WANDERERS will “make the best” of a revamped Football League Trophy despite voting against under-21 teams being included in the competition this season.

Plans were given majority approval at the league’s AGM in Portugal at the end of last week for 16 category-one academy teams to join the 48 clubs from Leagues One and Two in what was until recently branded the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Incentivised by an extra £1million in prize money from the Premier League, u21 sides from Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal will now take part in a one-year trial which will involve 16 regionalised groups of four before becoming a straight knockout towards a Wembley final.

Simon Marland, Wanderers’ representative at the AGM, admits he has reservations about the plan, based largely on dwindling crowds at existing reserve-team games.

But he says a competition which brought him a first taste of a showpiece final as a supporter back in 1986 is still something the Whites will be looking to win.

“I take the view that we have been playing against the top clubs at u21 level for a number of years but the gates have always been low,” he told The Bolton News.

“We played against City in the Manchester Senior Cup final, with something at stake, and they had a new signing making his debut and one or two big names but it was watched by 750 people.

“At Leyland we offer season-ticket holders free entry to games but the average is about 120, so my worry is that people are just not going to want to pay to see the games.

“Now I’m not saying for a second we would not treat it seriously and if we got to Wembley it would be a fantastic thing for the club.

"I remember 1986 like it was yesterday – I know we got hammered in the final by Bristol City but the two-legged win against Wigan Athletic in the semi-final and the fact we were sampling Wembley for the first time since 1958 was incredible.

“Times have changed and football has changed. On a Tuesday and Wednesday night we’re up against Champions League, Premier League, a whole host of things.

“I hope by next year we have had a good run and that we have won the thing but I can’t see it as anything other than a risk for the Football League.”

Three years after losing out to Bristol City in what was then the Freight Rover Trophy, Wanderers returned to Wembley with a stunning 4-1 win over Torquay United in the newly-branded Sherpa Van Trophy.

This year’s competition will not carry any branding but Marland believes sponsorship will be one of the sticking points to the revamped trophy becoming a success.

“If you got two u21 teams in the final it would be a disaster from that point of view,” he said. “Everyone recognises that something needs to be done and the league has tried everything – cheap tickets, 7pm kick-off times to attract families, but nothing has really made the public bite.

“Like most things it boils down to money and that is only going to come from the Premier League and the television.

“Last year I think there were three televised games shown from the JPT and the year before that, five.

“The Football League are looking to award prize money as you go along, so theoretically you can pick up £10,000 for winning a game and for the smaller clubs in Leagues One and Two, that’s the carrot.

“There was a roughly similar split in voting in both divisions with the bigger clubs tending to think it wouldn’t really work.

“Perhaps it’s okay if you draw Manchester United or Manchester City as they are regionalising it but they are inviting category-one academies, so it could just as easily be Blackburn Rovers or Wolves u21s.

“Of course it’s done now and we have to make the best of it but it is very much a gamble in my eyes.”

Marland also confirmed the much-vaunted “League Three” proposal was also discussed between representatives at the meeting.

It has been suggested reducing the size of divisions outside the Premier League to 20 could lead to the creation of another tier.

FA chairman Greg Dyke once floated the idea of B teams plying their trade outside the top flight but his proposal was met with fierce criticism from most within the game.

Exactly how another division would be stocked, or how the loss of four home games a season would be recompensed are now the topics of debate.

“There’s only one place the money would come from and that’s the Premier League,” said Marland. “But they are not necessarily saying teams would come from there. If they wanted to bring them up from the National League, I can’t imagine them agreeing because it would cause havoc.”