I'm feeling really confident about this new trophy as Moyes may be the manager to bring on our clutch of good young guns -
I think I may have missed this. Is that our under 21s against the first teams of Rochdale, Hartlepool and Notts County? Didn't some teams refuse to enter?
Yes EFL Clubs have agreed, at their 2016 summer conference, to pilot a new format for the EFL Trophy as part of their ongoing commitment to creating more and better home grown players. The one season trial for season 2016/17 will include 64 teams made up of EFL League One and Two clubs, plus an additional 16 category 1 Premier League academy/under-21 sides. Central to the competition will be the introduction of a new group stage format with 16 regional groups of four teams. The top two teams will progress to the knockout stages of the competition with the final staged at Wembley Stadium in April 2017. Read more at http://www.efl.com/news/article/201...r-the-trophy-3140598.aspx#tZWYrUUzWvyiWDVX.99
U23. Lot of prem teams pulled out. This comp should have been left as it was. Lower league teams only imo. Edit seems u21.
I think it's a great idea to be fair. Most foreign leagues allow B teams in and it benefits the national sides by having youth playing at a higher l, more physical level. Also, the clubs likely make a few quid extra, for sure Hartlepool will get a far better gate for that game than they may have expected against another lower league side.
Yeah I kind of understand why they were but I do think it could benefit them also. They can potentially build relationships with bigger clubs that will benefit them in future. The other idea I believe was to create a league with promotion through the pyramid, eventually the bigger clubs would hit the league and the lower league clubs would lose league status, it would be almost inevitable. Germany and Spain, the 2 most successful recent nations in Europe already have B teams in there top 3 leagues with the facet they cannot play at the same level.
Early days yet. Two First Division clubs didn't enter the first ever English League Cup either. Liverpool and Sunderland entered the second year though and have been in it ever since.
Also it lays on free scouting for the lower league teams. They'll have chance to take a look and loan some of the best up and coming players, get the benifit of seeing how they cope physicality, without the overheads of sending their scouts around the country to watch youth games.
I don't think many u21 teams stand a chance of getting to Wembley to be honest. Physicality is going to be such a factor which I think eventually will prove to much of a factor for young uns to reach a final. Half the kids participating won't even become professional footballers and will disappear into the amature leagues. It will be competitive and not a given the prem clubs will piss it imo.
