Dangermouth Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Each team will play the other once, either home or away. How many will go from Southampton to see the team play Colchester on a midweek evening? How many from Colchester will bother to turn up to see 'Southampton U21s'? How many went to the first leg of the U21 cup final at Blackburn or the reverse fixture? I doubt even with competitive pricing that it will prove to be an economic benefit to the lower league clubs. I would expect most U21 teams to simply get rolled over and learn that they'll be outmuscled against lower league opposition in the whole 3 games that they'll play. Possibly someone like Chelsea will do well and might even win it. If Man City were in it, I could see it being them v Chelsea/Spurs or even Man Utd so next year when they all enter it will fall flat on its face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Le God Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Each team will play the other once, either home or away. How many will go from Southampton to see the team play Colchester on a midweek evening? How many from Colchester will bother to turn up to see 'Southampton U21s'? How many went to the first leg of the U21 cup final at Blackburn or the reverse fixture? I doubt even with competitive pricing that it will prove to be an economic benefit to the lower league clubs. I would expect most U21 teams to simply get rolled over and learn that they'll be outmuscled against lower league opposition in the whole 3 games that they'll play. Possibly someone like Chelsea will do well and might even win it. If Man City were in it, I could see it being them v Chelsea/Spurs or even Man Utd so next year when they all enter it will fall flat on its face. 12,356 went to St Mary's for that. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20150420-u21-report-southampton-2-1-blackburn-rovers-2414755.aspx Which would be a very big crowd in League 1 or League 2! It is more people than Portsmouth have as season ticket holders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dangermouth Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 12,356 went to St Mary's for that. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20150420-u21-report-southampton-2-1-blackburn-rovers-2414755.aspx Which would be a very big crowd in League 1 or League 2! It is more people than Portsmouth have as season ticket holders. Ah! Wonderful!!! In the first leg the attendance was 995 so let's take the average and say that for the cup final the attendance was circa 6000. In last year's final the attendance for WHam was 10267 and at Hull 3886 so again a roughly comparable figure. For a cup final. Let's have a straw poll and say it's a mere £50 to get to Colchester and back and in the ground and have the traditional pie and pint (only one, some will drive) and enjoy a 300 ish round trip taking say 4 hours. Straight after work and back up the next day again for another day's shift. Perhaps you should actually try harder with your responses as I believe my argument beats yours hands down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a1ex2001 Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 So all about money then. Hasn't changed my mind. It is all about the money, that's football these days we can't have 92 professional clubs without it being all about the money. In this case it was also about the future of the competition without a title sponsor I think it was probably a season away from collapse the clubs just didn't want it this is a chance to try something different and see if it works a chance to redistribute some of the wealth of the premier league and give young players proper competitive game time. The overall key being it is a one year trial that the vast majority of lower league clubs voted for if it doesn't work they can try something different. Football can't stay the same forever, nothing can everything changes and evolves otherwise there would be no premier league, no champions league etc etc etc now you can argue all you like about whether these are good changes but you can't close Pandora's box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 I personally don't like the idea to be honest, the JPT (as it was then) was a great opportunity for clubs in 'lesser times' to achieve success and have a great day out. Now it just feels like a devalued reserve cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slugger Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 I personally don't like the idea to be honest, the JPT (as it was then) was a great opportunity for clubs in 'lesser times' to achieve success and have a great day out. Now it just feels like a devalued reserve cup. Agree but worth stating that many FL clubs were devaluing the JPT themselves by picking reserve teams etc. There was glamour in getting to the final but the early stages were considered an inconvenience by many FL sides. Obviously we won it so have great memories of it but worth remembering we also had a big squad for that level and a fanbase that got behind it because we knew we had a very good team likely to get deep into the competition. Check the Southend Chairman's comments on it for a different perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Bateman Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Each team will play the other once, either home or away. How many will go from Southampton to see the team play Colchester on a midweek evening? How many from Colchester will bother to turn up to see 'Southampton U21s'? How many went to the first leg of