don,t worry folks whatever the greedy league wants the greedy league will get. must be stopped whilst the lower division teams have a bit of clout.

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A Morecambe fan's view

Re: JPT
By SeagieYesterday at 16:15:36In response to Re: JPT
Views: 522
Quite. I'll never attend another game of this tournament again and I hope all the Premier League kids suffer horrible career threatening injuries in every game.

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3686 signatures, is that all? We should get that many sig's from Pompey fans alone.

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Pompey prob voted for it

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Done as well

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Done, over 4,000 now

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Done...international condemnation.

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Why do some football fans have to be complete morons ?

I've seen somewhere, possibly twitter that Pompey & Luton voted against

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can't see how any lower league team could vote in favour but apparently Oxford and majority the did

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It will be for money. Just like everything at the top of football just now and lower clubs will be hoping teams from big clubs draw big crowds.

Next thing will be that the trial will be a success and the looney tunes idea suggested of premier reserves in the lower leagues will come to pass.

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the attendance figures at JPT games compared to league and FA cup games are low until the regional semi finals.

With premier league clubs sending B teams, you will possibly have a lot more away fans and a nice earner for what use to be a fixture where clubs may have lost money.

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Not so sure about that, Davo.
Clubs like Stanley need fans who can be persuaded to come regularly, not 'one-off' earners in a cup in which League 2 teams will have even less chance of progressing.
I once (never again!) went with a work colleague to see Reading v Arsenal U21s, played at Basingstoke Town's ground. Firstly, the football was turgidly predictable, with neither team willing to do anything that 'risked' losing the ball or an injury. Secondly, whilst there was a few hundred there, I don't believe there were many true 'away' fans. Most of them were Basingstoke fathers with kids who 'support' Arsenal (i.e. watch Sky). I don't think there were many, if any, North London residents who'd made the arduous journey to Basingstoke.
So if Stanley drew, say, Everton U21s, I suspect the only extra money Stanley would earn is from the odd (very odd;)) local residents who 'support' Everton and otherwise might rarely get to watch The Toffees. Doubt if there'll be many true 'away' fans.
More likely this is 'tester' to see how Academy teams compare with the lower League teams and, if they can hold their own or better, then don't be surprised if the 'extra' 20 teams that will make up the proposed 5th Division are Premier League Academies.

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Personally, I don't like this proposal as I feel it is being used by these bigger clubs and fat cats to "test the water" as a precursor in regard to trying to potentially place academy teams within the Football League Pyramid.:mad:

Its bad enough that the academy status has four levels where the fat cats can cream off the best of the talent pool for a pittance. To then have them push these players back onto the rest of the Football League in whatever format, whether it be by this "proposal" or "experiment" or any future proposal or idea stinks.

They (big clubs ) swallow up all the obscene amounts of T.V. money and we as lower league clubs have to fight over the scraps that fall from the top table. All this while paying foreigners ridiculous wages.:mad:

A better idea would be to limit the number of foreign players allowed to play in their teams, thus forcing them to play homegrown talent as they do in the Bundesliga where the German F.A. adopt a similar ruling.:confused:

I won't attend any game in the Paint Pot Cup next season out of principle. If ever the day comes when Academy sides are allowed to compete in the Football League, then I'm afraid that is the day when my love of the game will probably be fatally damaged.:(

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Done

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Ditto Carpon. I've watched Stanley man and boy for 30 odd years, and what drives me as, a lower league fan, is aspiration and faith in the pyramid system. If big clubs were allowed to enter 2nd rate teams into OUR competitions then I would withdraw my support for football entirely.

Lancashire Cup matches against Liverpool and Man Utd either drew next to nothing crowds or were played on Arden Hall in the afternoon. How thrilling.

