EFL clubs to vote on future of EFL Trophy in May

League One and Two clubs will vote in May to decide the future of the EFL Trophy.

This season a one-season trial was done with 16 Premier League and Championship under-21 sides added to the competition, have previously been for just league 1 and 2 teams. The decision was met with fan boycotts of matches.

The vote in May will see clubs facing three options, keep the academy teams in a revised format, revert to the previous format or end the competition entirely.

Under the revised proposals, the full-strength criteria currently in place would be changed to four players from five. Other proposals include a "significant" increase in prize money, regionalisation until the quarter-final stage (currently only to the second round), and flexibility of fixture dates to allow teams to schedule games outside of international weeks.

Following the meeting of League 1 and 2 clubs Shaun Harvey said: "We committed at the outset of this season's competition to conduct a full and comprehensive review of the competition and, importantly, give our clubs the ability to ensure they make the key decisions regarding where we take the competition in 2017-18 and beyond."

He added "After asking clubs in advance for some initial thoughts on the competition, Tuesday was the next stage of the process and I'm delighted we were able to have such a full and frank exchange of views that will now assist the executive in refining a final proposal that our clubs will now vote on."

JC