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jodjam
07-12-2015, 10:39 PM
Can't post link but spfl just announced the change to the cup. 8 groups of 5 playing each other once. Penalty shoot outs for bonus point after a draw.

Guess club will have to amend cup top now.

DTS
07-12-2015, 10:39 PM
As it says on the tin
http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/new-league-cup-format-announced/

I'm all for changing the game up for the better but I'm not totally convinced with having competitive games in July and I'd say it may actually end up devaluing the league cup into more of a "mickey mouse" cup as the group games will almost be like pre season games

Diclonius
07-12-2015, 10:39 PM
http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/new-league-cup-format-announced/

8 groups of 5, games played over 2 and a half weeks in the second half of July, winner and 4 best runners up qualify for the round of 16 along with the 4 teams in Europe.

Sounds fine, but will they regionalise it? Also not too keen on the "Winter break".

bingo70
07-12-2015, 10:48 PM
Think this sounds utter pish.

Who comes up with this nonsense and whys it launched at this time on a Monday night?!

Liam89
07-12-2015, 10:50 PM
Think it sounds fine. Something needed changing anyway; hopefully this will be a breath of fresh air into the competition.

Onceinawhile
07-12-2015, 10:50 PM
I like the idea

Baldy Foghorn
07-12-2015, 10:51 PM
Do teams then get 3 home games and 2 away games in 14 days......

Sounds another botched up idea to me............

Sir David Gray
07-12-2015, 10:52 PM
Not happy with the winter break at all.

Boring. :rolleyes:

stantonhibby
07-12-2015, 10:53 PM
Think this sounds utter pish.

Who comes up with this nonsense and whys it launched at this time on a Monday night?!

Indeed. Why they can't just get on with reconstructing the leagues I don't know. As has been said this will just devalue the cup further. Ah well at least we'll be the last winners in the current format.

zolliehibs
07-12-2015, 10:53 PM
Not too fussed about the winter break either way as one of those weeks is usually cup weekend anyway.

League cup idea sounds interesting though - interested to see if it will be regionalised/seeded in any particular way. Could see an Old Firm derby being shoehorned in down the line.

LancashireHibby
07-12-2015, 10:54 PM
Can only assume it will be regionalised, but that'll get a bit repetitive after a year or two. Also rules out any lucrative pre-season friendlies, though I suppose it's been a while since we've had one of those, and it should provide good preparation for the league campaign.

First few games will be particularly sluggish as well unless clubs start pre-season training in early-mid June.

With a guaranteed number of home games, it will be interesting to see how this is packaged in terms of season tickets and CTU's. Do you include all group games in the season ticket, or just run it as previous CTU systems and risk particularly low crowds? Would including it in season tickets mean that families are less likely to buy, given the season tickets would start before the schools even break up for summer?

Boyle89
07-12-2015, 10:55 PM
Sounds like change for changes sake. Don't like it. Might be good, time will tell.
Also not keen on winter break.

3pm
07-12-2015, 10:58 PM
Players burnt out in August! :greengrin

Speedy
07-12-2015, 10:58 PM
Think this sounds utter pish.

Who comes up with this nonsense and whys it launched at this time on a Monday night?!

This Monday thing is ridiculous. Same with the draws.

Eyrie
07-12-2015, 11:00 PM
Do teams then get 3 home games and 2 away games in 14 days......

Sounds another botched up idea to me............

I'm assuming that a group of five means two home games and two away games as you'd only play each opponent once.

But I agree with your second comment.

LancashireHibby
07-12-2015, 11:02 PM
Good to see the winter break is back on the agenda. Because, as we all know, Scotland only suffers adverse weather conditions for a fortnight in January.

Haymaker
07-12-2015, 11:04 PM
Well this is strange

B.H.F.C
07-12-2015, 11:05 PM
Everybody will just use the group stage as a pre season.

It'll only really get interesting from the last 16.

Baldy Foghorn
07-12-2015, 11:06 PM
I'm assuming that a group of five means two home games and two away games as you'd only play each opponent once.

But I agree with your second comment.

Taking effect from summer 2016, the new format will see eight groups of five teams play each other once each in a round-robin format across five July dates (16th, 20th, 23th, 27th & 30th).