I WILL go to the home matches against proper teams in the JPT, but they can shove their academy games up their collective arses

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I'm of the same mind as carpon and macca.:(

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[QUOTE=maccawozzagod;1170427] If big clubs were allowed to enter 2nd rate teams into OUR competitions /QUOTE]

One problem, Macca, is that they may not be that 2nd rate.
The Premier League rules run to hundreds and hundreds of pages but I think Academy teams are for players under 21 BUT can also contain one older goalkeeper and between 3 and 5 other older players.
So an Academy team could have just seven youngsters (all of whom will have come through the system since they were tots, and will be potentially good players) and five seasoned pros who either don't get much first team minutes or are coming back from injury.
One of the main points of the Paint Pot, and its previous incarnations, was surely the chance for League 1 and 2 teams to get to Wembley. I know that 'going to Wembley' has been much debased by the FA (needing to service its debts for building the stadium) but this change will make the chances of getting to Wembley for a small club about the same odds as in the FA Cup but without any of the financial return the latter competition brings.
Petitions from fans won't change anything, particularly one so tersely worded as this one, but there may be more effect if a good number of clubs simply boycotted the EFL Trophy and thus devalued it for its sponsor. Which business wants to be associated with a discredited product?

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anyone listen to radio Lancashire tonite at 6pm the sports hour? interesting ...

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BBC Radio Lancashire - Sport, 13/06/2016
Hope this link works. It starts about 22 minutes in. Dave Burgess on why Stanley voted against the 'trial'.

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Done, it was on twitter with a link to the audioboom, I don't agree much with our MD says But he has spoken sense on this one, That is not hard I know. However the small crowds we get will be even less over the season. Even Andy Holt says there is no financial gain for the clubs until at least the quarter finals. It will kill a lot of small league clubs as people will simply get out of the habit of going.

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The radio Lancashire interviewer can't remember Stanley playing in the FLT when in the conference then?

Holt doesn't want it as "it doesn't feel right" and 4 League 2 teams voted against it, well 3 or 4 from what Holt said. Maybe better staying quiet, it is a trial, so just let it run its course I reckon. If Stanley win it the prize money has doubled, and the better development squad players will be out on loan, so I don't think it becomes a lot harder to win.

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Sorry don’t agree, this so called EFL trophy trial is just a feeler for the full introduction of upper league teams under 21s squads to enter the football league, the full implications of just a trial are the first steps on a journey to reality, the upper league clubs would like to see their under 21s infiltrating the football league which would inevitably result in some lower league clubs relegated to non-league status, how can this be good for clubs like ours

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Apparently not. They are a fan-owned club after all.

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EFL Trophy: Format confirmed for 2016/17

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£20 admission for first round of this?? Sorry, but don't think I'll be there for that one :(

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Not a hope in hell and its £15 fer me.

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I think we're mixing 2 cups together here

I might be wrong but there's an EFL Cup and an EFL Trophy. The Bradford game at £20 is the old League Cup

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fat gaz is on about the old johnstone paint pot

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I think yer right rob just call me knobhead.:D

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Apparantly Manchester United have declined the invitation to join this new format let,s hope the other 15 invited teams do the same for the long term good of the game in this country.

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Perhaps the Man Utd Academy starlets are frightened of playing a real game and getting their knees muddy?
So will they invite Burnley Academy?

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Yeah, you're right Macca - I was thinking it was the first round of the old paint pot trophy, wish one of 'em would get a sponsor - might be easier to separate them :)

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agree.

£10 is to much for the tinpot trophy

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Or perhaps they saw that they would have to open old Trafford for a few dozen people and realised how bonkers an idea it is.

Yes, it would be great to see accy there but to play at their main stadium is lunacy from a cost perspective. An irrelevant competition outwith the last couple of rounds at the best of times but now it's just crazy. Still not as daft as what we have up here by inviting Irish and Welsh clubs too but heading that way.

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I think Liverpool have turned down the invitation too.

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If the whole point of the invited teams is to bring through the best of young English talent, yet some of the big named teams (who in theory should have the best youngsters in their development squads) turn it down, then what's the point in this reformat?

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over the years they have tried different formats of the paint pot or tin pot trophy and nothing has really worked. best thing to do with it is put it to bed with the anglo italian competition, full members cup and other competitions dreamed up on the back of a fag packet over the last few years. make reserve and youth football more competitive as it used to be and leave div.1 and 2 clubs alone. we don,t want to be used as premier league fodder.

