The Checkatrade Trophy was once again high on the agenda at last night’s Grimsby Town Fans’ Forum at Blundell Park.
The competition has proven to be a huge talking point since the Mariners’ return to the Football League last year, with many supporters choosing to boycott games.
And the Trophy has once again been a controversial subject this season, with Town recording their lowest-ever attendance at Blundell Park against Sunderland Under-21s, while fans reacted angrily to comments made by accounts manager Steve Wraith when he suggested some supporters may have been bullied into not attending matches.
At last night’s forum, club directors John Fenty (JF), Philip Day (PD) and Stephen Marley (SM), as well as Mariners Trust chairman Paul Savage (PS), responded to questions on the Trophy from fans:
JF: "At the end of the day, Steve (Wraith) has done a mountain of press statements for this football club, and I’ve never had any cause for concern at anything he’s ever said. It’s always been very positive, promoted the football club, and done the right thing – certainly in my opinion. On this one occasion, he’s probably said something he might regret now.
"Do I wish he hadn’t said it? I think he’s said something that’s perfectly true. The Checkatrade Trophy has obviously brought a raft of animosity that for whatever reason this club is struggling to get over when most other clubs have got over it and attendances are growing."
SM: "We had a very long conversation with the directors at Doncaster Rovers prior to the fixture. Last season they experienced something very similar to us, which was the fact that the fans were pretty much boycotting the games.
"There are people sat on the top table, myself included, who do not like the format of the competition. Having said that, the board of directors have to make decisions that are in the best interests of the club, and I certainly as an accountant am not going to be one who’s going to turn money away, and give the club the opportunity to play fixtures where we can actually lose money on fixtures.
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"Now what they said to us was quite clearly that the attendances at Doncaster had improved. We can all take individual clubs and say ‘this club is doing better, this club is doing worse’. It’s extremely easy in life generally to pick any example to support the arguments that we’re trying to make. What I would say is, in the accounts for the EFL for June 2017, they have reported that attendances for the Checkatrade Trophy for the year ending June 30th 2017 are 17 per cent up on the previous season. If they take the period to the end of October, they are ten per cent up.
"The final game of the group stage against Sunderland Under-21s on a Tuesday night, how many people would turn out? If I reverse that question and say that we stood a chance of progressing to the next stage of the tournament, and we had a better goal-scoring record in the previous few games, would we or would we not have had more than 248 people in attendance? I would defy anybody in this room to actually say that we would have only had 248 people at that game."
JF: "It was a dead rubber of a game. There were seven away Sunderland fans. That’s unheard of. The amount of fans they’ve got, they weren’t boycotting it, they just didn’t turn up because it was a dead rubber. Neither team had anything to play for other than a win fee which we shared because we drew.
"In terms of the original question, fans that were attending the early rounds were being called scabs, Judas, pariahs, traitors, serpents – all of this was on social media, and they were being ganged up on en mass. Whether you like it or not, they were being bullied, and in truth the Trust sponsored a game that was held away from Blundell Park that night in terms of funding the safety arrangements.
"Do we take exception to that? Do I like what happened? I don’t – I don’t take exception to it, and I can see why they did it, but ultimately I think we have to change our mentality. The Premiership did not ask for this, they did not all engage, they did not demand it, the EFL went to the Premiership to try and make it viable for a lot of clubs that were complaining."
PS: "Ultimately as a Trust, we’re there to represent supporters, and they told us in no uncertain terms that they don’t agree with the format as it is now."
SM: "Despite what the fans may think, there’s been this perception that the board of directors have just completely ignored the fans’ wishes."
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PD: "The night before our game against Sunderland, Lincoln City played Notts County in a game that was important for one of them to win, and there were nearly 4,000 people at that game, so other clubs are supporting the Checkatrade Trophy."
SM: "All I can say is given the circumstances on which the directors had a free vote as to what to tell the EFL with regard to this year’s format, my decision based on my many years working for the football club was that, as I perceived it, because I’m fully aware that the fans will not, or appear not to be supporting the Checkatrade Trophy, given the format of the regionalised basis or knockout basis without the under-21 teams, there was the very real possibility that we could have games at Blundell Park and lose serious money.
"Just to illustrate the point, the last time we played a home game in the previous incarnation of the Trophy against Huddersfield Town, the profit that the club made was £1,434 – not a great deal of money. Looking at the guaranteed income by participating in the regional format, we estimated - which proved to be pretty much correct – that we would have an income of £30,000.
"If we go into a format where there is no sponsorship, therefore the prize money we can get from the tournament is not guaranteed, is a lot less and we can physically lose money, as a fan what would you rather have on principle? We play a game and lose money, or at the end of the season we have another £30,000 or so to give to Russell to go towards the playing budget?"