I made an ass of opening comment, so two home, two away.....:aok:

ScottB
07-12-2015, 11:11 PM
I'm assuming this is a precursor to an expanded top flight switching to 2 matches per season against each team, with this League Cup, if regionalised, chucks in extra derbies as a compensatory effort to the clubs?

Pretty strange time of night to put a PR announcement mind. Having a sponsor for it would have helped too!

Bronson
07-12-2015, 11:16 PM
While this is a bit odd, I quite like it. Interested to see how it works out.

LaMotta
07-12-2015, 11:16 PM
Taking effect from summer 2016, the new format will see eight groups of five teams play each other once each in a round-robin format across five July dates (16th, 20th, 23th, 27th & 30th).

I made an ass of opening comment, so two home, two away.....:aok:

That means that one team per group will have played all its matches before the other teams....luck of the draw I suppose. Assuming there will be seeding as well to keep big teams apart??

.Sean.
07-12-2015, 11:16 PM
😂😂😂😂😂😂

And launched on a Monday night. At 10pm.

Mind-boggling, amateur, shambles of an organisation.

Haymaker
07-12-2015, 11:18 PM
😂😂😂😂😂😂

And launched on a Monday night. At 10pm.

Mind-boggling, amateur, shambles of an organisation.

Agree

lucky
07-12-2015, 11:27 PM
I like the change, spices it up a bit. Now when the league reconstruction going to be introduced?

iwasthere1972
07-12-2015, 11:30 PM
That means that one team per group will have played all its matches before the other teams....luck of the draw I suppose. Assuming there will be seeding as well to keep big teams apart??

To avoid the above situation it may have been better doing 10 groups of four teams and the two best runners-up to go through to the next round. Or am I just be daft?

SteveHFC
07-12-2015, 11:33 PM
What a stupid idea. Should just have a simple knockout round with 2 legs.

cabbageandribs1875
07-12-2015, 11:34 PM
will that be a the players holidaybobs having to get fitted in to a shorter time frame, may as well just get round to playing summer football :)

Saturday Boy
07-12-2015, 11:36 PM


And launched on a Monday night. At 10pm.

Mind-boggling, amateur, shambles of an organisation.


And this is a quote from the article:

The current Scottish League Cup format involves six rounds; the new format, scheduled to kick off on Saturday 16 July, 2015, involves four rounds plus the new group stage

That's right, new format starts six months ago.:confused: I never even noticed.

Peevemor
07-12-2015, 11:52 PM
The league cup used to start with early season group stages back in the 80s but the format was binned because everyone hated it. The overwhelming consensus was that a straightforward knockout format was much more exciting. Definitely change for the sake of it.

Scouse Hibee
07-12-2015, 11:55 PM
Talk about complicating a simple cup competition.

BroxburnHibee
07-12-2015, 11:55 PM
And this is a quote from the article:

The current Scottish League Cup format involves six rounds; the new format, scheduled to kick off on Saturday 16 July, 2015, involves four rounds plus the new group stage

That's right, new format starts six months ago.:confused: I never even noticed.





It also says one of the rounds to be played on the 23th :tee hee:

Sir David Gray
07-12-2015, 11:57 PM


And launched on a Monday night. At 10pm.

Mind-boggling, amateur, shambles of an organisation.

If only they were that good.

erin go bragh
08-12-2015, 12:06 AM
Can't post link but spfl just announced the change to the cup. 8 groups of 5 playing each other once. Penalty shoot outs for bonus point after a draw.

Guess club will have to amend cup top now.

Winners of this seasons Scottish cup won't play in the group stage :• wink

GGTTH

GreenCastle
08-12-2015, 12:10 AM


And launched on a Monday night. At 10pm.

Mind-boggling, amateur, shambles of an organisation.

When I first read it I thought it was a joke article.

Why would they release it at such an odd time?

Format wise...teams may use it for pre-season or have to start earlier which means quite a few games in a few days - potential risk of injury with little recovery time.

Also curious how this change came about ? Clubs must have voted ?

Hopefully they will change the league structure as that's what really needs fixed!

