Paul Hurst released his frustration at the current EFL Trophy format after his Shrewsbury Town side were eliminated from the competition.
Losses to Fulham’s academy side and last night to Birmingham City means that Salop are unable to progress to the next round as both The Blues and group leaders Walsall both have at least four points. Town were roundly beaten by Chris Davies’s men in the first half, ultimately losing 4-0 at The New Meadow.
The EFL Trophy had originally been a competition for just League One and Two sides, but since 2016 16 category 1 academy sides from the Premier League and Championship have been allowed to enter to create a 64-team competition. It is not the first time teams have been invited, with teams from the Conference as it was known then also given places in previous years.
It was the inclusion of these academy teams that drew the ire of Shrewsbury’s boss in the club’s post-match interview, with Hurst saying (Quotes via Birmingham Live): “I’ve always been a big advocate of the competition. I said that before and the last time we were here we got to the final. I’ve always tried to get through.
“What I would say is I think the competition is getting a bit silly in regards to… it’s an EFL competition with invites for the Premier League. We were forced to play a game when we didn’t want to play a game which was ridiculous on my side and made for a ridiculous start to the season.
“Then we’ve got a game going on against a team with numerous players away on international duty – and you could argue it’s helped us – but when it’s a Premier League team they complain about that and don’t want to play the game.
“That’s frustrating for me. We know it’s a competition which is difficult to grab the fans’ attention at the best of times until the latter stages and in my view that’s creeping through for clubs. In my view it’s not done correctly.”
Salop have had a difficult season across all competitions, only winning once in the league against Leyton Orient and had advanced to the second round of the EFL Cup via a penalty shootout win over Notts County. They head to Crawley Town on the weekend in only one of two fixtures not affected by this week’s international break.
Writer’s View
The inclusion of academy sides in the EFL Trophy has drawn a lot of criticism from fans and clubs alike and Paul Hurst is the latest to give his verdict on the format. It does feel that adding these sides puts a pointless fixture on each side’s calendars at a time when player welfare is becoming more and more prominent. In last season’s edition, only six of the 16 academy entrants made it past the group stages and only Brighton’s academy side made it into the quarter-finals.
The only benefit that could be seen with keeping the current format as is would be that it is giving these Premier League academy players plenty of senior experience and chances to prove their talent to League One and Two clubs for potential transfers. In that Brighton team that were ultimately beaten by Wycombe Wanderers, some of them have since gone to EFL clubs on loan such as goalkeeper Tom McGill to MK Dons, Samy Chouchane to Northampton Town and Jack Hinchy to Notts County. This debate is likely to continue raging on and with the recent controversy over the National League Cup, will continue to invoke some anger across the footballing landscape.
Paul Hurst is however under a lot of pressure with how poor Shrewsbury Town’s start to the season has been and having yet another competition going badly does not help his position at all. He will need to find some form of response against a similarly struggling Crawley Town or his time in Shropshire will be cut short. He has acknowledged that the task to turn results around will be difficult and shouldered the blame for how the start of the season has gone. The game at Broadfield this weekend does seem to be a must-win if Hurst is to remain in charge.
Football journalist with The Real EFL since 2023. A 2024 Multimedia Journalism graduate from the University of Salford, Lewis specialises in Salford City FC and EFL coverage.
