The Boycott Blues

Forgive me, I’ve stumbled upon another subject which I shall be declaring ‘off limits’ at the conclusion of this blog. You may recall a self-imposed ban on talking about the Mansfield manager, similarly I have now attempted to stop discussing last year National League play-off winners and the various issues I have with their business model.

To make it a full set I’m going to attempt to not mention the boycott of the Checkatrade Trophy again, at least not until after the Notts Couty game. I’ll be brutally honest, the attitude of people on both sides of the fence has (at times) disgusted me. There is a crazy competition between people to be ‘the best’ fan, the most committed fan, the fan most driven towards longevity of the game and so on. I’m really saddened that there can’t be sensible debate but as I’ve said before, social media sadly gives a voice to everyone. Not everyone has the humility or respect to understand others view points, nor put theirs across without aggression, foul language or ridicule. Shame on them.

Last night’s game did have a muted atmosphere, the crowd noise was often chattering rather than chanting and overall it felt like a friendly game. It didn’t just feel like a friendly game, it felt like an LDV Vans Trophy game, a Freight Rover Trophy game, etc. You get my drift. Our match against Everton was a Football League Trophy game, midweek against a team of kids and featuring our own fringe players. LDV Vans games have blooded the likes of Lee Frecklington and Ben Dixon in the past, last night we gave Ellis Chapman a run-out. I don’t want to make an incendiary comment, but last night wasn’t a low-key event because people boycotted, it was a low-key event because it is a low-key competition.

The attendance of 3,700 was deemed a ‘success’ on both sides of the tiresome debate. The boycotting fans claimed it meant fans were missing (one erroneously claiming that 7,000 had stayed away. Given our average attendance is 8701 I’m not sure how those figures came about). Those fans in attendance claimed it was well-supported given the previous attendances in the competition at Sincil Bank.

In 2001/01, the first match of the season in the competition, then the LDV Vans Trophy, was against Morecambe. Remember, one of the arguments of the boycotters is that U21 sides being included is deemed an insult as we’re viewed as equal to big club’s youth teams. Well, in 2001/01 Morecambe were a non-league side, surely just as much of a so-called insult to be held in the same esteem as a non-league team? Anyway, that game attracted 1,194. In round two and three we played against Blackpool and Hartlepool at home and attracted 962 and 1357 respectively. That gives an average of 1171 for the competition before we got to the final stages and inflated the attendance. Our average that season in the league was 3273, meaning the LDV Vans Trophy attracted 65% less fans.

In 2003/04 the same competition and format saw 1501 attend the opener with Telford and 2395 come out for Chesterfield in the next round. That gives an average of 1948 against a full-season home average of 4910. In terms of percentage drop it is around 60%. A young Lee Frecklington made his debut in the first game and also played in the second.

The last time City played at home in the competition was back in 2007/08, not long before John Schofield was dismissed. We lost at home in the renamed Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, 5-2 against Hartlepool and just 936 went to watch. That was a dismal team that had failed to win in seven matches, six days later the manager was fired. Average attendance was 4078 all season, so 77% of fans that turned up for league matches didn’t make the trophy game. The year previous to that we played Grimsby, 2019 saw the 0-0 draw against a season average of 5176. That is, once again, a 60% drop suggesting the Hartlepool game was poorly attended because we were bloody awful.

So we’ve ascertained that over the previous fifteen years of the competition, our home gates usually drop around 60-65% unless we’re doing really badly when the drop is more significant. Last night’s gate of 3713 is against a season average (thus far) of 8701. That is a drop of 58%, around the same mark as always. Those crowing on social media that the boycott worked, are wrong. Those claiming on social media that the game was uniquely well supported, are wrong. Basically the same drop in crowds, give or take the odd percent, has been witnessed ever since the trophy was played.

Those who attended last night are not snakes, something I found incredibly distasteful when I saw it on social media. Some intelligent and usually balanced people really let themselves down by claiming that. Similarly, those that stayed at home are not disloyal fans either; many were at the Carshalton home game for instance and that takes a special kind of loyalty that you only learn about after a season of getting your ass kicked by teams you thought had previously just been made up names. The fact is right now, this season, both lots of fans pay their money to watch Lincoln City 2017. The only thing that makes you a better or worse fan is the way you conduct yourself with people who believe different things to you.

Just a point to those who did go and believe the boycotting fans will soon return in their droves if we get to Wembley; they won’t. Maybe the odd one will, but the core of those boycotting the game last night will not go to Wembley to watch it. They might travel to London and go out for a day on the ale, they might even manage a protest that involves something other than saving a tenner and not turning out in the rain, but they won’t go to Wembley. These are not fans who were just looking for an excuse to not go last night, they have principles which they stick to and although I believe the fundamentals of their argument are flawed, I respect their right to protest in that way.

