It may damage the club financially in the short term if we boycott it but the manager and players are doing it for themselves rather than the club if they try and do well in it. Promotion is the be all and end all. Anything else is unimportant. Yes York did both things but some people smoke 40 a day and live to 80, there's always the exception that proves the rule.

I wont be going to any round or even Wembley if we get there.

The way we are stuttering along we would do well to take it seriously this season :P

We should play the fringe/youth players but PH has already said he wants to win the FA Trophy and will be fielding a strong team.

Another point regarding the FA Trophy: lots of people come on here and moan when top flight teams, even Championship sides, field weaker opposition in the FA Cup and League Cup in most rounds up to the semi-finals. People say it lacks respect for the competition, it lacks respect for the lower ranked opposition etc etc and that these clubs have a duty to the rest of football to support these competitions. In the same breath people say, when bigger clubs take all the money for themselves it is to the greater detriment of the sport of football and the community it represents.

Surely, at a Conference club - and one of the biggest at that - we have a duty in our premier competition after the FA Cup to adhere to these principals that so many vaunt at our level? Out of respect to our fellow smaller clubs, respectively speaking, we should treat the competition seriously and endeavour to both win it and enjoy it.

What good does boycotting a competition which can provide and good revenue stream for the club and a memorable day out at Wembley? Anybody who went to Cambridge away last season will remember the pandemonium at the death when we, briefly, got ourselves back in the tie and a realistic shot at Wembley.

Any club should be proud to lift a Trophy at Wembley whatever the competition, especially a national competition. It would be nice to see some of our fans have a little more grace and class. It always used to annoy me when Sir Jack Hayward would say, after Wolves inevitably missed out on the play-offs again and we stayed up, "another year of going to play teams like Crewe and Grimsby on a wet Tuesday night". How the boot is sorely on the other foot.

Quoted from Simariner

We should play the fringe/youth players but PH has already said he wants to win the FA Trophy and will be fielding a strong team.

What Paul Hurst says and does seem to be two entirely different things.

With no reserve team league we owe it to certain players to let them have a game,

Draper, Paul and Nicky Walker and Watson would enjoy starting a game ,

Along with some of the 1st team players that need a run out.

Thereb are strict regulations about who you can and cannot start the game with, I'm only guessing numbers but it's something like six regular first team players must start the game.

UTM

Quoted from mariner tommy

Thereb are strict regulations about who you can and cannot start the game with, I'm only guessing numbers but it's something like six regular first team players must start the game.

UTM

Can't see any mention of that in the rules

http://www.thefa.com/~/media/files/pdf/fa-competitions-1314/fa-trophy/fa-trophy-rules-2013-2014.ashx

Play the kids! (batman)

We will soon see how many want GTFC to take this competition seriously  by the crowd we get for the first round ( if at home) . should be about 1200 at a guess , if it is then half of the hardcore take it very seriously !!!

As ive said before, why would you Pay good money and hope your team lose?  :-/

We should respect the other sides and our own reputation by fielding a side capable of winning at each stage in which we are involved.It provides competitive chances for fringe players to show what they can do andwe do have squad players who don't get much action.Also a trip to BP for some teams is like a trip to Old Trafford might be to Town.

Quoted from Tony_GTFC

It may damage the club financially in the short term if we boycott it but the manager and players are doing it for themselves rather than the club if they try and do well in it. Promotion is the be all and end all. Anything else is unimportant. Yes York did both things but some people smoke 40 a day and live to 80, there's always the exception that proves the rule.

I wont be going to any round or even Wembley if we get there.

Personally I would be happy to go out of the FAT in the first round but Paul Hurst is not going to send out any team and tell them not to try and do well and professionally I wouldn't expect the players do anything less than there best.

What I would like to see is Paul Hurst sending out some of the fringe players, maybe trying a different formation or even trying a player in a different role. These games are the games we should trying different things, just to see if they can work for us.

If we win, fair enough, another game to experiment. If we lose, no problem, move on to the league.

Of course when we got knocked out by Chasetown we went on to have such a successful season in the league. How many ex league teams have gone out early and not gone up !!  Think it's just a VERY POOR EXCUSE for not going up. I agree with the posters who comment about people complaining about teams not taking FA Cup seriously but then say we should be fielding our reserves. Play a team to beat the opposition, doesn't have to be all present first teamers.

Quoted from Paris Mariner

Another point regarding the FA Trophy: lots of people come on here and moan when top flight teams, even Championship sides, field weaker opposition in the FA Cup and League Cup in most rounds up to the semi-finals. People say it lacks respect for the competition, it lacks respect for the lower ranked opposition etc etc and that these clubs have a duty to the rest of football to support these competitions. In the same breath people say, when bigger clubs take all the money for themselves it is to the greater detriment of the sport of football and the community it represents.

Surely, at a Conference club - and one of the biggest at that - we have a duty in our premier competition after the FA Cup to adhere to these principals that so many vaunt at our level? Out of respect to our fellow smaller clubs, respectively speaking, we should treat the competition seriously and endeavour to both win it and enjoy it.

What good does boycotting a competition which can provide and good revenue stream for the club and a memorable day out at Wembley? Anybody who went to Cambridge away last season will remember the pandemonium at the death when we, briefly, got ourselves back in the tie and a realistic shot at Wembley.

Any club should be proud to lift a Trophy at Wembley whatever the competition, especially a national competition. It would be nice to see some of our fans have a little more grace and class. It always used to annoy me when Sir Jack Hayward would say, after Wolves inevitably missed out on the play-offs again and we stayed up, "another year of going to play teams like Crewe and Grimsby on a wet Tuesday night". How the boot is sorely on the other foot.

There's showing a competition respect and holding up your principles and there's playing a strong side in determent to your main goals.

There are reasons teams play weakened teams in competitions with less priority. Look at how Everton are doing in the league because of their insistence on playing a strong side in Europe.

Is in any co-incidence that our form always dips off after December, just as the FA Trophy takes over Saturdays?

And how would our fans respond if we drew Man U, Chelsea or Arsenal in an FA Cup match at BP and their manager stated he would only played reserve or Youth players? This Forum would be full of venom about their arrogance.

Don't you think it would be great to get to the final and stuff  Gary Hill's lot.  That would make him smile !!