I will continue my boycott through all the rounds but if we got to Wembley and it wasn't against an U'21 team then I'd consider it ...
Anyway, I've given a little thought to how to revise the format to try and increase interest and wonder what you think?
There are 48 teams in L1 and L2 so divide them into 16 groups of three where the three are geographically as close as possible so you get the local derby interest so potentially higher crowds and less midweek travelling for supporters. They play each other home and away and group winners progress to a knock-out where the opponents are again decided on the nearest clubs geographically playing one another once only with the lowest placed team in the League getting home advantage (or the other way round if you prefer). Do the same for the next round and the semi-final.
If we use this season as an example the groups could look like this:
1. Carlisle, Hartlepool, Bradford City
2. Morecambe, Fleetwood, Blackpool
3. Bolton, Accrington, Sheff Utd (tricky to fit them in!)
4. Oldham, Rochdale, Bury
5. Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Grimsby
6. Mansfield, Chesterfield, Notts County
7. Shrewsbury, Crewe, Port Vale
8. Northampton, Coventry, Walsall
9. Luton, Stevenage, MKD
10. Colchester, Cambridge, Peterborough
11. Millwall, Orient, Barnet
12. Gillingham, Southend, Charlton
13. Slumdon, Oxford, Wycombe
14. Newport, Bristol R, Cheltenham
15. Portsmouth, Crawley, AFCW
16. Plymouth, Exeter, Yeovil
There might be an argument to say each group should include at least one club from each division but I don't have the time nor will to do it! Of course you could argue it may become stale after a couple of seasons if the same clubs are in the same groups each year but I'm guessing that promotion/relegation will shake the geography up a bit and move clubs around? Not sure!
The two finalists would end up playing eight games in all.
I guess there would still have to be something about the strength of side teams put out I'm not too sure what to do? Perhaps the purely arbitrary minimum six players who started the last first team game?