City have been drawn against Peterborough, Barnet and MK Dons in this revamped competition. Good games for our younger prospects to play against older pro's and gain valuable experience.
Your wish is granted ocf, at London Road week begining 29th August. Also away to Barnet and home to MK.
I'm not sure about this. The Paints trophy was a way for these lower league teams to have a cup to compete for. I don't know how I feel about b sides from the higher divisions included. As one of the teams included, it's great for us. Competitive games for our youth and reserves.
If we were a team in the lower leagues, and suddenly all these teams got added, I'd be really P**sed.
How does the competition work now? Why are we drawn with all those teams? Is there a group stage? Or are they naming teams in our side of the draw?
That does sound a more exciting set up. Will it benefit clubs with increased match revenue? Probably not, I've read sides like Chelsea and United have pulled out. Those teams involved might bring more fans to games of League 2 sides.This is what will happen for this trial year!
In addition to the “invited clubs”, the regionalised knockout format of the competition will have a group stage added to it, where games that finish in a draw will feature a penalty shootout, with the winners getting a bonus point.
Basically what I was saying.It guarantees three cup games for each team, which is more than 50% would expect in a straight knockout. I believe the Premier League have contributed more money too in return for the youth sides inclusion .
I agree it's a shame the big 5 or so have pulled out in terms of attracting fans of those clubs to contribute to non-PL football. That said, there's a bigger risk with them included that the final could be two youth sides, which would kill the tournament.
Selfishly I'm glad our U21s are in it and I want them to win. In general I'm not sure it is good for the fans of lower league clubs. As if the final is two u21 teams it will undermine them.
On the other hand the greater the opportunity for young players to get into the professional game instead of expensive foreign imports will join doubt help the development of home grown players. There's been talk of B teams joining the lower leagues this seems like a step that way.
My understanding is that it is in fact an under 23 team for us lucky enough to be invited, with 4 over aged player allowed. This should be enough with other fixture commitments to give our fringe players a meaningful season.Selfishly I'm glad our U21s are in it and I want them to win. In general I'm not sure it is good for the fans of lower league clubs. As if the final is two u21 teams it will undermine them.
On the other hand the greater the opportunity for young players to get into the professional game instead of expensive foreign imports will join doubt help the development of home grown players. There's been talk of B teams joining the lower leagues this seems like a step that way.
On which subject - and apologies if it's already common knowledge, but this piece in the Telegraph from late May details the proposed changes and how the divisions may look subsequently if changes are approved.I think the group stage is to give lower ranked teams more gate receipts, and I wonder if this is to somewhat mitigate the games lost if the 5x20 league structure gets approved.
True, but once the dust has settled, I think it's far a better system.12+ teams getting relegated in one season from one league would lead to quite the season!
Good news for fans of more 'remote' clubs, many of whom can't get to long distance evening games as things stand, or end up arriving home a 2 or 3 in the morning.That would allow the number of midweek rounds to be slashed from what was 10 this season down to just one and free up Tuesdays and Wednesdays for other competitions to be played, particularly the FA Cup.
