The magic of The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy

The second round of The Johnstone’s Paint gets underway this evening. I’m hoping that you understood the sarcasm behind the title to this latest blog.

As a player when these ties came around I always thought…..what is the point?

Now, as an ex-player and neutral observer my thought is ……..what is the point ?

Over the coursee of a long, tough season which is had in the lower leagues of English football the last thing that players, coaches, managers, club owners and fans really want is some glorified reserve match competition clogging up the midweeks.

From a player perspective I was always hopeful that the manager would see the benefit of resting some of his valued first team squad. This only worked I was a valued member of a squad, which was not always, that’s for sure !

Having said that, if I was on the fringes of the team then a game of this type could have been considered a benefit as it would have meant that I didnt play in the reserve team fixture that was penned in for the following evening.

From a managers perspective the last thing they need is to have injuries inflicted to members of the first team that were due to play on the coming Saturday.

From a coaches point of view it loses an opportunity of a ‘free’ week where you can perhaps work on a few things in training in preperation for the weekend.

From a club owners point of view they can look forward to making a potential loss. The the costs of opening the stadium compared to the size of the crowds attracted to this competition in the early rounds and paying player bonuses would suggest that a small loss is more than possible.

And do the fans really get passionate about another match that they need to fork out on ?

Those in favour of this competition would point to the Wembley day out for those 2 teams who reach the final, and yes, for those who experience it will have a great day. The clubs also make a few quid once the final is over.

But weighing all things up I say ditch this trophy and put all of our efforts into the big league match on the Saturday