15th June 2016
STATEMENT - EFL Trophy
Last weekend, during all of the press coverage of the Euros and the trouble in France, the Football League announced their plans to change the format of what was formerly known as the Johnstones Paint Trophy.
While many of the proposals were un-contentious, one of the main changes is to include 18 Academy and under 21 teams from Premiership clubs in the competition.
The involvement of such teams was suggested as an alternative to the inclusion of "B" Teams in The Football League, but was equally badly received at the time as the rest of Greg Dyke's proposals.
We are now extremely disappointed to find that Walsall football club was, in fact, one of the clubs which voted in favour of a trial of the proposals, something which the Trust believes would vastly reduce the chances of lower league teams reaching a Wembley final, as we ourselves did last season for the first time in our history.
It seems that the decision has been motivated purely by the desire to generate more income via television rights and has taken no account of the feelings of fans, who will feel that their opinions and their support for their club has been devalued once again.
We would therefore ask that the club immediately reconsider their support for this proposal, which seems to have no backing from the fans on the terraces who are after all, the backbone of any lower league team.