Halifaxhibby
08-12-2015, 02:42 AM
Utter pash!, back of a fag packet material. The bigot brothers will greet about it as they usually have lucrative pre seasons lined up. No excuse from anyone in europe though cant say they won't be competitively up to speed. Mind you players will be put off signing for teams in scotland. Your average player nowadays needs 2 months holiday a year after 1 to 2 games a week over 10 months!!!!!

California-Hibs
08-12-2015, 02:44 AM
I actually think it's a really good change. Good that we'll now see some competitive games in July. A derby in the sunshine wouldn't go a miss either. Like how they've scrapped extra time and it's straight to penalties.

More money also. I welcome this change and think It might just actually be a success.

Moulin Yarns
08-12-2015, 06:43 AM
Can only assume it will be regionalised, but that'll get a bit repetitive after a year or two. Also rules out any lucrative pre-season friendlies, though I suppose it's been a while since we've had one of those, and it should provide good preparation for the league campaign.

First few games will be particularly sluggish as well unless clubs start pre-season training in early-mid June.

With a guaranteed number of home games, it will be interesting to see how this is packaged in terms of season tickets and CTU's. Do you include all group games in the season ticket, or just run it as previous CTU systems and risk particularly low crowds? Would including it in season tickets mean that families are less likely to buy, given the season tickets would start before the schools even break up for summer?


In Scotland, schools are off during July and first half of August. It is only in England that the schools are on holiday later.

Thecat23
08-12-2015, 06:55 AM
Think it's a good idea, also happy with the winter break!

jodjam
08-12-2015, 06:56 AM
We need change but this will affect crowds. With only one going through and half the runners up this will create a lot of dead games in the last round of fixtures.

Aritch
08-12-2015, 06:58 AM
I'm assuming this is a precursor to an expanded top flight switching to 2 matches per season against each team, with this League Cup, if regionalised, chucks in extra derbies as a compensatory effort to the clubs?

Pretty strange time of night to put a PR announcement mind. Having a sponsor for it would have helped too!

That's my take on it too. This has always been one of the quoted stipulations in switching to a 16/18 team league playing twice a season.

Mark79
08-12-2015, 07:16 AM
Is this the best they can come up with? Sounds like BT had a gap in July needed filled so along come Scottish football with some "it's a knockout" style cup.

Usual nonsense from spfl, selling us out for next to hee haw.laughing stock of British football.

Pretty Boy
08-12-2015, 08:29 AM
It's an idea with a bit potential that has been totally 'Scottish footballed' in it's execution.

One of the wort things in Scottish football at the moment is seeing the same teams 4 times a season, it even dilutes the derby imo. Now we will potentially see the same team 5 times a season, whoopee. I just can't see crowds flocking to see 4 games in 2 weeks when the early stages of the league cup already struggle to attract decent crowds (I know that's not been the case at ER this season but more generally speaking).

Now had this been used as a chance to expand the top league to 16 teams and use a group format to make up the shortfall in fixtures, move the final back to November like it used to be to makke this an early season competition rather than drag it on for months and suck any buzz out of it, introduce set ticket prices of no more than £10 an adult and £3 a child to really trial lower pricing and maybe even allow a ticket stub, along with whetever price was set, to be exchanged for a (plastic) bottle of beer (a cold beer at the football on July sounds good to me) and maybe a rule that each squad of 18 had to include 5 or 6 under 20s in the group stages as well then I could almost see the point.

DarrenSQH
08-12-2015, 08:30 AM
It sounds terrible and makes Scottish football out to be even more of a joke than it already is.

Bonus points after penalty shoot outs. What were they thinking

Pretty Boy
08-12-2015, 08:32 AM
Utter pash!, back of a fag packet material. The bigot brothers will greet about it as they usually have lucrative pre seasons lined up. No excuse from anyone in europe though cant say they won't be competitively up to speed. Mind you players will be put off signing for teams in scotland. Your average player nowadays needs 2 months holiday a year after 1 to 2 games a week over 10 months!!!!!

Teams that qualify for Europe skip the group stages.

Waxy
08-12-2015, 08:54 AM
Ruining a good tournament. Keep it as it is ya donuts.

