Shrewsbury Town want Checkatrade Trophy in original format
Shrewsbury Town have voted in favour of reverting the Checkatrade Trophy to its former guise.
The competition underwent a facelift last summer from its previous Johnstone’s Paint Trophy make-up – where regional knockout fixtures were played en route to a Wembley final.
And the Greenhous Meadow club have submitted their vote to return the competition to that format.
The 2016/17 competition has been widely slated and poorly-received by supporters across the country, who barely attended games.
Shrewsbury were drawn in a regionalised group alongside Middlesbrough’s under-23s, Scunthorpe and Cambridge.
Another addition to the competition last summer was the involvement of academy sides, with various Premier League and Championship under-23 teams included in the draw.
The English Football League released four options for their clubs to decide between – to stick with the current format, to change to a 48-team straight knockout basis, a 48-team group stage and then knockout or to abandon the competition.
Town chief executive Brian Caldwell explained how he thought the club had been hard done by last year’s format and that he believed the competition had been poorly marketed.
“We put our vote in on Monday and we’ve voted to go back to the 48 teams and remain as it was in the previous competition,” Caldwell said.
“We’ve voted for what was the status quo in going back to the original 48.
“We were obviously hit quite hard last year with going to Middlesbrough in midweek, and Scunthorpe too, for a regionalised competition.
“I think the way it was handled last year wasn’t great, I don’t think it was PR’d properly, I think people were confused with the home grown solution and with the academy teams – with the top ones then pulling out.
“Our belief is that we should go back to where the Checkatrade is League One and League Two clubs only.”
It’s not yet known what the overall result of the vote is.
