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[Guest]

Following on from last seasons' 'Fans Forum' articles in the matchday programme, this shall be revived (under a new name) for the next programme (v Folkestone Invicta). Instead of having a 'panel' this time I shall post the question on here and take your answers. Ideally looking for a paragraph from at least 10 of you. The question is: In light of the poor attendances in the Westview League Cup (Just 22 attended Croydon Athletic v Sittingbourne) what can be done to improve it's image/format to make it more attractive to the public? Look forward to your responses, if you could leave your full name aswell. Cheers, Glen.

[Windsor_Sec]

Although I can't add my comments in your programme I will comment about league cup competitions in general.

It's the same with the Coca Cola Cup and every league cup downwards, it's just another competition that no one is really interested in unless you reach the latter stages. Who in their right mind would want to go to Croydon [no disrespect to Athletic] on a wet Tuesday night when there's Champions League football on the TV particularly four days before the 1st Qualifying Round in the FA Cup when winning teams stand to win £2,250?

The advent of televised football virtually seven days a week has destroyed non-league football crowds and particularly for midweek games. Not so long ago the choice on a Tuesday was to go and watch your local professional side, go and watch your local non-league side or stay in and watch Eastenders/Coronation St/et al. Now you get in from work, the dark nights are drawing in, the weather is getting worse and the choice is go and watch a or b above or stay in the warmth and comfort of your own home with a beer or two and watch football on the TV!

The only way you will ever make midweek games of any description more attractive is when there is nothing else to watch. In my view the only football that should be on telly is something like Match of the Day [ie highlights only] and International games, if you want to watch Man U in the Champions League buy a bloody ticket and go to Old Trafford and stop buggering up non-league football by enticing their crowds away!

[Guest]

Windsor Sec I'll include your response, it's not just for Slough fans to comment on! Cheers and leave your name. C'mon all you others out there, get writing!!!

[Martin]

I would agree (SHOCK) with Windsor Sec. It is a shame that supporters these days are so lilly livered that the prospect of watching the Champions League outweighs visiting the likes of Arlesey.

 

The problems with the Westview Cup are:

 

1) Lack of incentive to win it

2) Conflict with televised games

3) The Competition last for practically the whole season.

 

I would suggest playing games away from the traditional Tuesday nights and perhaps go for a Monday or Thursday when there are less clashes with televised games. I also think the competition should be reduced. Teams could be seeded on past performance or on league placing and say you have eight seeds who only come in for the last sixteen. The other teams have preliminary games to reach that stage.

[BFR]

In Croydon Athletic's case, in addition to Champions League football there was a Palace home game up the road too.

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

I think Sec pretty well summed it up for you. With the advent of sky! Only die hards will go to a non league game on a tuesday espeically something like the Westview Cup.

[GarySTFC]

Making sure that matches are scheduled when there are no high profile matches on Sky, which is difficult with the current Champions League format which entices the rich to get richer whilst everyone else suffers.

 

At our level, I think clubs would be more inclined to take more interest if there was prize money available, along with being able to offer lower prices of admission. I think clubs should also be able to include the League Cup matches within their season ticket packages.

[Guest]

Thanks to those who have replied so far, but I'll ideally like another 5 responses so I can feature it in the Slough Town v Carshalton Athletic programme. Just a paragraph will do, what's your views on the current league cup format? What would you introduce or change to make it more attractive? At what stage of the cup would you attend?

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

Quote:

Anonymous said:
At what stage of the cup would you attend?

As a slough fan if i want to see them it has to be in the first round!