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Reveals just how disconnected is the administration of English football.
At one end there is a self-serving global corporations, built on debt and/or dodgy foreign investment (aka tax avoidance) , and at the other a retirement home for men with blazers.
In the middle, trying to survive despite the Premier League and FA, are most of the other clubs and their fans.

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Bradford EFL Cup tie ? Accrington Stanley FC :eek: Seems a bit pricy.

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As far as giving the chance for decent fixtures to the youngsters, I cant understand why they cant have a reserve league that runs alongside the real leagues, playing the opposite fixture (reserves at home when 1st team away etc). If home reserve matches were included in the cost of season tickets ( free) then they MAY get some kind of attendances

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This used to happen many years ago in Scotland. I can remember going to reserve games at ibrox in the eighties for free with my season ticket in reverse games with crowds over 10000 for big games and often in the top three biggest crowds of the day.

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The Central League http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A7x9U...pEQxidd.kSxw0-

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I see that groups are made up of 4 teams that is 3 teams from league 2 & 3 plus 1 invited team from the premier league.
Previously it was agreed the invited teams would have just 3 players over 21 plus a goalkeeper now that has been upgraded to 5 over 21s.
So by round 2 of this competition it will most likely be 16 invited premier teams & 16 teams from league 2 & 3 if the premier league clubs.
Just how is this an attractive format for lower league clubs, don’t think I’ll bother to watch the primo-donnas contest the final

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Rumours now that Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs are refusing the invitations. Apparently nobody has made the refusal official yet (including Man U & Liverpool) but the whole thing looks to be on shaky ground at the moment.

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used to happen in england too. there were various leagues throughout the country, including the central league, football combination down south, northern league for teams in the north east , cheshire league and i may be wrong but wasn,t there a lancashire combination or such for non league sides. they were all very competitive with teams made up of squad players and youth team players getting a chance. things changed for some reason in the 90,s when they were more like friendly games. you could watch your side every saturday, with 1st team one week and the stiffs the next. good old days before the diaticians and fitness coaches got their power.

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IN 62 when Stanley folded i went to blackburn and had a season ticket, reserve games there were free with em back then quite a few of us used to go so reckon it would help attendances.

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it,s a good way to introduce kids to going to games as well. more space for them to move about without anoying other fans. my first game was hartlepools reserves with a few hundred there so didn,t have to get in early to get to the front to see.

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Seems the FA have created a bit of a Google Page Ranking and logistical nightmare

Mind you it's the same people who gave the yes man Hodgson a job, so it's not a shock they can't organise their own football trophy competition

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I'm not sure what the FA cup has to do with the paint pot or making thing more efficient (i.e. logistics)?

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Sorry chewbacca , the autocorrect on my phone has a mind of its own

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its another matter of modern society. us at the top know better than you. its not what you want its what we want because we know better than you lot. just vote with your feet and not bother to go. if every fan of div.1 and 2 teams did this it would soon be shoved somewhere it really belongs.

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Isn’t it great a competition designed at improve the under 21’s of premier league sides is imposing a £5,000 fine for league 1 &2 sides for doing just that

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What a complete and utter shambles this competition is.

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What's the story, Accybeme?

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EFL Clubs – a minimum of 5 ‘First Team’ players in the starting 11 as defined under the competition’s existing rules. (the statement in post 64) was taken from a Dan Jewell twitter post on the 6th July

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Just on sky sports news that because some if the premier league clubs have rejected the opportunity for their academy sides to take part in the competition, they're extending the invitation to other clubs with 'category one' academy sides, whatever that means, until there are enough to make up the sixteen places available to them!

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I wonder how many more 'invited' teams will have to decline before Stanley are invited to enter a second team! :)

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what if its a success and those clubs that have rejected the invite come out begging next season to be involved?

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The top teams are in the U19 Champions League and the U21 international cup mid week, so that is why a lot are declining, it just isn't possible to play.

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another well thought out move by the football league. probebly no one told them about the other competitions that exist. i wonder who gets these jobs at the top.

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You'd also have thought it might have been a good idea to get the buy-in from the Prima Donna teams before announcing it as such a great success.

