More of the same, please

BILLY Mckay celebrates his goal against Fleetwood in the Checkatrade Trophy

ATHLETIC hope to scoop more prize money in the Checkatrade Trophy next season, after voting to retain the current format of the controversial competition.

After an EFL meeting last month in Walsall at which its future was discussed, clubs in Sky Bet League One and Two had until today to notify the league of their preferred option.

The options on the table are to keep the 16 academy sides, to go back to the old 48-team set-up or to scrap the competition entirely.

But with prize money doubling from that of this season, the existing arrangement in terms of Category One academy sides being incorporated has been given the thumbs-up by Athletic.

GROUP

Clubs would pick up £20,000 for each group stage victory in such a competition - double what was on offer this season.

But there is no guarantee of such finding if the Trophy reverts to a 48-team format.

And in order to try to encourage more of the bigger clubs to become involved, such a competition involving top academy sides would incorporate extra flexibility on fixture dates.

"We did alright out of the competition this season," said Athletic's chief executive Mark Moisley.

"If the prize money was to double, then that could potentially be very useful income for the club.

"Because that extra money is not guaranteed in a different format, we voted to keep it the same.

"There is a proposal to have some flexibility on the fixtures dates and with the greatest respect to Blackburn, if that means we could play against Manchester City or Manchester United then that could be good for us."

This season, Athletic won two of their three group games in the competition against Fleetwood and Blackburn's under-21s - the latter via a penalty shoot-out - and also beat Walsall in the first knock-out round, before succumbing to Mansfield in the last 16 in what was Stephen Robinson's last game in charge.

INCREASED

That run earned Athletic a total of £35,000 in prize money.

Reaching the same stage in 2017-18, with an increased prize pool, could land Athletic as much as £90,000.

The EFL is set to announce the structure of next season's Checkatrade Trophy on Friday.