The FA Trophy

[Elite_Pie]

Well, the excitement is clearly building for our first appearance in this competition. Or maybe not. It's worth a mention however, because the final qualifying round takes place this weekend with the draw for the first round (including us) taking place on Monday. The draw is regionalised into north and south sections, but it's unclear which part we will be in. Looking at the clubs involved we might well be in the southern half. The games are due to take place on Saturday Dec 14th, so if we get a home draw it will probably be another Sunday game due to the scum being at home. Even though it's hardly a tournament to get the pulse racing, I'll be at any home games. At least it's played against real clubs, unlike the hated Pisspot Trophy which has been abused to give Premiership under-21 teams a bit of competitive action.

[jackal2]

Well, the excitement is clearly building for our first appearance in this competition. Or maybe not. It's worth a mention however, because the final qualifying round takes place this weekend with the draw for the first round (including us) taking place on Monday. The draw is regionalised into north and south sections, but it's unclear which part we will be in. Looking at the clubs involved we might well be in the southern half. The games are due to take place on Saturday Dec 14th, so if we get a home draw it will probably be another Sunday game due to the scum being at home. Even though it's hardly a tournament to get the pulse racing, I'll be at any home games. At least it's played against real clubs, unlike the hated Pisspot Trophy which has been abused to give Premiership under-21 teams a bit of competitive action.

Completely agree. The FA Trophy has some prestige, which certainly cannot be said of the Pisspot Trophy or Daffy Duck Cup or whatever you want to call it. And I don't praise or honour the FA lightly, so this is quite a compliment from me to one of their competitions.

[Frigiliana Pie 1]

I agree too. This is something worth winning and offers the possibility of a visit to Wembley. I hope Notts make every effort to go as far as possible, preferably all the way, with no messing around selecting under strength sides.

Before the season began, I felt that the Cup competitions offered the best chance of a bit of success this season. It’s probable that our interest in the FA Cup will end at Northampton next week, so this competition is high priority imo.

[Elite_Pie]

So how do people view this competition now we are in the last 16? I'm still very interested, because the only other teams left in it who are higher than us in the rankings are Barrow, Harrogate, Halifax and our next opponents Yeovil. If we can overcome Yeovil, looking at the other fixtures there will be some fairly weak teams left in the last 8. We are on offer at 7/1 to win it, and because Yeovil are on a poor run I've had a modest bet on us to win.

[upthemaggies]

So how do people view this competition now we are in the last 16? I'm still very interested, because the only other teams left in it who are higher than us in the rankings are Barrow, Harrogate, Halifax and our next opponents Yeovil. If we can overcome Yeovil, looking at the other fixtures there will be some fairly weak teams left in the last 8. We are on offer at 7/1 to win it, and because Yeovil are on a poor run I've had a modest bet on us to win.

I just have the horrible feeling that we'll win it after missing out or losing in the play offs with a limp display and, on the basis that we've won a trophy, Ardley will still be in charge next season despite getting us relegated and failing to get us back up.

The one plus point that the FA Trophy has over the FL Trophy is that the final is after the season proper has ended (including the play off final) so if we do get to the final of both, the PO final will be the one we make our new arched Wembley debut in and generates all of the excitement.

If we won both, great, but history shows that cup runs tend to mess promotion challenges up (91 being an exception although league form did suffer for a while). Ardley has however seemingly got his priories right.

[paulharding]

So how do people view this competition now we are in the last 16? I'm still very interested, because the only other teams left in it who are higher than us in the rankings are Barrow, Harrogate, Halifax and our next opponents Yeovil. If we can overcome Yeovil, looking at the other fixtures there will be some fairly weak teams left in the last 8. We are on offer at 7/1 to win it, and because Yeovil are on a poor run I've had a modest bet on us to win.

7s isn’t great value really
They will be even money plus to qualify v Yeovil
We have 3 other games to win after that to win the trophy even if u make Notts 1/2 in all those games they only work out just under 6/1

[Elite_Pie]

7s isn’t great value really
They will be even money plus to qualify v Yeovil
We have 3 other games to win after that to win the trophy even if u make Notts 1/2 in all those games they only work out just under 6/1

Maybe not great value, but enough to tempt someone like me who usually bets against Notts. The tempting thing was that when you look at the last 16, only Barrow look formidable, and they will probably have an eye on the bigger prize.

[upthemaggies]

Maybe not great value, but enough to tempt someone like me who usually bets against Notts. The tempting thing was that when you look at the last 16, only Barrow look formidable, and they will probably have an eye on the bigger prize.

Glancing through the list of past finals, recently relegated league clubs have become an obvious feature over the last 10-15 years. Only one final in the last decade was contested by two teams who've never graced the FL. Hadn't realised until now that Mansfield had once made it to the final. Gates have been decent for the last four finals, between 30-50l but only 15k for North Ferriby v Wrexham in 2015.

[Elite_Pie]

Glancing through the list of past finals, recently relegated league clubs have become an obvious feature over the last 10-15 years. Only one final in the last decade was contested by two teams who've never graced the FL. Hadn't realised until now that Mansfield had once made it to the final. Gates have been decent for the last four finals, between 30-50l but only 15k for North Ferriby v Wrexham in 2015.

Until you mentioned the date of the final, I hadn't really given it any thought, but now there's the chance that we might just be at Wembley on consecutive weekends! I think Fylde did the same last season, losing the big one but winning the consolation prize.

[BigFatPie]

Unnecessary distraction, causes fixture congestion, risks injuries and the thought of going back to Wembley a week after a playoff final defeat doesn’t bear thinking about.

Being Notts though, that’s exactly what we will do.