Memories of 2009: Why Brighton U21s should not be in EFL Trophy

It’s not very often that I find myself hoping the Albion don’t win. Never in fact. But when Brighton U21s step out for their EFL Trophy quarter final against Wycombe Wanderers in a couple of weeks, I won’t be willing them on to victory. Let me explain…

The EFL trophy – with its ever changing format and the increasingly absurd sponsor monikers – has become a bit of a laughing stock amongst the English football community.

And the recent controversial addition of inviting a selection of Premier League development teams in 2016 has only increased the derision many provide it with.

So you may quite easily fall into the trap of not seeing the harm that a Premier League U21s team succeeding in this competition could do to the lower leagues.

But in my opinion, the idea of Brighton U21s reaching the final and stopping supporters of lower league clubs like Wycombe, Peterborough United, Crawley Town or AFC Wimbledon having a day out at Wembley to see their team play at the home of English football would be an absolute travesty.

Our Women’s team landlords Crawley have never played at Wembley before. Some of you may dismiss Crawley as a glorified non league side, but they have actually been in the Football League for 13 consecutive seasons now – as long as the Amex Stadium has been open.

And whilst their fanbase may be small, the glory of a trip to Wembley can really help to galvanise support for a club amongst its local community and bring in new fans – as happened with Brighton reaching the 1983 FA Cup final.

In contrast, I doubt anybody is going to become a Seagulls supporter because the U21s reach Wembley in a competition I also suspect a lot of fans have never heard of.

Crawley’s quarter final opponents Peterborough have only been to Wembley on three occasions in their history. Two of those matches took place at the old stadium, playoff final victories in 1992 and 2000.

The Posh have played under the arch once, winning the EFL Trophy against Chesterfield in 2014. They looked set to return to Wembley on a fourth occasion last season, before an improbable Sheffield Wednesday comeback saw them lose their League One playoff semi final on penalties.

Peterborough won the first leg 4-0 before somehow managing to go down 5-1 in the second leg, leading to the spot kicks in which they crashed out.

Then there is AFC Wimbledon, a team whose place in English football was callously taken from them by Peter Winkleman and his Milton Keynes Dons venture.

Since the relaunch of the club by its supporters as AFC Wimbledon, their remarkable rise saw them restarting in the ninth tier Combined Counties League in 2002 alongside now-defunct former Brighton-based side Withdean 2000.

The Dons have since risen into the Football League, even reaching League One in 2016. They have been to the new Wembley on a couple of occasions for playoff finals but have never won the EFL Trophy.

Brighton’s quarter final opponents Wycombe have actually been to Wembley on seven previous occasions. Three of those have been playoff finals at the new stadium.

Chairboys fans through are yet to see their team win there in person – their only victory coming against Oxford United in an empty stadium for the League One playoff final during the 2020 lockdown.

Whilst there are obvious benefits for the development of players in the Albion’s U21 squad from playing in the EFL Trophy – especially if they were to experience a proper cup final at Wembley – these can come at a cost to lower league clubs. And it is not so long ago that Brighton were one of those.

You do not have to be very old to remember the Albion’s most recent first team game in the competition. The 2010-11 season saw League One Brighton lose 2-0 at home to a Leyton Orient side managed by Russell Slade, for whom Dean Cox was on the scoresheet.

When Brighton were in League One and Two, the EFL Trophy was often a competition that passed the Albion by because of its deemed lack of importance.

But there was one year in which it caught the imagination – the 2008-09 campaign, when we came within a whisker of a day out at Wembley.

I remember vividly the heartache of losing to Luton Town on penalties at Kenilworth Road in the Southern Area Final of what was then known as the Johnston’s Paint Trophy (or the ‘Paint Pot’ to friends).

Luton went onto face Northern Area winners Scunthorpe United in the Wembley final, winning 3-2 after extra time. It was one of the only high points of a campaign which saw the Hatters deducted 30 points and subsequently relegated out of the Football League.

The start of the 2008-09 season had promised so much for Brighton. The great Micky Adams was back as manager and the club made a flurry of new summer signings.

Having finished seventh in League One under Dean Wilkins the previous season, the talk was all about a return to the Championship – with perfect timing as construction began on the club’s new stadium at Falmer.

It was an incredibly exciting time to be a Seagulls fan – one of the most exciting I remember. But, in true Brighton and Hove Albion style, the season which followed was an absolute disaster.

Fast forward to February 2009 and the club were staring very much downwards rather than upwards. Relegation into League Two was a real and worrying possibility.

The Albion had only spent two brief spells in their history in the fourth tier. With the goals of Bobby Zamora, Adams ironically had been the man to lift them out of the bottom division in the early Withdean years during his successful first spell in charge. Now he was in danger of taking Brighton back to the basement eight years later.

