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Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 12:19 am
by Werthers Original
I reckon the FA cup took more out of them, and we nearly got to play Man City at home. Presumably you'd have been interested in that?

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 12:12 pm
by tomoufc
Werthers Original wrote:I reckon the FA cup took more out of them, and we nearly got to play Man City at home. Presumably you'd have been interested in that?
Yes, absolutely. But then I've got no problem with the FA cup. In fact, it's just the sort of undermining of the lower league represented by the B teams' appearances in the FLT that is also undermining the FA cup.

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:08 pm
by theox
Wembley protest called off due to legal issues.

https://www.againstleague3.co.uk/al3-we ... cancelled/

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:44 pm
by Kernow Yellow
theox wrote:Wembley protest called off due to legal issues.

https://www.againstleague3.co.uk/al3-we ... cancelled/
Good. This has all got ugly enough already without fans being at each other's throats outside the ground.

This bit of his statement makes a lot of sense:

"Two well-backed teams have reached the final and ticket sales have been strong. Ironically, it’s possible the attendance on April 2nd could actually be a record attendance for an EFL Trophy final.

If anything, that shows the importance of Wembley to this competition. It isn’t B-Teams that attracted a crowd, it’s the chance to watch a team at our national stadium. It shows this competition has a future if those who control it make sensible decisions, rather than purely commercial ones.

I don’t feel this devalues our boycott and what we’ve already achieved. The early rounds saw several club record low attendances as well as a competition record low. I truly believe the work we’ve done under the banner of AL3 has got the message across to the clubs involved and the EFL executive. They know how supporters feel, and they know their position would be untenable if this format continues."

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:13 am
by theox
Utterly astonishing stuff from Shaun Harvey here and, yes, he is already using the large Wembley crowd as evidence of the tournament's success..... what a dick....

https://t.co/MlrIhkFsFM

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:30 am
by Roo
What a complete and utter James Hunt! I knew that this was going to be used to validate the competition....... and WE are complicit. :oops:

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:24 am
by Kairdiff Exile
Roo wrote:What a complete and utter James Hunt! I knew that this was going to be used to validate the competition....... and WE are complicit. :oops:
Only if you're going to Wembley. #ToldYouSo :wink:

In all seriousness, this is absolutely no surprise to anyone who has followed the story and the Football League's condescending attitude towards fans over the issue. I hope that those who do go on Sunday will make known their displeasure in whatever way they can. It's no coincidence that much tighter restrictions than usual will apply to flags/banners for Sunday's game - the Football League are clearly anticipating opposition to them (and to Coventry City's owners as well, no doubt).

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:28 am
by Myles Francis
Those comments from Harvey simply underline why I've felt that the boycott isn't over. So, I say thank you to him for helping galvanise my position.

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:12 pm
by Boogie
What Myles said.

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:50 pm
by Kernow Yellow
I am actually surprised by this, given that the last interview I read with him seemed to be admitting that it was unlikely the tournament would continue in its current format.

He's now in complete denial and his arrogance is breathtaking. Pretending that the low early attendances had nothing to do with the presence of B Teams while ignoring the fact that the high final crowd has nothing at all to do with them. Does he really think there would be 70,000 at Wembley to watch a B Team? Surely he's not that stupid. Let's hope the clubs do the decent thing and vote this clown down.

Oh and I don't agree that we're complicit at all. Fans across the league sent out a very strong message that we didn't want to see fixtures against B Teams with record low attendances for these fixtures*. This statement shows how Harvey would try to spin anything to suit his agenda.

*(apart from ours at Chelsea, annoyingly)

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:00 pm
by Kairdiff Exile
Not wanting to accuse you of naivety, KY, but the reason I'm not remotely surprised by Harvey's comments is precisely because I knew he "would try to spin anything to suit his agenda". That was the whole rationale behind boycotting the final - it was obvious that he'd come out with this sort of crap.

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:33 pm
by theox
If you follow the Against League 3 Twitter feed, you will see that some club chairmen are starting to come out in support of the current format (Cheltenham and Notts County today).

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 8:12 pm
by Radley Rambler
Thank you Mr Harvey for fully vindicating my position - I was a bit disappointed and frustrated that I wouldn't be attending but now my resolve is back to 100%. I know that my not attending won't affect the overall outcome but at least when we're watching Oxford v Reading B in the league, I can feel morally just - it's the little things.

I wonder how many more coloured beads (Premiership ££s) Mr Harvey will seek to throw at the natives on April 11th?

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:05 pm
by Jimski
Myles Francis wrote:Those comments from Harvey simply underline why I've felt that the boycott isn't over. So, I say thank you to him for helping galvanise my position.
Yep. Of the people I know who supported the boycott, the only ones I know who have changed their position now that it's the final have been Oxford fans. (I don't know any boycott-supporting Coventry fans.) I suspect the draw of a day at Wembley rather than any hard logic was what swung it. Fans I know of other clubs seem fairly appalled at how quickly the boycott fell apart when it came to the final.

We shouldn't assume this B team shite is over until it is officially over.

Re: Football League Trophy

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:09 pm
by Old Abingdonian
Very much with RR on this. I am, all the same, a little shocked by the brazenness of Mr Harvey's enthusiasm.

I think each L1 & 2 club would have to ask how it would feel if it lost its league place to Chelsea B. If, say, you're Oxford or Millwall at the moment, then there is a tendency to see the involvement of B-teams as wrong, but not stomach-churning. If you're Coventry City, for example, it should be really scary.