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Clubs see lowest ever attendances in latest round of EFL Trophy matches

Numerous clubs returned to EFL Trophy action this week, and some see their lowest ever attendances in the latest round of matches.

Back in 2016, the controversial decision was made to trial having Premier League B Teams take part in the EFL Trophy… only for that to be met with record-low crowds as fans voted with their feet against the revamped competition.

Since then, Premier League and Championship clubs have continued to entered Under-23 teams, and this prompted supporters of League One and Two sides to boycott, so much so that some crowd numbers are below 1,000, going to show what fans really think of what the compeittion has become these days.

The changes, which the EFL say is to blood homegrown youngsters and improve the England team, have been met with many furious lower league fans.

League One and Two clubs are required to play a certain number of ‘first-team’ regulars – a rule which was previously flouted by managers including Luton boss Nathan Jones when his team had ot take part.

The Hatters chief made 11 changes to face West Brom under-23s a few years back and said that he would pick up any fine himself.

Jones said: “If anyone wants to fine us for that group of youngsters, I’ll pay the fine myself, because it would be an absolute disgrace.”

Back then, a most probably today, third and fourth-tier clubs must have in their starting lineup their five highest appearance-makers , five players who played the preceding fixture or five who play in the next league match.

While the EFL Trophy is still regionalised, in it’s previous format, it used to be a straight knock out rather than a group stage (with a penalty shootout for an extra point if the game is a draw), and of course it was more exciting, and numbers in attendance looked much healthier compared to what we’re seeing these days.

Still, fans continue to boycott, so here in how the numbers looked for the first set of results played out…

930 – Accrington Stanley (1) 2-2 (0) Barrow (5-4 pens)
2,926 – Bolton Wanderers (1) 3-2 (2) Port Vale
1,739 – Bradford City (0) 0-3 (2) Lincoln City
889 – Bristol Rovers (0) 2-0 (0) Cheltenham Town
690 – Burton Albion (0) 1-2 (0) Milton Keynes Dons
1,390 – Cambridge United (2) 4-1 (0) Oxford United
1,360 – Carlisle United (1) 3-3 (1) Hartlepool United (5-3 pens)
1,404 – Charlton Athletic (3) 6-1 (0) Crawley Town
1,669 – Exeter City (0) 1–1 (1) Chelsea U21 (3-4 pens)
566 – Fleetwood Town (2) 4–1 (0) Leicester City U21
892 – Forest Green Rovers (1) 1-1 (0) Northampton Town (2-4 pens)
825 – Harrogate Town (1) 3-1 (0) Mansfield Town
3,510 – Lincoln City (2) 3–2 (0) Manchester United U21
1,032 – Newport County (0) 2-0 (0) Plymouth Argyle
1,915 – Oldham Athletic (1) 1-0 (0) Salford City
860 – Scunthorpe United (0) 0–3 (2) Manchester City U21
1,680 – Shrewsbury Town (0) 0-1 (0) Crewe Alexandra
6,593 – Sheffield Wednesday (1) 3–0 (0) Newcastle United U21
TBC – Stevenage (1) 3–4 (2) Tottenham Hotspur U21
1,504 – Sutton United (1) 3–0 (0) Crystal Palace U21
1,240 – Wigan Athletic (0) 0–0 (0) Wolves U21 (2-4 pens)
1,409 – Wycombe Wanderers (1) 1–3 (1) Aston Villa U21

So of the confirmed numbers from the EFL Trophy matches played out so far, that is a total of seven matches of of 22 to have under 1,000 fans in attendance.

The lowest attendance in the history of the competition came during the 2018–19 season when just 202 attended a Middlesbrough academy team’s 1–0 victory against Burton Albion in November 2018 at Burton’s Pirelli Stadium.

The low attendance can be attributed to a widespread boycott of the tournament by fans of the third and fourth tier clubs as a result of the competition format changes implemented in 2016–17.

2016/17 SEASON

Largest Attendance – 74,434 – Coventry City 2 – 1 Oxford United (Final) – Sun, 2 Apr –
Lowest Attendance – 274 – West Brom U23 0 – 2 Gillingham – Tue, 8 Nov
Average Attendance – 1,980
Aggregated Attendance – 251,488

2017/18 SEASON

Largest Attendance – 41,261 – Lincoln City 1 – 0 Shrewsbury Town (Final) – Sun, 8 Apr
Lowest Attendance – 248 – Grimsby Town 1 – 1 Sunderland U21 – Wed, 8 Nov
Average Attendance – 1,842
Aggregated Attendance – 234,032

2018/19

Largest Attendance – 85,021 – Portsmouth 2 – 2 Sunderland – Sun, 31 Mar
Lowest Attendance – 202 – Burton Albion 0 – 1 Middlesbrough U21 – Wed, 7 Nov
Average Attendance – 2,430
Aggregated Attendance – 308,713

2019/20

Largest Attendance – 14,735 – Portsmouth 3 – 2 Exeter City – Tue, 18 Feb
Lowest Attendance – 292 – Brighton & Hove Albion U21 0 – 0 Newport County – Tue, 3 Dec
Average Attendance – 1,630
Aggregated Attendance – 200,507

2020/21 (PARTLY WITHOUT FANS)

Largest Attendance – 1,036 – Oxford United 1 – 1 Forest Green Rovers – Tue, 8 Dec
Lowest Attendance – 714 – Exeter City 1 – 2 Northampton Town – Tue, 8 Dec
Average Attendance – 852
Aggregated Attendance – 4,260

As mentioned, clubs see lowest ever attendances in latest round of EFL Trophy matches, some voicing about the numbers of spectators…

@ShoemakersNTFC: 892 too many. But at least there will be 3+ times that there, a week on Saturday #BTeamBoycott

@ChloeAmber87: Disappointing to see so many people attending tonight’s #CUFC EFL Trophy match 😓 #BTeamBoycott

@ACarpenDigital: Noting the very low attendances this evening show the #BTeamBoycott from *ages ago* is still going

@WycombeComanche: I’ll say it again #BTeamBoycott

@joelvoysey: Long past time to change this joke competition back to the excellent one it was before the B-teams were admitted.

@YTKaen: I’ve got nowt on this evening. Think I might paint a wall to watch it dry, would do me better than watching tonight’s match. #BTeamBoycott

@KivoLee: @swfc having to play someone else’s youth team in a competitive fixture – has to rank as one of the lowest moments in our history. What an absolute farce. #BTeamBoycott

@Tom_Hancock_: It may be a fiver and a good way to introduce your kids to Wycombe, but there are better ways. Support for this competition is support for B teams – and if they eventually end up in the pyramid itself, you can’t say you weren’t warned. This is not a real game. #BTeamBoycott

@JJsLeftFoot: B teams… Tickets down to £1 even for young adults… Sponsored by a pizza company still carrying the name of its founder who had to resign after using the N-word on a conference call… What has this competition become? #BTeamBoycott

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