EFL Cup third-round draw will take place in Beijing at 04:15 BST on Thursday

[Woodcote Royal]

If you can't afford it m8 you don't need to make excuses for why you didn't go.

I think everyone appreciates even though Berkshire is an affluent area, there may be some like yourself who struggle with the extra expenses football brings. No need to be embarrassed by it.

I really can't understand where I've given you the impression I can't afford a match ticket. I would happily have paid £20 to sit in my own seat. I would have paid for my seat even if it later transpired I couldn't get to the game, just as happens to most season ticket holders throughout the season.

It is surely as clear as night following day, especially with Stam complaining about the high fees being demanded for players, that if money was no object we would have signed a striker weeks ago.

It comes as no surprise that putting your hand in your pocket to support the club is an alien concept for so many, who would turn up for free every week given the chance.

If 5K fans had paid £20 instead of £7 for the game, that's a whole extra £65K which isn't going to get you very much striker. No amount of bums on seats in a single game will pay for an expensive striker - the money has to come from elsewhere.

Additionally if it was £20 a good chunk of those 5K wouldn't even have come.
And I very much doubt if enough people would have turned, either at £7 or £20 prices, to make opening up extra stands worthwhile in cost terms.
So, in fact, it seems like you want the club to lose money so you can sit in your own seat.

The idea that charging £20 would somehow pay for a striker is so odd I'm not surprised the OP got confused and thought you didn't come because you couldn't afford the ticket (or was just being sarcastic)

I'm sorry the maths of this appears to be an alien concept for you.

I don't suppose, by any chance, you are one of those who has just passed their maths GCSE with a mark of 15%?

Firstly, I can't see where I've suggested this would pay for a striker, merely that these match tickets are seriously under priced and that fans should be prepared to pay more.

Secondly, just in case you've forgotten, I suggested these tickets have been under priced for sometime including against Gillingham, and, therefore, even your flawed theorising above should be x2 and across several seasons of successful campaigns, an awful lot more.



And lastly, just for Nameless, it's not my job to throw money at the ticket office.

However, if the full price for Swansea is £20, I'll donate £30 to the club to make it up to £50 as long as I get to sit in my own seat.....................and it would be worth every penny.

[Snowflake Royal]

Wow a grown man(baby) more attached to one cheap plastic seat identical to 24000 others, than a particularly neurotic 4 year old is to their blankie.

Presumably because he's soiled it so much over the years it smells like he does.

The levels of over-entitlement and mistaken feelings of superiority on display from Woodcote are truly astonishing even for his crazy best.

Am I right in recalling this is the 'man' who proudly boasted he'd sit in his car in the carpark listening to the team line up to decide whether to go in and watch the game?

Anything the club does to piss you off and encourage you to never come back is fine in my eyes.

[Woodcote Royal]

Wow a grown man(baby) more attached to one cheap plastic seat identical to 24000 others, than a particularly neurotic 4 year old is to their blankie. ]

Presumably because he's soiled it so much over the years it smells like he does.

The levels of over-entitlement and mistaken feelings of superiority on display from Woodcote are truly astonishing even for his crazy best.

Am I right in recalling this is the 'man' who proudly boasted he'd sit in his car in the carpark listening to the team line up to decide whether to go in and watch the game?

Anything the club does to piss you off and encourage you to never come back is fine in my eyes.

And you infer that I'm behaving like a baby...............................most 12 year olds would be embarrissed by some of the above.

I've clearly touched a nerve with the "sing loud pay as little as possible" east stand tight wad fraternity.

Like many others, I'd prefer to sit in my own seat to avoid being anywhere near twats like you and am prepared to pay for the privilege.

And yet again, where have I said I was planning on ending my support? Some of you have serious reading issues.

[Nameless]

What do you mean by your 'own' seat ?

[Snowflake Royal]

Wow a grown man(baby) more attached to one cheap plastic seat identical to 24000 others, than a particularly neurotic 4 year old is to their blankie. ]

Presumably because he's soiled it so much over the years it smells like he does.

The levels of over-entitlement and mistaken feelings of superiority on display from Woodcote are truly astonishing even for his crazy best.

Am I right in recalling this is the 'man' who proudly boasted he'd sit in his car in the carpark listening to the team line up to decide whether to go in and watch the game?

Anything the club does to piss you off and encourage you to never come back is fine in my eyes.

And you infer that I'm behaving like a baby...............................most 12 year olds would be embarrissed by some of the above.

I've clearly touched a nerve with the "sing loud pay as little as possible" east stand tight wad fraternity.

Like many others, I'd prefer to sit in my own seat to avoid being anywhere near twats like you and am prepared to pay for the privilege.

And yet again, where have I said I was planning on ending my support? Some of you have serious reading issues.

I didn't say you were planning on ending your support, I said anything the club does that encourages you in that direction is good by me. I think it might be you with the reading comprehension issues.

[St Pauli]

Courtesy of the BBC:

An EFL spokesman said: "We understand that not everyone will agree on the timing of this week's round three draw, but in staging in this way it will give the competition both the maximum exposure in the UK, Chinese and South East Asian markets.

"This is not only an important factor for the EFL but also our new sponsors Carabao, who, like ourselves, plan to use the growing global appeal of the competition to reach new audiences."

There will be no live coverage anywhere of the draw - on television or online - but details will be released on social media.



You really have to ask yourself what the EFL think the purpose of their organisation is. Is it to maximise the exposure of their tournament to wider markets, or is it to organise football competitions for clubs and fans based in, you know, the E in their EFL branding.

This is the first concrete admission by a European FA of what we were all suspecting, that the match going football supporter isn't really the customer in modern football, but gullibly, part of the product.

For years we've been screwed around by matches getting moved for tv last minute, along with irritating kick off times and midweek fixtures. But at least this was mostly for armchair fans in the same time zone.

If all I am as a match going supporter is being part of an 'authentic' backdrop to a spectacle marketed to Far East armchair fans to lazy to attend their own domestic leagues at the very least I'd expect match day tickets to be vastly reduced (if not given out for free).

As it is one of the biggest things tempting me to games at the moment is to impress the father in law and give us something to talk about.

[tmesis]

Courtesy of the BBC:

An EFL spokesman said: "We understand that not everyone will agree on the timing of this week's round three draw, but in staging in this way it will give the competition both the maximum exposure in the UK, Chinese and South East Asian markets.

"This is not only an important factor for the EFL but also our new sponsors Carabao, who, like ourselves, plan to use the growing global appeal of the competition to reach new audiences."

There will be no live coverage anywhere of the draw - on television or online - but details will be released on social media.



You really have to ask yourself what the EFL think the purpose of their organisation is. Is it to maximise the exposure of their tournament to wider markets, or is it to organise football competitions for clubs and fans based in, you know, the E in their EFL branding.

This is the first concrete admission by a European FA of what we were all suspecting, that the match going football supporter isn't really the customer in modern football, but gullibly, part of the product.

It's nothing to do with the FA in this case, but what I found bizarre was the insistence that putting the draw on at 4:15 UK time, with no liver coverage at all here (I'm presuming it was covered live there, or there'd be no point being there) would some, according to the quote "maximum exposure in the UK, Chinese and South East Asian markets". Unless they are going down the Ryanair route of "bad publicity is still publicity" how is the UK part true?

As a competition though, it is utterly useless for Asian markets. With all games, except the final, taking place at night and midweek, there'll be nobody awake to watch the games over there.

I wouldn't underestimate the appeal of English football out there though. I've seen Sutton United v Notts County in the 1st round of the FA Cup being shown out there live, with a Thai commentary team covering the game.