New League Cup Format


Dylan-Saints
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at 1st i thought that sounded quite good but then i realised taking away the 1off matches takes away the chances of the big upsets and the wee teams getting through.esp asking part time teams to come back from summer and go straight into playing every 3/4 days their pretty much guarenteeing the top 16 teams in the quarters. not a big fan of a winter shut down either. an no mention of when the later rounds are

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at 1st i thought that sounded quite good but then i realised taking away the 1off matches takes away the chances of the big upsets and the wee teams getting through.esp asking part time teams to come back from summer and go straight into playing every 3/4 days their pretty much guarenteeing the top 16 teams in the quarters. not a big fan of a winter shut down either. an no mention of when the later rounds are

That's true but on the flip-side of that it'll give all of the smaller clubs four guaranteed matches in the competition, with at least one (sometimes two) coming against bigger sides - so I guess most smaller clubs would see that as an acceptable trade off.

I'm generally on board with the idea, as I think the League Cup has been slowly becoming an irrelevance to a lot of fans and it's been in need of a re-vamp for a while. This might not be perfect, but I think it's worth a try. And mid-week fixtures in summer weather are always fun. I do see a few immediate questions/reservations with the new format though...

- How will it be decided who plays at home and who plays away?

- Will groups be seeded so that each group has at least one club from each division?

- Will groups be regionalised?

- Will gate receipts be split between clubs?

- When will the rest of the competition be played?

- I get that European clubs can't be included at that stage, but if this had happened this season it would have put Saints at a possible disadvantage going into the season. We went out of Europe on 9th July, a whole week before this would be even due to start - meaning we'd have been left kicking our heels and scraping around for friendly matches while our league competitors would all be getting proper matches under their belts.

- None of this really solves what I see as the biggest problem with the League Cup's credibility, which is that the winner doesn't get to qualify for Europe.

I don't really see the point of the winter break, but I guess perhaps some clubs felt that if they were all going to be asked to start their seasons earlier, they'd like a break in the middle. Given the endless tedious international breaks forced upon the domestic calendar though, it hardly seems necessary.

Edited by blueheaven
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Sounds horrendous, especially if it is regionalised. Woohoo to playing the same teams every year in the group stages.

A winter break too? Pray tell me when "winter" is in Scotland. It runs from November to the end of March. The two weeks we take off could be the best two weeks of the winter!

Scrap the League Cup in full.

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That's true but on the flip-side of that it'll give all of the smaller clubs four guaranteed matches in the competition, with at least one (sometimes two) coming against bigger sides - so I guess most smaller clubs would see that as an acceptable trade off.

I'm generally on board with the idea, as I think the League Cup has been slowly becoming an irrelevance to a lot of fans and it's been in need of a re-vamp for a while. This might not be perfect, but I think it's worth a try. And mid-week fixtures in summer weather are always fun. I do see a few immediate questions/reservations with the new format though...

- How will it be decided who plays at home and who plays away?

- Will groups be seeded so that each group has at least one club from each division?

- Will groups be regionalised?

- Will gate receipts be split between clubs?

- When will the rest of the competition be played?

- I get that European clubs can't be included at that stage, but if this had happened this season it would have put Saints at a possible disadvantage going into the season. We went out of Europe on 9th July, a whole week before this would be even due to start - meaning we'd have been left kicking our heels and scraping around for friendly matches while our league competitors would all be getting proper matches under their belts.

- None of this really solves what I see as the biggest problem with the League Cup's credibility, which is that the winner doesn't get to qualify for Europe.

I don't really see the point of the winter break, but I guess perhaps some clubs felt that if they were all going to be asked to start their seasons earlier, they'd like a break in the middle. Given the endless tedious international breaks forced upon the domestic calendar though, it hardly seems necessary.

Loosely regionalised.

If we dont make Europe we would probably get Brora,Elgin,Peterhead,& Raith.

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It's a good idea. However I think the straight to penalties and extra point is a bit naff. 

I'm assuming that it's not regionalised.

Still good to have competitive football in the summer evenings.

Here's hoping we miss the group stages though.

Broadly agree with you especially your last point.  I would question their description of the bonus or extra point.  Trying to read the small print amongst all the bombast from Doncaster it appears a team gets 3 points for winning in 90 minutes, 2 points if they draw and win the penalty shoot out, 1 point if they lose said shoot out and 0 points if they get schooshed in 90 minutes.  Worth a try though.

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They should go the whole hog and bring back the Tennents 6s. I still have great memories of watching this.

The winter break is a daft idea but the league cup changes sound interesting at worst, worth a try and also means we'd be the last winners of the "old" League Cup format.

What really worries me is the suggestion of playing games abroad. That sort of nonsense can f*ck right off before it gains any traction.I'd rather Saints were poorer for it than have them fly over to Boston to play a bit part in Celtic's self promotion to a group of sycophants. Gross generalisation I know but let's be honest very few in the US will have sweaty palms at the thought of seeing Dundee FC.  

Edited by mike_gain
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I think it is a good idea. Certainly worth a try. Clubs pretty much playing the same teams in frendlies that time of year even if it is regionalised. Saints, Dundee, Utd and 2 others in a wee summer leaguer would be fantastic.

£8m over 4 years for the tv along is pretty decent too. Should in turn lead to higher sponsorship.

Genuinely can't see a real downside to this.

I may be wrong, but I'm sure in the past that when a winter break was mentioned, it was suggested that it could be fluid. Eg if it was say first 2 weeks in January and there was really bad weather in December and a load of call offs, then the postponed games could be played during the 'break'.

As someone said, it is a step towards summer football and a larger top league.

As an aside, it throws down the gauntlet to the BBC and to a lesser extent sky. Someone out there (BT) sees a real value in Scottish football. If they want to be part of it ( and I suspect sky at least certainly do) then they are gong to have to stump up a bit more for it and raise their game.

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Happy to try something new with the league cup and see how it goes but can't stand the winter break idea.  When we had it previously players hated it because it meant they lost match fitness and had to do a mini-pre season.  Everyone else will just end up playing lots of friendlies to maintain fitness whilst celtic jet off on a money making tour.

International break weekends are bad enough as it is currently in spoiling the momentum of the season.  Football is a winter sport, to give us something to do in the long dark winter months.  It will be shite without any games to watch.

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Nothing NEW about this,(apart from the tv deal) in fact remember a similar format at the start of each season.

From memory, think the attendances were pretty poor.

Can't see Saints being on the telly versus Elgin, Peterhead, Cowden or Arbroath or folk going in their droves to watch such fixtures.

Dungcaster will be patting himself on the back for dreaming up a new format.:laugh:

 

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the old league Cup group format was four teams, home and away. (I still remember losing 9-2 to Hibs one year). This format, five teams, play once, is more interesting. It'll be better than pre-season friendlies, which are increasingly an irrelevance in the modern age. I think it's worth a try. Just as long as the whole thing doesn't drag on till March for the final...

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The group format was binned because it was crap and folk stopped going to watch the games, yet now it's the greatest thing since sliced bread; the cup was also finished by December but now they drag it out forever. The sooner someone is appointed who actually realises you can't polish a turd, the better. Bin this pointless cup.

Edited by Denzil
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