Solving the Fixture Crisis: Our Solution

My solution goes along these lines: we start by merging the League Cup and the Leasing.com Trophy. few would argue that lower league fixtures are too congested in the early part of the season, whilst the League Cup is one of the problems facing senior Premier League sides later in their season. By merging the two competitions, we’d cut down on the number of fixtures a senior side would have to play across all the divisions. Besides, the prize money from the League Cup is a meagre amount for the likes of us, even though we did get our plum draw against Everton. Last season we had Port Vale, drew Blackburn away in round two and came out of it probably worse off than when we went into it. Get it gone and, to some degree, the Under 21 situation in the EFL Trophy as well.

I’m not averse to playing young development sides, but I do see how naming them as such devalues our efforts in the Leasing.com Trophy. However, I am a firm believer in giving sides in League One and League Two a chance to compete at Wembley and I feel incredibly strongly that it needs to still be an offer each season. Also, the prize money makes a huge difference even in the early stages and that to is a big bonus for clubs.

My proposal is to merge the two into the following format: all 92 clubs are drawn regionally into groups of four teams (23 groups in total). Each group would boast one side with a Category 1 academy; there are 24 across the country. The rules would state that each of the seeds boasting a Category 1 academy have to play a minimum of eight players who have either emerged from the academy or are still in it; the other players they would be free to choose from. that could be senior players returning from injury, other youngsters plucked from elsewhere and the like. There are a further 21 clubs with category 2 academies, which means they have an Under 23 side. Those teams would be asked to play at least eight of their Under 23 squad, with the rest being made up of their current squad. The remaining teams, by my reckoning 47 clubs once we’re back up to 92, would be asked to play whichever squad they liked, as per the current Leasing.com games.

Matches would start before the season begins, taking the date of the last pre-season friendly, with two additional games coming before FA Cup first round weekend in November. No clubs would be labelled as ‘Under 21’ teams, instead all teams would be called their proper names: Arsenal, Manchester United, Burton Albion, etc. Now, you must remember that the purpose of that competition is to give top flight youngsters senior football, but it gives us a chance to blood players as well. Therefore, those principles must remain. If you’re a League Two club with a player on loan in the National League, he is eligible to play for you. If you are a Championship club with a player on loan in the Football League, he must remain with his loan club.

Usually, there are a further four matches to be played after the group stage of the EFL Trophy before the final, which we’d be aiming for here for the league clubs. From the 24 groups, 16 League One or League Two sides qualify and 12 Category 1 or 2 Academy teams qualify. Yes, it might mean you top your group but haven’t done enough to qualify. Tough. The focus here is on winning games and winning them big, like Newport and West Ham. There won’t be penalties at the end of matches, draws count as draws and that is that. The 28 teams are then split into groups of four for EFL sides and three for academy sides, paired as Group 1 (Academy) and Group 1 (EFL), Group 2 (Academy) and so one.

Here’s where we go a bit NFL – Group 1 Academy play all of Group 1 EFL and so on, so eventually you’ve played three games in your league (for EFL sides at least), but crucially all against a contrasting side. This gives the academies maximum exposure to the senior teams which keeps them happy. At the end of the group stages, the top teams from each qualify and you then split and play an all-academy semi-final and an all-EFL semi-final to get your final teams. Then, in April, the final of both are played on the same day at Wembley. The academy final is first, the trophy is awarded and the other final comes afterwards giving EFL clubs a route to Wembley.

It sounds complicated and I’m sure there might be finer details that could be honed around the group stages, but it keeps the prize money for lower league clubs, it keeps their route to Wembley, it stops the League Cup fixtures for bigger clubs and eases their fixture congestion too. Plus, final day would surely be brilliant too, filling Wembley whereas normally there are plenty of empty seats.

A typical route to the final might be this: Lincoln draw Leicester, Scunthorpe and Grimsby in the first group stage and win all three games, securing the second group stage. We are then drawn with Crewe, Bolton and Rotherham, paired with Arsenal, Derby and Swansea academies. We play all three once as do Bolton, Crewe and Rotherham. That’s just three games for us, no extra fixtures, but the academies get more football. Let’s say we win all our games, as do Rotherham, but Crewe and Bolton win two and draw one. That’s us and Crewe top of the group, with goals for and against counting. If teams are still tied, fewer bookings would see you progress. We get through and waiting for us are Bradford City in the semi-final, before meeting Shrewsbury in the final on the same day Chelsea play Middlesbrough, still bound by the ‘eight academy’ players rule.

It sounds complicated but I really don’t think it would be in practice and it would satisfy all parties, surely? We might see a few bigger names if we drew Swansea or someone like that, even Liverpool might field a player returning from injury. I suppose a couple of the second stage matches could be played away too, maybe not. I don’t know, I don’t have all the answers, only a suggestion.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.