It's going to be the biggest crowd the Football League Trophy has ever had..... https://www.sunderlandecho.com/spor...l-out-checkatrade-trophy-allocation-1-9658320 Both sides have already sold 40,000. It's likely to be more than the 83k that the league cup final had, even though that was a match between the champions of England and a top four premier league side that's local to Wembley. For two sides in division 3 to do it (especially the distance Sunderland have to travel to it) in the Mickey Mouse cup is some effort.
The EFL should be embarresed. To get crowds that average less than 2k for the whole competition except the final is all the evidence you need to know. don’t get me wrong if you get to the final it’s a great day out, we took 20k and as can be seen this year the armchair fans love it. I can’t wait until an under 21 team get there and then we will see some fun and games.
It's a shame as the FA will probably find ways to use it as an endorsement that the new format is a success
I'm wishing Sunderland well in their attempt to match our achievement of two Wembley Final appearances in one season!
The strange thing Pompey is that 66% of league 1 and 2 clubs voted this in to include u21 teams. Based on the fact it would pit lower league players against up and coming stars of the future. Although I’d rather not see them being to able to enter the competition. Man City Young uns provided an entertaining game. By the way. Anyone notice we are using the tactic of trying to draw opponents forward by Davies chucking or kicking the ball to the nearest defender. Man City Young uns pulled it off a treat scoring a memorable goal. We’re just **** at it.
Fair play to both sets of supporters, that's a great turnout especially form Sunderland. On a personal note I absolutely hate the place, not when you finally get there thats a great experience, but the logistics involved belong to Phileas Fogg .
Nah, they voted for it because they were essentially bribed/blackmailed into doing so. At the end of the day none of the lower league clubs thought it was a good move but they all wanted the money that was only on offer if they sold out their fans.
We'd be better at it if Davi That's partly down to us playing a left-footer as a right centreback. First thing Pinnock does when Davies throws it out to him, is cut back inside onto his left peg, which limits his options, slows him down, and often ends up with us under pressure.
Dream final for the EFL. Probably the biggest 2 clubs outside of the top 2 leagues. If the EFL board had sat down at the start of the season and indicated their ideal final it would be sunderland vs pompey No reflection at all on the success of the new format.
Two third division sides in the least most important of the four competitions they play in and the crowd this weekend is going to beat anything anywhere else in Europe, which should please the FA who will see the revamped trophy as a success......
Dream final for the money men, and while I agree the competition is a lot worse as spectacle since the revamp it was hardly thrilling before, I have only ever been to one game in the competition and that was the final.
It’s bloody impressive really and just goes to show the depth of support in our leagues compared to the continent. Here’s hoping it’s a fine spectacle and they kick absolute ******* lumps out of each other.
Does it not just go to show that 2 well supported teams have fallen upon sufficiently hard times so as to end up playing in this game? If the final had been between Burton Albion and Rochdale would it have proved that nobody really bothered much about below Championship level? Having said that, I too hope it's an extra time bone crunching bloodbath.
You have a point but you’d probably still get more for Burton and Rochdale in the Checkatrade final than they do for the major continental cup comps. Can’t recall attendance for us and Oxford (nor much else about that day) but must have been about 40-50 odd? Still not bad for lower league tinpot cup - and a cracking day out!
I reckon you're belittling our turn up against Oxford. There were definitely more than 40 or 50 there. There were at least 40-50 people that I knew. And yes they were all odd. It was either Les Mis or Sunny Afternoon the night before - can't remember which.