Leeds Kids (Pizza Cup)

[desperado]

20 minutes ago, TM Trotter said:

I have a lot of Coventry City-supporting friends. They won the first EFL Cup featuring the u21s in the competition, and I remember taking the piss out of their ticker tape and open top bus parade heartily. "How small time", I recall thinking. 

Now, while I detest everything about the Prem reserve involvement, happily, they're not actually much more than first round fillers, and I think I'd celebrate a Pizza Cup win at Wembley like I would a play-off final. I started watching around 99-00. Sure, while I was of course spoiled with PL days, it still irks me that we haven't "won" anything in that time. 

Just no open-top bus down Chorley New Rd please...

Pretty much my opinion too. If nothing else for our kids. They’ve been through hell, seen us win nothing, had no trips to Wembley. I hope and pray it wouldn’t be against an u21 side, but you old curmudgeonly lot wouldn’t dampen their spirits with a Wembley visit would you?  

[Biggish Dave]

I’ve no real interest in the cup but would turn out probably from Northern area semi final onwards and be a JCL

This trophy might just give us the funds to finish the job of improving the team to gain promotion

[radcliffe white]

1 hour ago, Biggish Dave said:

I’ve no real interest in the cup but would turn out probably from Northern area semi final onwards and be a JCL

This trophy might just give us the funds to finish the job of improving the team to gain promotion

I don’t think there’s much money in it mate tbh

just looked more than I thought roughly 260k in prize money if you go on and win 

Edited October 19, 2022 by radcliffe white

[Nowack]

The Sherpa Van Trophy final against Torquay was one of the best days out I have ever had. Just watch the Dave Higson intro on the roadrunner video to see how much it meant. 

[Cheese]

 

[Cheese]

 

 

[MickyD]

I don’t actually get how Prem U21 teams get the invite but Championship teams (actually under the control of EFL, unlike Premier League, I think). Why not have the EFL run Championship clubs put out their U21 teams? Or maybe it’s all about ticket sales. Not that hosting Leeds’ U21 made a difference to whether I attended or not.

[Cheese]

10 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

Except they can't play at home.

Presumably if 2 got through to a regional final then they'd have to?

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

2 hours ago, radcliffe white said:

I don’t think there’s much money in it mate tbh

just looked more than I thought roughly 260k in prize money if you go on and win 

Not exactly a fortune though.

Wonder how much we lose on a home game in this competition?

It's an absolute bag of bollocks for me.

I've said before and still remain of the same view- I don't go to the games and wouldn't go to a final neither.

[Dr. Feelgood]

2 hours ago, Nowack said:

The Sherpa Van Trophy final against Torquay was one of the best days out I have ever had. Just watch the Dave Higson intro on the roadrunner video to see how much it meant. 

Exactly. 

I was 30, had seen little more than us slide down the leagues and was convinced that any top level stuff was no more than a pipe-dream.

So getting to Wembley & actually winning something was something wonderful and the very most I could hope for. Loved that day, despite our Benny Hill Tours coach breaking down a mile after Sandbach Services. 

Maybe not a major thing but I'd seen my team win a trophy at Wembley.

[Farnywhite]

Think the difference was back in the Sherpa van days you didn’t get the chance to go to Wembley and that was the draw for going I had never been unless you got to the Fa cup final and the league cup final which was taken more seriously by top clubs .

Now fa cup semi finals play off finals are all there the draw isn’t there anymore . Back then we hadn’t been since 58 so people were excited 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Farnywhite

[radcliffe white]

41 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Not exactly a fortune though.

Wonder how much we lose on a home game in this competition?

It's an absolute bag of bollocks for me.

I've said before and still remain of the same view- I don't go to the games and wouldn't go to a final neither.

Even a semi final wouldn’t attract a decent ish crowd, like I mentioned yesterday the turn out for previous finals are crazy, Portsmouth & Sunderland 85k wtf.

we wouldn’t sell 20k unless our league form fizzled out and folk jumped on 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

1 minute ago, radcliffe white said:

Even a semi final wouldn’t attract a decent ish crowd, like I mentioned yesterday the turn out for previous finals are crazy, Portsmouth & Sunderland 85k wtf.

we wouldn’t sell 20k unless our league form fizzled out and folk jumped on 

In part, our relatively recent trips to Wembley/Cardiff have given us a taste of the bigger things.

Obviously Pompy had a cup final a little while back, but generally those two have been starved of lime light in comparison. 

Perhaps it's in part my age too- just feel the whole competition is dull, made worse by the u21s, and not worth turning out for.

[gonzo]

A founder member of the football league steeped in history should not be reduced to playing other clubs under 23s in a competitive fixture.

Simple as that.

 

[desperado]

I can only assume you don’t have kids - or at least kids who follow us avidly.

I can’t work out whether folk are just pedalling a selfish perspective - which is fine, you are just telling us your view.

Or you don’t think this generation (aged birth to 18) would be interested* or deserve a trip to Wembley. They’ve never been watching us there and they don’t give a shit about semi-finals and footballing politics. Just like I did and many others have said too, Torquay is up there as one of top memories and is viewed as a starting point of our renaissance.

Why couldn’t this be the same for the next gen?

*Ive said before I hope and pray it’s not an u21 team if we were to get there

[DirtySanchez]

2 hours ago, MickyD said:

I don’t actually get how Prem U21 teams get the invite but Championship teams (actually under the control of EFL, unlike Premier League, I think). Why not have the EFL run Championship clubs put out their U21 teams? Or maybe it’s all about ticket sales. Not that hosting Leeds’ U21 made a difference to whether I attended or not.