Whether numbers support the fact the boycott does work, whether the lack of atmosphere was consistent with previous matches in the competition, the 617 were missed last night, both the core group and the others that join them in block seven but don’t belong to the 40 or so. They do generate atmosphere and although thy don’t have a monopoly on it, the ground was clearly worse for not having them there. In that respect the boycott worked, but the FA don’t give a toss whether Lincoln sang loudly or not. The truth is they don’t care one iota if there is nobody in the stand, whilst Checkatrade continue to sponsor the competition at a healthy rate, it will be played.

My gut feeling, irrespective of anything else, is that this is not a route to a ‘League Three’ and the facts do back up my argument somewhat. It was unanimously rejected in 2016 and I find it odd that people are basing a whole movement, protests, boycotts and in-fighting with their own support on an assumption, on a belief in something that has been wholeheartedly rejected. Believe me, I’m as against a League Three full of B teams as anyone but having researched it extensively, the initial proposal wasn’t even for Premier League ‘B’ teams to join!

The idea behind a League Three was to reduce the three divisions to 20 teams each, creating a fifth tier, or ‘League Three’ This would cut down on the number of matches clubs had to play, meaning less midweek games. It would mean that eight ‘new’ teams would have to be found for the restructure, and the claim by those boycotting the Football League Trophy is that those eight would be top-flight B teams. At the time of the proposals in May 2016, Football League Chief Executive Shaun Harvey said: “The logical place for the extra clubs to come from would be promoting the next six teams from the National League. Some of those teams are already professional and the extension to the league may suit them.” So, not from the Premier League reserves then?

I’m not trying to rubbish the boycott reasons, although if I were I’d be doing a pretty good job of it. The actual proposals were for teams such as Tranmere, Macclesfield, ourselves (at the time), Wrexham and whoever finished top eight in the National League to rejoin the Football League structure. I will concede ‘B’ teams had been mentioned and discussed but it didn’t form the major part of League Three at all.

In September 2016 the suggestion of B teams was ruled out unequivocally. Harvey was quoted as saying; “The logical place for many was to source the additional teams for League Three from the National League. We will now continue our consultation with the National League with a little more certainty as to what any change could mean for them.”

Richard Scudamore was very firm in his rejection of B teams and confirmed the academy inclusion was not the ‘start’. “This is the beginning of the end of B teams. That’s the whole point of it, to be honest. We are absolutely consistent on our view about no B teams in the regular Football League. Yes, of course we know some of our clubs would like B teams. We look abroad and we see the benefit of B teams. It’s just for the English football structure and pyramid, it doesn’t work. We can console all these worried Football League clubs’ supporters. This isn’t the thin end of the wedge, this is the block. It’s the beginning of the end of it.”

Last night it was men against boys at Sincil Bank, very skilled and organised boys, but boys nonetheless. The inclusion of academy teams might not be popular, but it isn’t a way to get them into our League structure, to do so would require reorganisation on a catastrophic level that no amount of top-flight money could ever buy. The Football League Trophy has always been a poorly attended competition that usually only offered rewards in the latter stages, but now brings financial incentives as early as the first round. The local derby matches in the group games are a good idea rom an attendance point of view, perhaps the academy team inclusion is not, but it is a better format than it has been in the past.

From Lincoln’s perspective we’ve come into it at the right time, rules were relaxed about the number of regulars we need to include which meant we started with ‘reserve’ players. Notts County and Mansfield made 20 changes between them, that is 20 players that got minutes under their belt they wouldn’t ordinarily have got. The Football League Trophy has longevity, one way or another it will remain part of the football calendar. My opinion is those boycotting the competition missed a low-key game, a work out for younger players and a muted atmosphere in the stands. It was an entertaining game of football, useful in so many ways.

They also missed the best free-kick I’ve seen an Imp take since Dean Keates a decade ago, they missed the debut of a name I truly believe will become as well-known amongst Imps as Jack Hobbs, Lee Frecklington or Darren Huckerby, the arrival of Cameron Stewart and they missed getting wet. They made their point, only really to themselves and the other Imps fans, but they stuck to their principles.

Hopefully my article has put some meat onto the bones of the arguments, and I will do my very best to not mention the bloody boycott again when we play Notts County. Unless I see people getting called snakes or part-time fans, then I might because frankly, we’ve been bloody awful to each other since we became a Football League team and it really does have to stop.