Wigan 0-0 Bolton EFL Cup (5-4 Penalties)

luckyPeterpiper wrote:
I understand your sentiment but I don't think I agree with it because the League Cup simply doesn't have the cachet or generate the revenue it used to. In truth the FA Cup is where clubs at our level have a genuine chance to generate both money and for want of a better word 'buzz' while the League Cup has become something of an afterthought that a lot of fans are simply not interested in today. Personally I wish we'd won but I don't think an early exit from this competition is going to be catastrophic to our finances or confidence and I believe Evatt and the staff made the right decision. The League itself is far more important and in truth I would much prefer he concentrate on that for now.

Peter, I fully accept that the Carabao Cup doesn’t have the appeal of the FA Cup but how can you say fans aren’t interested in it today? We just sold out all our allocated tickets for the Wigan game and took the biggest away following for years. Had we won the game we’d be hosting Sunderland in front of another massive crowd, probably approaching 15 to 20k when you consider how many Sunderland themselves will bring. That’s big additional revenue FV have missed out on and if we then beat Sunderland we’d be looking towards another Wembley final. Are you telling me fans wouldn’t be interested in that? Of course the leagues the priority but you’re very wrong about nobody being interested. You might not be but the 4700 were and so were the vast majority who didn’t attend.

I wouldn't want our confidence to be shaken by the sort of defeats that Newport and West Brom suffered last night....always a danger when meeting top-tier opposition.

Yes we rested 8 players and it shows how much cup games have been devalued, no replays equals loss of revenue ? no extra time, not be long before we just flip a coin if the Premier guys have there way.

The FA cup is no better teams at all levels resting players until the last 8. No respect whatsoever for the fans or the cup competitions, makes me laugh when the say the magic of the FA cup, my arse. In reality giant killings just don't exist its the minnow v someones reserves.

For the record Wigan made 7 changes and won so no bleating from the pie eaters, we made several changes against Barnsley not a word Why because we won. Its the modern game (sadly)

Whitesince63 wrote:

Peter, I fully accept that the Carabao Cup doesn’t have the appeal of the FA Cup but how can you say fans aren’t interested in it today? We just sold out all our allocated tickets for the Wigan game and took the biggest away following for years. Had we won the game we’d be hosting Sunderland in front of another massive crowd, probably approaching 15 to 20k when you consider how many Sunderland themselves will bring. That’s big additional revenue FV have missed out on and if we then beat Sunderland we’d be looking towards another Wembley final. Are you telling me fans wouldn’t be interested in that? Of course the leagues the priority but you’re very wrong about nobody being interested. You might not be but the 4700 were and so were the vast majority who didn’t attend.

I think a part ofthe crowd size is due to the fact we haven't been able to attend matches for so long and partly down to it being a 'local derby' with a team close to our own. If you remember pre-Covid the League Cup was one the majority of fans didn't bother going to for the most part. I think this season will see every club having larger crowds than normal till Christmas but I suspect we'll start to see the numbers drop again in the New Year.

If we'd been playing say Grimsby or Scarborough I doubt we'd have seen anywhere near as many of our fans travelling and frankly I don't think a game against Sunderland is quite the draw you seem to think it is. Football is still an overly expensive way of entertaining yourself and a lot of people have been hit hard in the pocket over the last eighteen months or so which (imo) adds up to don't expect attendance to be high for every or even most games.