The common consensus amongst EFL supporters is that the Vertu Trophy is a complete waste of time and money, despite being arguably the only shot at a trip to Wembley these supporters will have, unless their team manages to qualify for the Playoff Final.
Regardless of already being deemed controversial, the EFL opted to revamp the competition in 2016, rebranding it to include sixteen Category One academy sides from across the Premier League and Championship, causing major boycotts and disgust from the diehard EFL supporters. These feelings towards the competition have slowly petered out, albeit with much lower-than-average attendances, with a majority of supporters being able to tolerate the games, but most opting to simply watch on Sky Sports Plus rather than waste their hard-earned cash on an Vertu Trophy fixture ticket.
It is widely regarded that attendances dip during this competition, albeit different for each side in the competition, with stadiums on average filled around a quarter of what they normally would expect any other matchday, in particular when the U21s are the opposition, aside from the occasional anomaly against an academy side of someone like Liverpool or Arsenal. Most clubs will close at least one stand for the Vertu Trophy, to save on stewarding and staffing costs, leading to atmospheres to seem reduced compared to League fixtures. So, despite the prize money and a trip to Wembley incentive, is it worth competing for?
The main debate over the introduction of academy sides, is how competitive do they really make the Vertu Trophy? Recently, three academy sides featured, being Wolves, Leeds and Fulham: by no means the biggest or most famous academies in England, but still solid. Fulham and Leeds were both comfortably beaten by Fleetwood Town and Wycombe Wanderers, whilst Wolves’ Under 21s picked up a narrow win over a depleted Wigan Athletic side, who fielded just six players registered to their first team.
This win for an academy side seems to be quite a shocking achievement for this year’s edition, as on the 30th of September, all four academy sides suffered defeats to League One and League Two sides, which was swiftly picked up by supporters on X (formerly known as Twitter) calling this trend out, revitalising this debate on social media. Overall, at the time of writing, just three academy sides have picked up wins, with West Ham beating MK Dons the main standout result, but when looking further, the likes of Callum Marshall, Freddie Potts, George Earthy (all with EFL and Prem experience) and surprisingly Lukasz Fabianski in the starting lineup.
Since the competition was reformed in 2016, a rule was enforced to ensure that sides fielded a somewhat competitive starting lineup, stating each club must start at least four qualifying outfield players who meet specific criteria, such as having made a certain number of first-team appearances or starting in the previous or following match.
With this rule, managers are forced to risk their favoured players in the starting lineup, in which they could pick up an injury and derail their tactics for upcoming fixtures, often causing a plethora of halt-time substitutions of these players. These additional fixtures can seriously clog up a player’s schedule, and unless your squad has the necessary depth for a full rotation, there is a high chance key players can cause preventable injury problems.
There are of course some strong arguments in favour of the competition, the most common of which being that it is a perfect opportunity for out of favour players to get the game time they have lacked during the League season, as well as an ideal opportunity for younger players taking their first steps into the professional game to have cameos on the pitch, and begin to make a name for themselves in the first team squad.
In the supporter’s context, another key positive of the Vertu Trophy is the reduced prices on match tickets, which benefits families or just general supporters who potentially are unable to afford to buy tickets to League fixtures on a regular basis, given the steep rise in prices since The COVID Lockdown in 2020. Furthermore, it is simply another occasion for supporters to watch their beloved team, especially amongst families and groups of friends who treat events like this as a social event.
From listening to plenty of pre-match interviews with managers, none seem too keen on the competition when describing it, with all the positive aspect usually the same few viewpoints that “it’s a good opportunity for out of favour players to star” or “it’s a good opportunity for silverware”, but even most managers struggle to get motivated for this competition, despite it quite literally being their job to care!
Vertu Trophy Matchday Experience + Supporters Views
So, I decided to head down to the JobServe Community Stadium (home of Colchester United, the team I support) to watch their Vertu Trophy fixture against their reasonably local opponents Gillingham, to really be able to gage what a Vertu Trophy matchday feels like in comparison to League fixtures. Although I am undoubtably slightly biased, I have tried to look at the general experience from a neutral’s viewpoint.
