CLUBS in Leagues One and Two will vote on the future format of the Checkatrade Trophy next month after discussing the options at a meeting today.

Oxford United’s chairman Darryl Eales was among those who attended at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium to debate the competition’s structure for the next two seasons.

Three broad proposals remain on the table – revising this season’s format but continuing with the invited under 23 sides, returning to the 48-team competition featuring only League One and League Two clubs, or scrapping it altogether.

Eales has already made it clear he did not want the existing structure, which includes teams from Category One academies, to continue beyond the initial pilot year.

Shaun Harvey, chief executive of the EFL, also put forward several proposals to tweak the rules.

They included the relaxation of the ‘full-strength’ selection rule to not include goalkeepers, so sides could in theory make up to seven changes from their previous games.

Regionalisation up to the quarter-finals and an increase in prize money were also discussed.

Harvey said: “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.”