Town fined for breaking Checkatrade Trophy rules

Fleetwood head coach Uwe Rosler made 11 changes for Town’s final Checkatrade group game at Brunton Park last Wednesday which was their second game in the space of three days after their Monday night FA Cup first round draw at Southport.

Town fielded a number of youngsters like Oliver Roberts, George Glendon, Alex Jakubiak, Kieran Wallace and substitute keeper Alex Cairns as Carlisle won 4-2 to knock Town out of the competition.

The EFL have just released a statement on their website naming Town as one of 12 clubs that have been hit by fines for breaking rule 7.3 of the competition by not fielding a full strength team.

The EFL statement said: “All of the offences punished were due to a failure to meet competition rule 7.3 of fielding a full strength team in and during all matches. The EFL did take into account a number of mitigating factors and also considered transgressions that were not within the spirit of the rules.

“The ‘full strength’ policy for the season 2016/17 competition was five of the starting line-up must have started the previous or following game (a reduction from six in season 2015/16) or five of the starting 11 who have made the most starting appearances in League and domestic Cup competitions fixtures during the current season.

“Invited category 1 Clubs were asked to follow a different set of criteria with 6 of the starting 11 required to be under-21 as of June 30, 2016. “None of the invited clubs failed to comply.

The other clubs fined include Town’s neighbours Blackpool, Luton Town, Portsmouth, Bradford City, Bristol Rovers, MK Dons, Millwall, Charlton, Peterborough, Sheffield United and Southend United.