Feeling optimistic that a solid evening of football was ahead, my expectations were swiftly crushed, as usually packed fan zone filled with supporters drinking a few beers in front of a large TV screen displaying Sky TV was pretty much deserted, aside from the odd person. Queues at the bars outside the ground were pretty much non-existent too, as the pre-match buzz you feel at every football stadium was severely lacking on this occasion.
The usually popular away coach arrival, which on average I’d say has fifty supporters watching, had just five people other than me having a look, who seemingly knew a couple of The Gills players quite well. In contrast from the doom and gloom attitude I’ve had so far, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere, with the usual drummer and louder supporters creating some noise in parts.
According to Fotmob, there were just 132 away fans compared to previous meetings, which saw 884, 998, 1,203 supporters make the short trip over the Dartford Crossing, and I respect every single one of them for making that journey for a midweek cup game, that in the bigger picture is a pretty pointless fixture.
I’d opted to sit in the South Stand, as I believed I could better feel the general vibe of supporters, as this is where most of the what you’d describe as “hardcore” supporters choose to sit. My usual seats in the West Stand were filled with unfamiliar faces, none of which are the usual folks that sit around you that you eventually get to know and recognise, further alluding to the idea that this competition seems pointless to some.
Speaking to a few players before the game, the general consensus was that the more experienced players weren’t so keen, preferring to rest for more competitive matchdays, however the younger players found this competition valuable and were pleased for an increased chance of gaining some first team minutes, when they otherwise wouldn’t have. Might just be me, but from the looks on some of the players faces whilst warming up, they clearly didn’t want to be there!
There were also clear varieties in viewpoints amongst supporters I chatted too as well. One particular individual stood out, as they said that they enjoyed these Vertu Trophy fixtures, as their autistic son can enjoy the football without the usual groups of people shouting, creating a more relaxing environment for him without getting overstimulated by the ruckus. A complete switch comes when I asked a few recognisable faces from away trips their opinions on the competition, most simply answering that they aren’t a big fan, but simply enjoy the opportunity to watch their team during the workweek.
One and a half stands were completely close off for the game, which I had experienced plenty of times prior to this fixture. I’ve personally only been to two Vertu Trophy fixtures before, one of which was Ipswich Vs Northampton in August 2022 with a couple of mates of mine, during a period in which their fanbase saw rapid growth alongside the performances on the pitch.
Even that barely scraped above 5,000 supporters, with every upper tier (aside from the away end) being closed for the night, as well as a much lower away attendance than expected, with around 200 supporters making the two hour trip, way less than expected, given it is likely a new ground visit for most.
The game itself was actually quite decent, an exciting late comeback from the U’s resulted in a two-one victory over The Gills, causing jubilation in the home end as they picked up their first back-to-back wins since April (although I do have to say the full-time fist pumps were a bit unnecessary). In terms of quality on the pitch, both sides were set to start nine players that you’d describe as “first-teamers” (Gillingham’s total went down to eight after Seb Palmer-Houlden pulled out during the warmup, being replaced by 18-year-old Cruz Beszant), with Gillingham’s bench being miles more inexperienced than Colchester’s, who’s bench was filled with starters from Saturday.
My ticket for the game cost £12 pounds, thirteen pounds less than an average ticket price from the South Stand, with an additional £7 fee for parking. Fortunately, I had eaten prior to arriving, so I wasn’t tempted by the £8 Rollover hotdogs (an absolute bloody rip off if you ask me) or the Pukka Pies on offer. Totalling to £19, not including petrol for an evening of football, not awful. In comparison to other sides in the competition, I’d say these prices are pretty reasonable.
Overall, I’d have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the evening of football, despite the remarkably lower than average attendance. Although I am not the biggest fan of football teams having clogged schedules, increasing the risk of injuries, I can understand why the EFL runs this competition every year. On the topic of academy sides being included, I would say I’m slightly against it, I would personally prefer it to just include EFL sides, but logistically now, it will be hard to change, as these Premier League sides academies invest most of the cash into the tournament.
