A letter from the Gillingham FC Chairman Paul Scally
The Chairman has sent the following email to the Football League following the announcement of the Capital One Cup draw on Tuesday June 16.Gillingham have been handed an away tie against Plymouth Argyle for the week commencing August 10.
Have just received the draw for the Capital One Cup. To say I’m staggered to have been in the hat with Plymouth Argyle when I’m told the draw is regionalized would be an understatement.
Is this logic gone completely mad? A 510 mile round trip, over 10 hours on a coach on a Tuesday night for a first round tie is sheer stupidity, in fact borders on inefficiency by the league in allowing two clubs so far apart to be competing at such an early stage in the competition.
Exactly how many supporters do the league think we are going to be able to take, given they would have to take a day, or probably two days off work to make such a long and expensive trip.
We have discussed many times over the years as a League about ensuring fans get a good deal, that we ensure we play “More Meaningful Matches’ especially in regards to midweek games, so where does this particular game fit into that ethos, or are we still learning, in fact it appears we have learnt nothing.
Plymouth should be playing a side from the South West, Gillingham should be playing a game in London or the South East, just like Millwall, Barnet, Wycombe, Charlton and others are playing.
I am hugely disappointed at this pairing and quite understandably our supporters will be horrified and disturbed at missing out on an opportunity to support their team.
Kind regards
Paul D P Scally