the U21 cup final at Blackburn or the reverse fixture? I doubt even with competitive pricing that it will prove to be an economic benefit to the lower league clubs. I would expect most U21 teams to simply get rolled over and learn that they'll be outmuscled against lower league opposition in the whole 3 games that they'll play. Possibly someone like Chelsea will do well and might even win it. If Man City were in it, I could see it being them v Chelsea/Spurs or even Man Utd so next year when they all enter it will fall flat on its face. Agree, I actually can't see the U21 teams getting past the 'groups' if they're still doing that. L2 and a lot of L1 still have some traditional cloggers in their teams who'll just kick the sh*t out of the kids who will then be too afraid to get stuck in. And also agree that no one from a proper club (i.e. Colchester in your example) is going to take the trip down to St Marys to see our U21s play their first team. In fact, some clubs may not bother with a first team and play their own reserves ... ? Most people just won't be able to justify the extra expense for this travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slugger Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Do you think more than a couple of hundred would travel from Colchester to watch a JPT first round game at Crawley on a Tuesday night if the format hadn't changed? There won't be any less people watching than last year because attendances for the early round were ****e. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Could have done with Crawley away to add a new ground to my list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamplemousse Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 (edited) Agree, I actually can't see the U21 teams getting past the 'groups' if they're still doing that. L2 and a lot of L1 still have some traditional cloggers in their teams who'll just kick the sh*t out of the kids who will then be too afraid to get stuck in. And also agree that no one from a proper club (i.e. Colchester in your example) is going to take the trip down to St Marys to see our U21s play their first team. In fact, some clubs may not bother with a first team and play their own reserves ... ? Most people just won't be able to justify the extra expense for this travel. The league clubs have to play a certain number of first team players Edited 27 July, 2016 by Pamplemousse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyinthesky Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Each team will play the other once, either home or away. How many will go from Southampton to see the team play Colchester on a midweek evening? How many from Colchester will bother to turn up to see 'Southampton U21s'? How many went to the first leg of the U21 cup final at Blackburn or the reverse fixture? I doubt even with competitive pricing that it will prove to be an economic benefit to the lower league clubs. I would expect most U21 teams to simply get rolled over and learn that they'll be outmuscled against lower league opposition in the whole 3 games that they'll play. Possibly someone like Chelsea will do well and might even win it. If Man City were in it, I could see it being them v Chelsea/Spurs or even Man Utd so next year when they all enter it will fall flat on its face. Some interesting points here. Whilst I guess only really hardened fans will travel to Colchester for a mid week game there may be a couple of hundred or so who may travel from London or other outposts of Saints support. Whilst not disagreeing that our younger players may come up against hardened pros, the likes of McCarthy, Isgrove, Turnbull, Stephens, Seagar, McQeen have all been out on loan at Championship/Leagues 1 & 2 and seem to have acquitted themselves OK. Also teams such as Crewe have consistently played youngsters and done reasonably OK (although Crewe struggled last year) It will be interesting to see how we get on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 (edited) Dont like the idea. Only good thing is that maybe I can go visit some League 2 stadiums! Also has the draw taken place to some extent because they've already shown possible teams we could play (and theres no Portsmouth?) on the OFficial site Looking at the options for possible opponents, we were grouped in South East, the Skates South West - which sounds ridiculous but our seeding pot as an academy could be geographically very different from theirs as a poky bottom two leagues club. Unless of course one of Saints' criteria for accepting the invitation was a guarantee we wouldn't have to play that lot with our valuable youngsters. As far as the draw goes, I've been to all three already (ironically went to Crawley v Newport in the JPT 2 years ago when my friends and family made up 10% of the away following that day) and the wife is unlikely to go to Charlton midweek to get that one ticked off for her, so we'll probably only go to the home game(s?). Edited 27 July, 2016 by The9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctoroncall Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Southern Section Group A Reading, Bristol Rovers, Portsmouth, Yeovil Group B Swansea, AFC Wimbledon, Newport, Plymouth Group C Chelsea, Swindon, Exeter, Oxford Group D West Ham, Coventry, Wycombe, Northampton Group E Southampton, Charlton, Cochester, Crawley Group F Norwich, Peterborough, Barnet, MK Dons Group G Brighton, Southend, Stevenage, Leyton Orient Group H West Brom, Luton, Millwall, Gillingham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 So have league one and two teams been left out of the competition altogether in favour of Premier league academies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edprice1984 Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 So have league one and two teams been left out of the competition altogether in favour of Premier league academies? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 So Reading ended up South West and we ended up South East? Get the feeling that we had a word and said we didn't want to be in PFC's group. Because we're scared of them and would be intimidated or something. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Bateman Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 So Reading ended up South West and we ended up South East? Get the feeling that we had a word and said we didn't want to be in PFC's group. Because we're scared of them and would be intimidated or something. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk I actually imagine neither PFC nor SFC wanted to pay for policing, which let's be honest, would be required. Especially as PFC apparently won't be taking the JPT seriously Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 I actually imagine neither PFC nor SFC wanted to pay for policing, which let's be honest, would be required. Especially as PFC apparently won't be taking the JPT seriously More than likely, especially as it would be a guaranteed evening game. A load of unnecessary ball ache. Still, there's a Portsmyth to be made here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whelk Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 More worried about Scudamore being interested in a winter break. Bad enough 3 dry weeks when the weather is good. In January it will finish me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whelk Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 And expect Virgin Media will make all the games 40p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthouse Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 Sodding typical, I live in Crawley and it's the only home game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint-Fred Posted 27 July, 2016 Share Posted 27 July, 2016 So Reading ended up South West and we ended up South East? Get the feeling that we had a word and said we didn't want to be in PFC's group. Because we're scared of them and would be intimidated or something. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk Lol "had a word"..you crack me up with your "so far from what really happens" comments... it's funny.....it's like your "Stoke player will never sign" Big fan though.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 29 July, 2016 Share Posted 29 July, 2016 A friend of mine is swearing blind that there was "something on twitter" "from the EFL" where they confirmed that Saints/Skates, Port Vale/Stoke and West Ham and Chelsea/Millwall were kept apart, if anyone could find that I'd be intrigued, because all I could find was something about Cambridge and Cheltenham being in the "north" section due to being in the 12 most northerly teams in their division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozz Posted 29 July, 2016 Share Posted 29 July, 2016 A friend of mine is swearing blind that there was "something on twitter" "from the EFL" where they confirmed that Saints/Skates, Port Vale/Stoke and West Ham and Chelsea/Millwall were kept apart, if anyone could find that I'd be intrigued, because all I could find was something about Cambridge and Cheltenham being in the "north" section due to being in the 12 most northerly teams in their division. Both North and South were split into two "sections" prior to the draw with groups A-D coming from section 1 and groups E-H from section 2. We were in South section 2 with Skates in South section 1 - Can't see an explanation given for this, but given the teams kept apart we can probably guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted 29 July, 2016 Share Posted 29 July, 2016 A friend of mine is swearing blind that there was "something on twitter" "from the EFL" where they confirmed that Saints/Skates, Port Vale/Stoke and West Ham and Chelsea/Millwall were kept apart, if anyone could find that I'd be intrigued, because all I could find was something about Cambridge and Cheltenham being in the "north" section due to being in the 12 most northerly teams in their division. Ian Baker @ianbakersport Jul 27 Maidenhead, South East EFL Trophy appear to have specially prevented Stoke v Port Vale, West Ham v Millwall, Chelsea v Millwall and Southampton v Portsmouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 29 July, 2016 Share Posted 29 July, 2016 Ian Baker @ianbakersport Jul 27 Maidenhead, South East EFL Trophy appear to have specially prevented Stoke v Port Vale, West Ham v Millwall, Chelsea v Millwall and Southampton v Portsmouth. Thanks, as suspected my mate was talking utter balls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 29 July, 2016 Share Posted 29 July, 2016 Both North and South were split into two "sections" prior to the draw with groups A-D coming from section 1 and groups E-H from section 2. We were in South section 2 with Skates in South section 1 - Can't see an explanation given for this, but given the teams kept apart we can probably guess. Yeah, I knew all that lot, we're onto trying to work out if there's even any kind of attempt at geographical justification behind it. The "Saints in section 2 (east)" and "Skates in section 2 (west)" thing is a red herring... ...Looking at the seedings (by division, theoretically geographical). L1 