Waxy
08-12-2015, 08:56 AM
I'd do some sort of anglo Scottish cup in July instead.

Moulin Yarns
08-12-2015, 09:04 AM
We could ask Texaco to sponsor it :wink:

NAE NOOKIE
08-12-2015, 09:40 AM
Not sure about this, it has a touch of 'back to the future' about it. It does throw up the prospect of a derby with Edinburgh City or Spartans I suppose. Its a bit annoying that a pre season friendly down south will be pretty well out of the question now, which personally I always look forward to.

The SPFL are a bit wide of the mark saying this answers a call for competitive summer football. The call from a lot of fans was for a change to the league to play through the summer, or at least giving it a go, not to re jig the league cup to have clubs start competitive football two weeks earlier. Typical of the blazers though, the engine needs looked at so they buy a magic tree.

As for the winter break, its an utter waste of time in Scotland. The two weeks set aside could be fine and the weeks either side terrible, all they are doing is increasing the risk of a fixture pile up.

The_Exile
08-12-2015, 09:56 AM
I was all for this idea IF the league was reconstructed, looks like it isn't, so now we play a team 4 times a year in the league, potentially once in the group stages of the league cup and I take it there's also a chance you meet them in the knockout if both of you get through, then potential to meet them in the Scottish cup, plus if there's replays needed in the knockout rounds how many times is that you could meet the same team in one year? 7? 8? Madness.

snedzuk
08-12-2015, 10:07 AM
on the up side, Hibernian - in another first - will be the only side to win the league cup successively in two formats....

rabcp1
08-12-2015, 11:12 AM
I'm all for this it'll be nice to get some competitive games in July and will guarantee every club at least 2 Home games in the cup which will be a god send for clubs in league 1,2 and the two clubs from the Highland/Lower league. If this is a success it may trigger more league reconstruction or the possibility of proper summer football, its also worth noting that this new format has doubled the TV deal for the league cup too!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3350137/Scottish-League-Cup-revamp-paves-way-return-winter-break-season.html

LancashireHibby
08-12-2015, 11:14 AM
In Scotland, schools are off during July and first half of August. It is only in England that the schools are on holiday later.
Ok then, they start smack bang in the middle of the school holidays. Reinforces my point even more if anything as many family will be missing a game or two before the league starts.

--------
08-12-2015, 11:21 AM
I was all for this idea IF the league was reconstructed, looks like it isn't, so now we play a team 4 times a year in the league, potentially once in the group stages of the league cup and I take it there's also a chance you meet them in the knockout if both of you get through, then potential to meet them in the Scottish cup, plus if there's replays needed in the knockout rounds how many times is that you could meet the same team in one year? 7? 8? Madness.


Don't the knock-out rounds go to extra time and penalties? I'm just asking - the article on the BBC website says "traditional knockout format" but doesn't go into details.

But I agree with you - this means Hibs could meet a team 7 times in the one season.

And we play four section matches just to reach the last 16? Without involving the four best trams from the previous season. Cannae wait! :rolleyes:

danhibees1875
08-12-2015, 11:26 AM
It's an idea with a bit potential that has been totally 'Scottish footballed' in it's execution.

One of the wort things in Scottish football at the moment is seeing the same teams 4 times a season, it even dilutes the derby imo. Now we will potentially see the same team 5 times a season, whoopee. I just can't see crowds flocking to see 4 games in 2 weeks when the early stages of the league cup already struggle to attract decent crowds (I know that's not been the case at ER this season but more generally speaking).

Now had this been used as a chance to expand the top league to 16 teams and use a group format to make up the shortfall in fixtures, move the final back to November like it used to be to makke this an early season competition rather than drag it on for months and suck any buzz out of it, introduce set ticket prices of no more than £10 an adult and £3 a child to really trial lower pricing and maybe even allow a ticket stub, along with whetever price was set, to be exchanged for a (plastic) bottle of beer (a cold beer at the football on July sounds good to me) and maybe a rule that each squad of 18 had to include 5 or 6 under 20s in the group stages as well then I could almost see the point.

I quite like the idea generally and think it's a good starting point, I also have no issue with the timing of the release tbh.

