Everything you need to know about the Checkatrade Trophy :) by WarkTheWarkITFC 30 Apr 2019 14:48
There will be all 24 teams from League One entering with all 24 teams from League Two, giving a total of 48 sides, split into 16 groups of 4. Within each group there will be a total of three teams from League One or League Two.

The last team in each group is made up of an academy side from one of 16 Premier League and Championship clubs. Last season 12 Premier League clubs entered sides, along with 4 Championship sides, 3 of which were the sides just coming down from the Premier League.

Norwich City did not enter their U21 side last year but I think we can all confidently predict that they will take the opportunity to do so this year.

Each League One or League Two team will play 2 home games, with one coming away. The U21 sides are made to play all their fixtures away.

The draw is split into North and South sections with the emphasis placed on geography for the League One and League Two teams. For example, Group D South contained Exeter City, Bristol Rovers and Yeovil Town - all very close to each other, whilst Group B featured Colchester United, Cambridge United and Southend United.

Looking at how the groups are split, we would likely be given Colchester United and Southend United. I would be very surprised if they put us with the likes of Gillingham or Cambridge United, due to how they currently group the teams together. One of these would be at home, one would be away and we'd have another home game with an Under 21 side.

Fortunately, these are a bit more random and the chances of being drawn with Norwich and the humiliation caused, is reasonably slim. While Crawley, Gillingham and Portsmouth were grouped together they got Tottenham. Meanwhile Southampton were in with Cambridge, Colchester and Southend. Chelsea were given Plymouth, Newport and Swindon. So there appears to only be a 1 in 8 chance of being drawn with that lot and avoiding the humiliation of them having a few thousand fans down to potentially draw with us or beat us.

3 points for a win, 0 points for a loss is standard, but a draw after extra time leads to penalties. The winning team get 2 points, the losing team gets 1. So it's effectively a draw with an extra point to whoever wins the shoot out, as I'm sure you can work out.

After 3 games the top two in each group go through. The bottom two are eliminated. Only 7 of the 16 U21 sides went through to the knockouts. 3 of those 7 went through the 2nd Round. Only 1 of those 3 went through the 3rd Round and they lost in the 4th Round. So the last 8 was made up of 7 League One and League Two sides.

One match in September, one in October and one in November, before the Round 2 in December and Round 3 in January which are split into North and South again. From Round 4 (January) it's a free for all, followed by the Semi Finals and Final. So once in the last 8 you can draw any team regardless of location.

Semi Final's are one legged with a home team drawn. Final is played at Wembley.

Sunderland got 8,000 for their games. Pompey 2,000. Colchester 500.

There we go. Something to look forward to! Cup games with Southend and Colchester, both of whom could still be in our division or both in the one below as things stand.