Like many smaller lower league sides (which is what Brighton undeniably were at the time), cup competitions offered a rare highlight and a brief distraction from a disappointing season.

Along with the club’s run in the EFL Trophy, there was that wonderful night at Withdean in the League Cup where newly wildly-rich Manchester City were eliminated by Brighton on penalties.

A victory that was somewhat dampened by the fact the Albion were doing horridly in League One, in the midst of a winless run which would stretch to 10 games and included that infamous 1-0 home defeat to nine man Walsall.

There can be no doubt that the EFL Trophy adventure and the prospect of a Wembley final for Brighton kept Adams in a job longer than league form warranted.

We know this as within a few days of elimination at the hands of Luton, Adams saw his disastrous second reign as manager brought to an end.

Slade was appointed in his place and inspired an unlikely Great Escape from relegation. After Slade came Gus Poyet and the rest, as they say, is history – history which might have looked very different had the Albion ended up in the bottom tier, which is notoriously had to escape from.

Brighton will therefore be forever in Slade’s debt for helping avoid the potential ignominy of opening a brand-spanking new stadium fought so long and hard for whilst playing in League Two.

The EFL Trophy was a welcome sideshow to everything else in that 2008-09 season. Often, that is what cup competitions are. More important to fans than the clubs themselves, for whom league placings and making money are the priority.

Back in 2009, the EFL Trophy was far from the most important thing Brighton had going on. But it did offer a very special and rare opportunity – a chance to play at Wembley.

We are often told that football is all about, and would be nothing without, fans. This appears contrary to the approach of governing bodies and rule makers, who introduce new ventures and formats which incrementally diminish supporters and our place and interests within the game – also diminishing the joy we get from the sport.

In 2009, Brighton playing at Wembley is something I had never seen before and something that only happened on three occasions – twice for the 1983 FA Cup Final original tie and replay and a third time for the 1991 playoff final. The Albion failed to win all three games.

Beating Luton in the EFL Trophy not only offered Brighton a rare chance of playing at the home of English football, but of actually winning there.

Brighton still await their first victory at Wembley, having visited three more times since winning promotion to the Premier League. And no, if the U21s make it, it won’t count.

The EFL Trophy may be a tournament that doesn’t matter, but going to Wembley always does. Particularly to a club’s supporters.

In some ways, dreaming of walking down Wembley way in your clubs’ colours is what English football is all about for fans.

Especially, I think, for fans of smaller lower league clubs who are less used to their side being in the spotlight.

The importance of the lower leagues to English football should not be understated. I don’t think I need to explain that to fellow Brighton fans; as a club, the Albion have spent most of their existence in the third tier.

Beyond denying a League One or League Two side a cup final at Wembley, there are other reasons as to why Brighton U21s winning the EFL Trophy would be bad for the game.

Success of a Premier League development squad could increase the risk that PL2 becomes a more desirable destination for young players, lessening the pool available to Football League clubs.

It would also increase the likelihood of Premier League B Teams entering the professional pyramid, diminishing the existing clubs within the lower league structure.

Brighton U21s winning at Wembley could well be the thin end of a wedge which results in Manchester City B, Arsenal B, Aston Villa and the Albion B taking the places of Accrington Stanley, Sutton United, Walsall and Crawley in the Football League.

Going back to 2009, the prospect of Brighton getting to Wembley in the EFL trophy final was a truly special opportunity.

It was one I only really got over missing out on 10 years later when we finally witnessed the Albion under the arch in a game which mattered – the 2019 FA Cup semi final against Manchester City (Spurs ground sharing at Wembley does not count).

We were then lucky enough to witness it to again last season in the club’s second FA Cup semi appearance in four years and only the third in its entire history.

Now into a seventh consecutive top flight season, Albion supporters are truly spoilt for choice of days out and special occasions. We are living through the greatest time in Brighton history.

That is not to say it wouldn’t be a special moment if the likes of Luca Barrington and Jack Hinchy got a chance to represent the club at Wembley in a competition mostly filled with professional senior sides.

But to do so at the expense of one of English football’s many great lower league clubs and their loyal supporters – supporters who are so often starved of their moment in the sun and regularly ignored and overlooked when it comes to being the benefactors of English football’s success – would leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Imagine if, rather than Luton denying Brighton a place at Wembley and a shot at winning silverware in 2009, it had been West Ham United U21s?

It is for this reason I hope our promising youngsters are finally ousted from the EFL Trophy before it reaches that point.

Brighton U21s should not become a symbol of how modern football is working against the interests of fans.

Phil