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Think Hyndburn council must be running it, they did the same thing wi the new bus station.:D pmsl

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So the draw's been done & we've been grouped with Chesterfield, Crewe & Wolves Under 21's!!
Methinks admissions to these games will have to be made cheap to get much interest

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I'm wondering how much they'll have to pay folk to watch Wolves U21s.:rolleyes:

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I see our friends at Ewood are one of the category one clubs who have joined in the competition - nice to know they're supportive of our stance against the new format

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Dates have been announced and we've only got one home match:
EFL Trophy: Group Stage fixtures

Match Day 1 – w/c 29th August 2016
Chesterfield v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Accrington Stanley v Crewe Alexandra

Match Day 2 – w/c 3rd October 2016
Crewe Alexandra v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Chesterfield v Accrington Stanley

Match Day 3 – w/c 7th November 2016
Crewe Alexandra v Chesterfield
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Accrington Stanley

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I'm glad the Wolves game is away, I'll feel less guilty about boycotting it.

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No disrespect to t'Rovers, but the fact they are a Category 1 club just shows what a limp response the EFL have had from the Premier League.
This brilliant idea hasn't exactly invigorated the Paint Pot, more like turned it into the Tin Pot Trophy.

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I know exactly what you mean. On the other hand, if Stanley are playing only 20 miles down the road then I somehow feel an obligation to go and support them...

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[QUOTE=MikeA;1173190]Dates have been announced and we've only got one home match:
that comes as a big surprise when stanley are involved. will be interested in the admission price for the crewe game. hope its high as it will give me another reason to boycott it.

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What a joke.
The EFL (mis)sold this reinvigorated competition as having Academies from the top clubs and with initial regional groups. All to encourage crowds.
Now we learn the Premier League weren't even signed up in advance, and at least six clubs have declined the invitation.
Then we discover 'regional' means Stanley playing their friends from the north-west, Wolves; Cambridge taking on local rivals in Middlesborough and Shrewsbury (!); and those dirty northern b*****s, Cheltenham, playing Everton, Bolton, and Blackpool!
I think all League 1 and 2 teams should put out their own Academy squads and treat this trophy with the contempt it now deserves. No wonder no company could be persuaded to sponsor it.

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i reckon stanley should say get stuffed and withdraw. if that can be done.

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Or play our youth team if we can't pull out?

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We'd end up getting fined for fielding too many non-regulars.

Best thing in my opinion is have the match but see which of our players can score the most own goals. :p

If nothing else, 70 own goals in a match would gain worldwide media attention and make it clear we aren't happy. :D :D :D

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How much is the fine? We should have a whip round

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:eek: £5k macca:(

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OUCH! :eek:

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On the BBC sport web site tonight it claims Pompey fans have voted to walk out of their games after kick off so to show what they think of the new format but without penalising their club's finances.
Will be interesting to see how many do it, especially if they are 1-0 up after 30 seconds. Good luck to 'em.

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[QUOTE=Exile on Spencer St;1173604]On the BBC sport web site tonight it claims Pompey fans have voted to walk out of their games after kick off so to show what they think of the new format but without penalising their club's finances.

the other thing to is is not bother to turn up in the first place. if you normally go to these games as i do and you feel you are robbing the club of money donate your match admission cost to the club or do as i am going to do, buy 50/50 draw tickets up to the value of admission at the next home game.

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The trophy do new name is the checkatrade trophy

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the trophy should have been sponsored by primark.

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Being associated with this could do more harm to Checkatrade than a dozen dodgy plumbers.

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According to the bloke who dreamed it up, the revamped Paint Pot Trophy has been a great success.
6 of the 16 Category A clubs (i.e. mainly foreign owned global businesses) that were invited to join in refused to do so.
Half of the 16 (almost) Category A teams failed to qualify from their groups.
Average attendances were down from 3,221 to 1,404 (-56%) with only 274 watching West Brom B (or should that be 'almost A') against Gillingham.

Oh, but sponsorship money was up, so that's the benchmark for success, I guess.

As previously said, I'm staggered a business like Checkatrade, which is or should be all about trust and honest reviews, had anything to do with it.

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a trophy that should have been sponsored by some dodgy pay day loan firm or a back street money lender. the arthur daley memorial trophy could have done nice.

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Cheltenham are voting in favour of the format change