Same again then....
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:09 pmI see from the EFL key dates post that the Football League Trophy "Group Stage" begins w/c 29th August. So they appear to be persisting with this utter failure then?! Not sure our fans had much appetite for the competition anyway but our attendances have been (removing away fans from the totals):
2015/16 - 3,203 (R2) and 1,768 (R3)
2014/15 - 2,483 (R4) and 2,129 (area final)
2013/14 - 1,457 (R1)
Our only game this season saw 1,991 and was one of the larger gates! There were 1,993 home fans at the Den when we went there and the figures at many grounds barely made 3 digits! It was an experiment that was to be "reviewed at the end of the season". It has surely failed to provide the first team experience to academy players it was meant to. Most of the teams didn't enter, some of those that did barely looked interested and used the match to get experienced players back to fitness, many finished bottom of their group without scoring and it caused needless trips or floodlight bills to play games that had no meaning in front of no fans. What it did achieve was to further bolster fans antipathy towards an academy element inside the current structure of professional football. Checkatrade paid more money to get this - games where goal highlights are no longer shown on TV and the only news about it is about the record low crowds!
This experiment review then appears to be, lets do it all over again then, this time in front of even fewer fans as those that did go initially also lose interest! Our home game will do very well to see a gate of 4 figures and not cover the cost of switching the lights on (and our fans will moan about the Rainham End not being open). Genius.
2015/16 - 3,203 (R2) and 1,768 (R3)
2014/15 - 2,483 (R4) and 2,129 (area final)
2013/14 - 1,457 (R1)
Our only game this season saw 1,991 and was one of the larger gates! There were 1,993 home fans at the Den when we went there and the figures at many grounds barely made 3 digits! It was an experiment that was to be "reviewed at the end of the season". It has surely failed to provide the first team experience to academy players it was meant to. Most of the teams didn't enter, some of those that did barely looked interested and used the match to get experienced players back to fitness, many finished bottom of their group without scoring and it caused needless trips or floodlight bills to play games that had no meaning in front of no fans. What it did achieve was to further bolster fans antipathy towards an academy element inside the current structure of professional football. Checkatrade paid more money to get this - games where goal highlights are no longer shown on TV and the only news about it is about the record low crowds!
This experiment review then appears to be, lets do it all over again then, this time in front of even fewer fans as those that did go initially also lose interest! Our home game will do very well to see a gate of 4 figures and not cover the cost of switching the lights on (and our fans will moan about the Rainham End not being open). Genius.