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Football League Trophy

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The Football League Trophy is the generic name of an English football competition for clubs in the two lower divisions of the Football League, whose official name is frequently changed to match changes in sponsors: accordingly, it was most recently known as the LDV Vans Trophy, and for three years from 2006 will be the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. It is frequently referred to as the Associate Members' Cup, although that name is now an anachronism as there is no longer a distinction between full and associate membership of the Football League. It was also known for a while as Freight Rover Trophy.

Seven clubs share the record for most wins in the competition with two successes apiece, but no club has yet won the tournament for a third time. Carlisle United have reached the greatest number of finals, winning once in 1997 but losing three times in 1995, 2003 and 2006.

The Trophy is currently contested by all Football League One and Football League Two clubs and a number of invited teams from the Nationwide Conference, and is played in a knockout (single elimination) format in North and South regional sections. The sectional winners play each other in the final, which is traditionally held at Wembley, although the final was played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, from 2001 to 2006 due to redevelopment at Wembley. The 'Conference' sides that take part in the competition are normally the teams who finished in the top 8, if not - the best (top) eight whose grounds meet the criteria of the Football League in terms of crowd/ground safety.

The competition for Third and Fourth (as they were before 1992) Division clubs dates back to the 1983/4 season. Prior to that there had been a couple of different attempts to fill the gap in the calendar left by the collapse of the Texaco Cup/Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1981. The 1982/1983 seasons saw two of these "filler" finals taking place during the transition, the competition was known as the Football League Group Trophy. These saw Grimsby Town beating Wimbledon (1982) at Blundell Park and Millwall beating Lincoln City at Sincil Bank (1983).

Various attempts have been made to solve the problem of reducing the 48 lower-division clubs to a round power of two (which is required for a knockout tournament): often the first round of the cup was played in round-robin groups of three; at other times the more senior clubs have been given byes into the second round. The addition of 8 or 12 (rather than 16) teams from the Conference has not solved this problem. Currently two League teams get byes in each regional section.

The competition is not considered a priority, with many clubs opting to field below-strength teams, particularly in the earlier rounds. Supporters, too, apparently consider the tournament something of a joke, with crowds usually falling well below the level considered acceptable (or, indeed, commercially viable) for senior football. For example, in November 2005, Peterborough United (with an average crowd of approximately 4,500) attracted just 969 people to their game against Swindon Town, whilst Swansea City (with an average gate of some 15,000) saw a mere 5,321 people attend their tie with Rushden and Diamonds.

The current holders of the Football League Trophy are Swansea City, who beat Carlisle United 2-1 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on 2 April 2006. Swansea took an early lead when Lee Trundle scored after three minutes but Adam Murray equalised for Carlisle shortly before half-time. Adebayo Akinfenwa's goal, nine minutes from time, secured the trophy for Swansea City.

The tournament was widely considered to have descended into disrepute and even farce when it was announced in March 2006 that, following a change of corporate ownership, LDV was withdrawing its sponsorship of the competition ([1]), meaning that no prize money would be paid to the winners of the 2006 final. It was noted, however, that LDV's website continued to trumpet the firm's sponsorship arrangement until May 2006. The final was held under the banner of simply the Football League Trophy, and it was announced that a new sponsor would be sought. In May the League announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Johnstone's Paint.

Contents

Names

See also

External links

Past Finals

The Associate Members Cup The Freight Rover Trophy Sherpa Vans Trophy Leyland DAF Cup Autoglass Trophy Autowindscreens Shield LDV Vans Trophy Football League Trophy

 

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