Bolton 8-1 Manchester United U21 EFL Cup (Papa John's as was)

Seems the Mickey Mouse Cup can't even find itself a sponsor these days as Papa John didn't renew theirs and no one else has since replaced them.

Seems we got something like £500,000 in prize money and TV revenue from our cup run last season - but of course we would have to deduct expenses and pay bonuses out of that to see how it ended up benefitting the club financially (or not!).

For those who hadn't see this before -

The 2023 EFL Trophy final between Bolton and Plymouth Argyle is set to be the last under its current title sponsor.

Wanderers and the Pilgrims will meet at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, April 2, with a crowd in excess of 70,000 expected to be in attendance.

EFL officials, according to a report by the Daily Mail, hope the occasion will attract prospective sponsors to engage in discussions ahead of next season, with the existing three-year arrangement with Papa Johns set to expire this summer.

The American firm committed to a £1million-per-season deal in 2020 but will not be renewing into the 2023/24 campaign, putting the League under pressure to find a successor capable of assisting them, the Premier League and The Football Association with a reported £3million annual prize pot.

Ian Evatt's side are understood to have accumulated winnings of £205,000 from this season's competition - with further income set to be generated as a result of live television coverage of their semi-final victory at Accrington Stanley, as well as the upcoming Wembley final.

Clubs are provided a £20,000 participation fee for simply becoming involved in the tournament, whilst taking £10,000 for a win and £5,000 for a draw in the group stage.

They then receive £20,000 should progression through the round-of-32 be achieved, a total that doubles to £40,000 for winning in the round-of-16.

Quarter-final victors emerge with £50,000, with the same amount paid out to the two winning semi-finalists, while the team that goes on to lift the Trophy is rewarded with £100,000.

Adding the sum amounts together, a win over Argyle would mean the Trotters would pick up a total prize fund of £305,000 for their efforts throughout the season, with television revenue set to follow.

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Just get rid of this ridiculous competition.

HT - 4-0

Well into the second half now, 5-0 up, game won and still we haven’t seen any of our own youngsters, especially Matheson and surely it’s safe to give Hutchinson a half? Come on Ian, bring on the youth.

Just shows how shit MAn u’s youth squad is!

8-1.

Evans out.

Natasha Whittam wrote:8-1.

Evans out.

Why?

We let a goal in.

Natasha Whittam wrote:We let a goal in.

Best score we have had in a very long time that!

I pay 50p a goal to charity, it's outrageous.

Hate to be that guy but we should be beating a team of teenagers by a lot more than 8.

Absolutely top notch entertainment tonight albeit against a bunch of kids who were out of their depth - including Shoretire.
Great performances from Thomason, Sheehan and Dan who will hopefully be encouraged to shoot more now.
But the great revelation was our youngsters.
Matheson looks ready now. Problem is he's competing for a start with Cogley who has done well and Evatt won't change the system to play them both down the right.
Khumbeni is close as he has everything but I'd have to see more of him as I suspect he may not have the pace required and Maghoma is ahead of him for now.
Inwood looked steady and has a decent left peg but I'm not sure he's ahead of Ashworth as back up left side so I guess he's third choice for now but if he continues to develop he's in with a chance.
Nonetheless they all did well and it's a shame some of the other kids didn't get on - especially Hutchinson as this game would have been perfect for him.
Maybe more young 'uns next game as we've qualified for the next round already?
Great game regardless of the fact that we put 8 past United. Loved it.

Khumbeni goal:

Matheson goal:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Hate to be that guy but we should be beating a team of teenagers by a lot more than 8.

Well Stockport couldn’t beat them in the last round so why should we be better than 8? Of course we should win comfortably and we did so give a little bit of credit at least.

wanderlust wrote:Absolutely top notch entertainment tonight albeit against a bunch of kids who were out of their depth - including Shoretire.
Great performances from Thomason, Sheehan and Dan who will hopefully be encouraged to shoot more now.
But the great revelation was our youngsters.
Matheson looks ready now. Problem is he's competing for a start with Cogley who has done well and Evatt won't change the system to play them both down the right.
Khumbeni is close as he has everything but I'd have to see more of him as I suspect he may not have the pace required and Maghoma is ahead of him for now.
Inwood looked steady and has a decent left peg but I'm not sure he's ahead of Ashworth as back up left side so I guess he's third choice for now but if he continues to develop he's in with a chance.
Nonetheless they all did well and it's a shame some of the other kids didn't get on - especially Hutchinson as this game would have been perfect for him.
Maybe more young 'uns next game as we've qualified for the next round already?
Great game regardless of the fact that we put 8 past United. Loved it.

I agree on that lusty, great entertainment all round. It really was men against boys but that shouldn’t take anything away from the performance. I agree on Matheson, I also believe he could do a job now but as you say he isn’t going to get in front of JDC nor even Jones on his performance last night. I think what it does maybe prove though, is that IE doesn’t need to look for a RWB in January. 

Brilliant to see Dan score a couple so let’s hope that kick starts him more often now but the problem is that he needs games to show consistency and I just don’t see him getting that. IE seems pretty fixed on Dion and Vic which leaves both Dan and Bod out in the cold. Personally, especially with Dion not 100% fit I’d like to see Dan and Bod start on Saturday with Dion to come on later when his pace should benefit us against a tiring Vale. I don’t suppose he will but it might have been interesting albeit a bit of a risk.

Utterly meaningless competition. 3,000 attendance, where were the other 37,000 that went to Wembley? Plastic fans.

We beat some kids 8-1, big whoop, it'll have absolutely no bearing on Saturday.

The sooner this competition is cancelled the better.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Utterly meaningless competition. 3,000 attendance, where were the other 37,000 that went to Wembley? Plastic fans.

We beat some kids 8-1, big whoop, it'll have absolutely no bearing on Saturday.

The sooner this competition is cancelled the better.

I watched it on Wanderers TV and enjoyed it. Is that OK?

Some excellent finishing but it was men against boys and maybe showed that Nlundulu could cut it at that level. I've not seen anything yet that would tell me he can cut it at League 1 level.

Thomason was industrious, Sheehan classy, Bod's finish superb and a good opportunity to give some of our fringers/kids an outing.

A job well done but you are right about it having no bearing on Saturday.