Seem to recall when the u21s were first introduced, there were some from the championship

Think it was because a few prem teams weren't interested but they needed to make up the numbers 

[bolton in bedford]

I think the prem teams got invited as a way to deter thought moving from B teams coming into the league.

For me it’s FA snobbery who want the big teams to get better and see it as younger players getting an opportunity to compete with established teams thus progressing more quickly into the first team so willing to ruin an established competition which is the small clubs chance of getting to Wembley.
 

It’s not worked out the FA hoped as the under 21 teams are not at a level they thought.  It would be interesting to see where the u21 players who played in the competition 5 years ago are now, whether they have filtered down to non-league, lower leagues or made it.

 

The only player who stood out for me so far was that lad at Newcastle.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

15 minutes ago, desperado said:

I can only assume you don’t have kids - or at least kids who follow us avidly.

I can’t work out whether folk are just pedalling a selfish perspective - which is fine, you are just telling us your view.

Or you don’t think this generation (aged birth to 18) would be interested* or deserve a trip to Wembley. They’ve never been watching us there and they don’t give a shit about semi-finals and footballing politics. Just like I did and many others have said too, Torquay is up there as one of top memories and is viewed as a starting point of our renaissance.

Why couldn’t this be the same for the next gen?

*Ive said before I hope and pray it’s not an u21 team if we were to get there

Looking at attendances, it doesn't seem many kids are up for it neither.

If the final was reached no doubt many would go, but your final sentence says it all.

It's a total bag of wank, culminating in another massively overpriced rip off of a final, with the possibility of plenty of the players being kids themselves. 

Utter dog muck.

[DazBob]

I was at Wembley in 1989 as a very excited 13 yr old ... and it's still one of my favourite ever days watching Bolton.  I was there for the parade round town and I even went to the full match replay they showed in one of the function rooms at Burnden.  It felt special, I'd seen my team win a cup at Wembley.  Plenty of football fans up and down the country will never be able to say that.

Now, maybe being a little overly nostalgic here, but cups were also a lot more special in those days.  Every club in the land went all out to win every competition they entered.  Silverware was important. A club in the PL now would rather than finish 4 or 5 places higher in the league than win the League Cup due to the financial reward.  There was no '4th place trophy' like there is now.  Football was about winning stuff.

You now have 3rd and 4th tier teams resting players in cup competitions FFS.  Cups have lost a lot of their magic and this was started from the top down with the inception of the Premier League and the Champions League, ultimately because football is now all about the money.  Not to all of us fans mind, but we're way down on the list of clubs' priorities.

[Whitestar]

I thought the first one we got to v Bristol City was a great weekend, we got a bad result but the day was bouncing and great banter with the Brizzle lads.

Top night out on the Friday too in Harlow.

[tomski]

I also went to Wembley in 89 but this cup is tainted and shite nowadays. 
 

Im almost a bit annoyed we’ve qualified. Don’t fancy it at all.

[MickyD]

1 hour ago, bolton in bedford said:

The only player who stood out for me so far was that lad at Newcastle.

A player who stood out so far you can’t recall his name? 🤣

[Duck Egg]

I got a valentine card in 1984 from the lass I was going with at the time and she wrote in it

'58 was the last time that Bolton got to Wembley

So why can't you stay home instead and make me feel all trembly?'

We'd long split up by 1989 but I was tempted to find her and tell her about the Bristol and Torquay games.  Shows what she feckin knew! 

[Mantra]

Speaking after the game, Evatt admitted it was something he could now consider.

“I think his goalscoring record for us is excellent,” he said. “Kieran (sadlier) is one of those that the system doesn't really suit, in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, he’s a natural wide player, but he keeps telling me he can play as a nine. I’ve seen him play as a nine for Doncaster and he did okay there.

 

“He wants to throw his hat in the ring in those positions. He’s clinical when he gets chances, there’s no doubt about that. His goalscoring record speaks for itself and it was a good finish tonight.”

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, DazBob said:

I was at Wembley in 1989 as a very excited 13 yr old ... and it's still one of my favourite ever days watching Bolton.  I was there for the parade round town and I even went to the full match replay they showed in one of the function rooms at Burnden.  It felt special, I'd seen my team win a cup at Wembley.  Plenty of football fans up and down the country will never be able to say that.

Now, maybe being a little overly nostalgic here, but cups were also a lot more special in those days.  Every club in the land went all out to win every competition they entered.  Silverware was important. A club in the PL now would rather than finish 4 or 5 places higher in the league than win the League Cup due to the financial reward.  There was no '4th place trophy' like there is now.  Football was about winning stuff.

You now have 3rd and 4th tier teams resting players in cup competitions FFS.  Cups have lost a lot of their magic and this was started from the top down with the inception of the Premier League and the Champions League, ultimately because football is now all about the money.  Not to all of us fans mind, but we're way down on the list of clubs' priorities.

Agree with every word, I was about to post something about cups generally being less important, so the comparison with our attitude in the 80s to now has to be taken in context, fans don't care about any cups like they used to not just this one.  

Regarding the argument that "its a day out at Wembley", I do get that, but surely the final isn't the whole purpose of a competition that lasts about 7 months?  200 clubs or whatever don't enter the FA Cup because they might be in the final in May.  Its got to be about the journey too hasn't it?  Some of our famous FA Cup (and League Cup) wins in our lifetimes were nowhere near getting to the final.  Yet this competition has dozens of teams playing matches regularly that make no memories whatsoever, played largely by squad players not expected to start the next league game. 

All for what?  So that 2 teams can have a bit of payday/day out in May.  For the rest - a waste of time in an already crowded fixture list.  (That's just my opinion, I've no problem with the opposite view, my neighbours enjoyed the game last night, I chose to do something different but each to their own).