South 1 (unofficially "west") Wimbledon, Bristol R, Coventry, Northampton, Oxford, Swindon South 2 ("east") Charlton, Gillingham, Millwall, MK Dons, Peterborough, Southend L2 South 1 ("west") Exeter, Newport, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Wycombe, Yeovil South 2 ("east") Barnet, Colchester, Crawley, Leyton Orient, Luton, Stevenage Can't really argue with the east/west split in L1 where the line runs between Northampton (W) and Milton Keynes (E), and between Wimbledon (W) and Charlton (E). The east/west split in L2 runs between Portsmouth (W) and Crawley (E), and up between Wycombe (W) and Barnet/Luton/Stevenage (E) - again geographical. Where it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE WHATSOEVER, is the Academy split: South 1 ("west") Chelsea, Reading, Swansea, West Ham South 2 ("east") Brighton, Norwich, Saints, West Brom To justify this geographically, you have to draw a line along the M4 corridor from Swansea, take in Chelsea and Reading, and extend it right across London to include West Ham. In doing so, you have to ignore West Brom and Saints along the way, which are both more western than Chelsea or Reading or West Ham, and yet end up pooled with a team from East Anglia and one from Sussex. Using a pure geographical split the sections would be "South 1" Swansea, West Brom, Saints, Reading; and "South 2" Norwich, Brighton, Chelsea, West Ham. That would indeed lead to the matches Ian Baker mentioned, as listed above (obviously I haven't checked the northern section for Port Vale/Stoke). If anyone can think of any other justification, feel free - the only one I haven't considered that I think could be viable is that they made the groups based on Arsenal, Spurs, Man U, Man City and whoever else pulled out, which left an imbalance in the original seeding and they just plugged the replacements into their slots, but even then Saints are STILL more westerly than Spurs and Arsenal and would have been in a western group under pretty much any circumstances. So "avoiding rivals" seems like the main criterion. Which is a bit daft for a competition theoretically interested in increasing attendance (and which has nevertheless led to Newport v Swansea). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Saint Posted 2 August, 2016 Share Posted 2 August, 2016 Quality .. Even more reason to go for this. Fishy friends are kicking off http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/36953689 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 2 August, 2016 Share Posted 2 August, 2016 Quality .. Even more reason to go for this. Fishy friends are kicking off http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/36953689 weird. was not that long ago they laughed and laughed and laughed at us being in it and winning the thing. it was way beneath them, the JPT and all that now they are kicking up a fuss about a pot they are not bothered about??!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Saint Posted 2 August, 2016 Share Posted 2 August, 2016 weird. was not that long ago they laughed and laughed and laughed at us being in it and winning the thing. it was way beneath them, the JPT and all that now they are kicking up a fuss about a pot they are not bothered about??!! As only they would lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatlesaint Posted 2 August, 2016 Share Posted 2 August, 2016 Quality .. Even more reason to go for this. Fishy friends are kicking off http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/36953689 so have I read this right ? They aren't going to boycott the game because they don't want to cost the club but they are going to walk out as soon as the game starts ? Mental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nta786 Posted 4 August, 2016 Share Posted 4 August, 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3724005/EFL-Trophy-renamed-sponsorship-deal-Checkatrade.html No longer the JPT The new name is awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSAINT Posted 9 August, 2016 Share Posted 9 August, 2016 http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/20160809-checkatrade-trophy-group-games-announcement-3235012.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 9 August, 2016 Share Posted 9 August, 2016 A quick n dirty list which might have one or two inaccuracies, but... available overage players (non-internationals for the last 2 group fixtures) from which we can select 5. 5 Romania DF Florin Gardoș (maybe) 9 England FW Jay Rodriguez 14 Spain MF Oriol Romeu 15 Curaçao DF Cuco Martina (maybe) 16 England MF James Ward-Prowse 18 England MF Harrison Reed 25 Argentina GK Paulo Gazzaniga 27 Wales MF Lloyd Isgrove 28 England FW Charlie Austin 33 England DF Matt Targett — England MF Nathan Redmond U23s 24 England DF Jack Stephens 29 England DF Bevis Mugabi 30 England DF Will Wood 31 England MF Armani Little 34 England MF Jake Flannigan 35 England DF Josh Debayo 36 England DF Jordan Turnbull 37 Scotland MF Harley Willard 38 England MF Sam McQueen 39 England MF Josh Sims 40 England FW Sam Gallagher 42 England MF Jake Hesketh 45 England FW Ryan Seager 46 England MF Dominic Gape 47 England FW Marcus Barnes 49 England FW Olufela Olomola 50 England DF Alfie Jones England GK Harry Lewis Benin DF Richard Bakary England DF Ollie Cook I think I'd pick Rodriguez and Austin So, I was joking... but... http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/20160809-under-23-report-southampton-qpr-friendly-3236731.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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