The successor to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, the Checkatrade Trophy, has not gone down well with fans and they voted with their feet last night in the first group stage games. There were plenty of three figure attendances and anonymous Premier League teams full of youth players.
Most of the top Premier League clubs including the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Liverpool refused to take part. Those that did take part fielded little known players and often did not fill their substitutes bench. The lowest shirt number in Everton’s 15-man squad was 41.
The successor to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, the Checkatrade Trophy, has not gone down well with fans and they voted with their feet last night in the first group stage games. There were plenty of three figure attendances and anonymous Premier League teams full of youth players.
Most of the top Premier League clubs including the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Liverpool refused to take part. Those that did take part fielded little known players and often did not fill their substitutes bench. The lowest shirt number in Everton’s 15-man squad was 41.
Fleetwood Town’s derby with Blackburn Rovers attracted 392 fans while AFC Wimbledon versus Swansea City saw just 461 turn up. Bolton Wannderers charged £5 for all tickets, but only 1,540 saw them lose 0-2 to Everton, only 33 more than the club’s record lowest attendance.
Two 43-year old managers, Paul Tisdale at Exeter City and Gareth Ainsworth at Wycombe Wanderers, named themselves on the bench. However, Ainsworth did have the satisfaction of setting up a goal in the win over Northampton Town.
One unwelcome innovation has been that any group games that are level after 90 minutes are followed by a penalty shoot out that earns the winner one extra point.
In any other sector of the economy, businesses try to learn from negative consumer feedback. Not in football.