Football League Trophy

Football League Trophy

Founded	1983
Number of teams	48
Current champions	Southampton
2010–11 Football League Trophy

The Football League Trophy (also known for sponsorship reasons since 2007 as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy) is an English association football knockout competition, open to clubs from Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions of the four fully professional divisions in the English football league system (those four divisions being the Premier League, the Football League Championship, League One and League Two, in order of precedence). The current competition is open to 48 clubs with the first draws being made in August and the final of the competition being held in March at Wembley Stadium, England's national football stadium.

The competition began in the 1983-84 season as the Associate Members' Cup but from 1992 it has been named the Football League Trophy after the lower league clubs became Full Members of the league. The competition replaced the short lived Football League Group Cup competition which was only played between 1981/2 and 1982/3 (although confusingly, in the second year it was also called the Football League Trophy). Apart from the first year when it was not sponsored, the competition has also been known by its various past sponsorship names: the Freight Rover Trophy, the Sherpa Van Trophy, the Leyland DAF Cup, the Autoglass Trophy, the Auto Windscreens Shields Trophy and the LDV Vans Trophy.

The basic format of the competition since its beginnings has been to run two parallel North/South competitions, with the winners of both meeting in the national final at Wembley. The format of the competition has otherwise varied over the years, including in some years inviting clubs from the semi-professional Conference National, and holding a round robin group stage prior to moving into knockout rounds.

Current format

48 teams enter from League One and League Two.

Clubs are assigned to one of four areas for the purposes of the cup draws: Northern Section - East and West, Southern Section - East and West

• Round One, 16 games - 16 teams receive a bye to Round Two, while the remaining 32 play single game ties
• Round Two, 16 games - 32 teams play another single game tie

The cup draw pots are now merged, leaving just a Northern and Southern section

• Area Quarter Finals, 8 games - 16 teams play a single game tie
• Area Semi-Finals, 4 games - 8 teams play a single game tie

Drawing is no longer necessary for the final 4 teams

• Area finals - effectively the competition's semi-finals, the two remaining teams in each section play each other in two-legged game ties, home and away
• Final - between the Northern and Southern area winners

History

The competition was inaugurated as the Associate Members' Cup in the 1983-84 season, (when League One and Two were known as Division Three and Four), as a way of providing more games for the lower division clubs. It followed on from the short lived Football League Group Cup played in 1981-82 and 1982-83, although confusingly also called the Football League Trophy for this second year. These competitions however were not restricted to the lower leagues. Before the Group Cup, Texaco Cup-Anglo-Scottish Cup had been a similar lower league competition, but these also allowed clubs from the Scottish Football League to enter. The competition was renamed from the Associate Members' Cup to the Football League Trophy in 1992, in the reorganisation that followed after Division One broke away to form the Premier League, and The Football League became responsible for just the lower three professional divisions (although all four are still eligible for their other cup competition, the Football League Cup).

Various attempts have been made to solve the problem of reducing the 48 lower-division clubs to a round power of two (which is required for a knockout tournament): often the first round of the cup was played in round-robin groups of three; at other times the more senior clubs have been given byes into the second round. The addition of 8 or 12 (rather than 16) teams from the Conference (from 2000-01 to 2005-06) has not solved this problem. As of 2009-10, 16 teams of the bottom two League divisions receive byes, and the remaining 32 play the first round in four regional sections.

Status

League One and Two clubs which compete in the Football League Trophy are also eligible to enter the FA Cup which is for the top ten levels of the football pyramid, and the Football League Cup which is for all four of the professional divisions. With the prospect of meeting bigger teams in those competitions, and with the financial importance of doing well in the league competition, the Football League Trophy is not considered a priority by many clubs, with some opting to field below-strength teams, particularly in the earlier rounds. A new rule from the 2006-7 season aims to stop this, with teams now obliged to play at least 6 of the players with the most appearances in their respective positions (for the season to date) or face a fine. Supporters, too, apparently lack enthusiasm for the competition, with crowds usually falling well below the level considered acceptable (or, indeed, commercially viable) for senior football. For example, in November 2005, Peterborough United (with an average crowd of approximately 7,500) attracted just 969 people to their game against Swindon Town, whilst Swansea City (with an average gate of some 15,000) saw a mere 5,321 people attend their tie with Rushden & Diamonds. Nottingham Forest recorded the lowest attendance in their history, with just 2,013 fans turning up for the tie against Brentford in 2006. During their exile more than 40 miles (64 km) away at Macclesfield Town between moving grounds, Chester City attracted just 409 fans against Bury in November 1990 and 420 in the following year's competition against Darlington.

Finals

Venue

The League Trophy final is held at the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium in London, the English national football stadium. The first final in 1984 was to have been played at Wembley, but due to damage to the pitch caused during the Horse of the Year show it was moved to Hull. From 2001 to 2007 when the 1923 built Wembley was being demolished and rebuilt as 'new Wembley', the Football League Trophy finals were played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Winners

Records

Wins by club

Seven clubs share the record for most wins in the competition with two successes apiece. Carlisle United have reached the final the greatest number of times (5), but have so far achieved only a single victory, in 1997. Wolves are the only former English football champions to win the Trophy; Burnley and Huddersfield Town have been finalists once each.

Attendances

The record attendance for the final is 80,841, for the 1988 Final match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley at Wembley.

The highest attendance for any game outside of the final came in 2010, when Southampton beat MK Dons 3-1 at St. Mary's Stadium in Southampton, in front of a crowd of nearly 30,000.^[1]

Sponsors

As the Associate Members' Cup

• (1983–1984) no sponsor
• (1984–1987) Freight Rover Trophy
• (1987–1989) Sherpa Van Trophy
• (1989–1991) Leyland DAF Cup
• (1991–1992) Autoglass Trophy

As the Football League Trophy

• (1992–1994) Autoglass Trophy
• (1994–2000) Auto Windscreens Shields Trophy
• (2000–2007) LDV Vans Trophy (Note)
• (2007 onwards) Johnstone's Paint Trophy

Note: The 2006 final was branded simply as the Football League Trophy after the new owners of LDV withdrew sponsorship of the competition in March 2007, also meaning no prize money was awarded to the winners.^[2] The following May the Johnstone's sponsorship deal was announced.

See also

lower league cup competitions

• Football League Third Division North Cup / Football League Third Division South Cup (1934-1939)
• Texaco Cup (1971–1975)
• Anglo-Scottish Cup (1976–1981)
• Football League Group Trophy (1982–1983)

and

• English football league system

References

External links

• Official site