JUST WHO BENEFITS IN MESS OF A CUP?

THE EFL Trophy is an embarrassment - a competition for Football League clubs that is actually working against them. You’ve got Premier League Under-23 sides coming down and playing as many youngsters as they want. Yet kids from League One and Two sides are being denied chances, due to a ludicrous rule that forces managers to field at least five firstteamers. As a result, my old teammate Nathan Jones will be fined for playing too many young players against West Brom, despite winning the game 2-0. That wasn’t the only ridiculous situation either. You had Bradford keeper Colin Doyle being subbed after three minutes and Paul Tisdale putting himself on the bench for Exeter. We all know why Premier League sides were parachuted into our tournament. The FA see England doing badly in tournaments and think ‘Oh, youngsters aren’t getting an opportunity, let’s put them in the EFL Trophy and make sure they play against experienced pros’. There’s no thought process behind it. It’s just bowing to big clubs, who buy every single foreigner going, pay them ridiculous amounts of money and leave their kids to rot away in the reserves. Fine. But first and foremost, it is the FOOTBALL LEAGUE Trophy. Our clubs and our players should always come first. Why should Nathan’s prospects be denied an opportunity? Why should managers be forced to play first-teamers who need a rest? Why, given the objective of bringing through young English players, do we have a situation where Tony Andreu, 28, Frenchman, scores a hat-trick for Norwich? If they really wanted to shake up the competition, the EFL should have allowed the top eight teams in the National League to enter. I guarantee more fans would turn up to watch Forest Green than a Premier League youth team. Instead, you’ve got a complete farce that nobody wants to watch.