PENN PENS IT
WE MUST PROMOTE THE CUP!
NLP columnist and Kidderminster midfielder Russ Penn gives his take on the current talking points
THE FA Trophy is set for a fantastic finale. Whatever happens in the semi-finals we will be blessed with a top-notch final with all four teams capable of bringing big numbers to Wembley on Sunday, May 19. It’s rolled out as one of football’s oldest clichés, but walking out at Wembley remains a dream of pretty much any English footballer. Despite league duties taking the priorities of so many clubs, a visit to play under the Arch is definitely on nearly every player’s bucket list. We all want to tick that one off! Finals Day itself has been one of the great innovations in recent years by The FA. Four teams; two games; one ticket. Since it was introduced in 2016 the numbers have been impressive and last year, the sight of nearly 20,000 Bromley fans jammed into the West Stand at Wembley was one to behold. With that, Finals Day was achieving the objective it set out to do: twenty thousand Bromley fans cheering them on at Wembley with the hope that just a small fraction of that number would catch the bug to support them for life. But the road to Finals Day hasn’t been so smooth. Last week’s quarterfinal attendances were pretty poor, as have been many of the attendances in the earlier rounds of the competition. We know Leyton Orient have their eyes fixed on the National League title, and the Trophy is a competition that hardly resonates with their fan base, but still, to see only 1,563 through the gate for a clash between arguably the best supported club in Non-League and the reigning champions was a real disappointment. Elsewhere, Stockport County – playing a club from a higher division – drew in 2,585 for their game against Maidstone United. Not bad on paper, but just a week earlier 4,708 had seen them beat AFC Telford in the National North. Solihull Moors’ gate of 1,577 was also down week-on-week despite facing Telford in what promised to be fiery local derby (and it certainly lived up to its billing), while the biggest drop came at AFC Fylde, who saw off Barnet in front of a paltry 795. There are so many theories for what has to be done to improve the numbers, and I admit, the money on offer hardly makes it appealing, with just £60,000 pocketed for the winners. But The FA can’t just keep beefing up the pot. Instead, more needs to be done by the clubs themselves. Are they incentivising these games enough to draw in the fans who follow them week-in, week-out in the league, while also looking to bring in new faces?
I’m thinking kids going for free, half-price tickets or promotions via the regional press. I don’t see enough of this. What do clubs want? Do they want to take this competition seriously? A competition that gives many players and fans the easiest route to reaching the hallowed turf of Wembley, or do they want to look for excuses and for the FA to come up with the solution?