The ideas highlighted above would be brilliant! But unfortunately, all seems very unlikely at the moment. With the exception of a 16 team league; which I think will happen sooner rather than later (preferably 2 of them, with a regionalised pyramid system underneath them).

Does anyone know if the League cup groups are seeded or regionalised at all?


I was all for this idea IF the league was reconstructed, looks like it isn't, so now we play a team 4 times a year in the league, potentially once in the group stages of the league cup and I take it there's also a chance you meet them in the knockout if both of you get through, then potential to meet them in the Scottish cup, plus if there's replays needed in the knockout rounds how many times is that you could meet the same team in one year? 7? 8? Madness.

If they were Championship or below, they could meet in the Petrofac and Play-offs also.

League x 4
Play-offs x 2
League cup x2
SC + Replay = 2
Petrofac = 1

If, one of the teams had just been relegated from the premiership with exemplary discipline and Scotland had won the fair play award for an extra European place and the other team had won the Scottish Cup in the previous year; they could conceivably meet in the European Cup group stages and play another twice. I guess they could also arrange a friendly for pre-season.

14 I guess?

rabcp1
08-12-2015, 11:55 AM
Does anyone know if the League cup groups are seeded or regionalised at all?

The groups will be ‘loosely regionalised’

BH Hibs
08-12-2015, 11:56 AM
Another case of ****ing up a decent idea. It's a clear now as ever there'won't be any proper league reconstruction as all they are caring about and praying for is the return of four bigot bashes asap.

PatHead
08-12-2015, 12:01 PM
Hopefully it is the start of league re-construction with the ultimate aim being summer football. This will have to happen for the Qatar World Cup anyway as there will be an enforced shutdown to allow the tournament to take place.

Once summer football is in place for this tournament they can sneak the start of the league season in amongst it and hey presto we have summer football with a winter shutdown! Sky/BT have something to televise over the summer as well.

I really hope they increase the leagues to 18 with us only meeting twice as well. It is boring seeing the same teams again and again.

I also suspect it will be the end of the Petrofac Cup.

ballengeich
08-12-2015, 12:03 PM
I like the idea of a bonus point for the penalty shoot-out as it means every game has three points to play for instead of draws only having a total of two.

However, the SPFL is incorrect in thinking it's a world first. The Stirlingshire cup used the format for a couple of seasons about a decade ago.

rabcp1
08-12-2015, 12:17 PM
"If you look at Denmark they are currently bringing in a 14-team league from what was a 12-team league previously. Innovation in league football always continues all around the world and we're no exception."

I wonder if this is a hint from Doncaster (taken from here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35037580) Hopefully theirs some form of league reconstruction in the works

7 Up
08-12-2015, 12:18 PM
Teams that qualify for Europe skip the group stages.

So if they get to the final those teams will play a maximum of four games, but the rest have to play up to eight? Seems a bit unfair.

It also diminishes overall interest in the group stage not having four of the country's top teams taking part.

GreenCastle
08-12-2015, 12:24 PM
I'm all for change but just not sure this is it..

You have to play 8 games to win the cup.

You can draw a game - get 1pt but loose on the lottery of a pentalty shootout - other team gets 2 points.

How are games decided who is playing home or away in groups?

Who actually decided this structure ?

The only thing that will help me accept this is if they change the league to 16 teams.

As others pointed out it could be 7 or 8 times you play the same team in a season!

PatHead
08-12-2015, 12:56 PM
Also notice that BT are now covering the League Cup, no longer BBC covering The Rangers games until they get knocked out.

The SPFL is delighted to announce that BT Sport will become the exclusive live TV broadcaster of the League Cup from summer 2016. BT Sport will screen six games from the group stage in July and a further seven games from the knock-out rounds for each of Seasons 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20. BT Sport’s new contract will increase the money available for all the clubs significantly.
Read more at http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/new-league-cup-format-announced/#88XAiHjqVdeP6QAr.99


Interesting comment in the press release from BT which makes me expect summer football to be driven by the TV companies.

"Today’s agreement expands our summer programming line-up"

Gatecrasher
08-12-2015, 12:57 PM
The league cup was dying on its arse anyway, the crowds we have had this season were appalling. I say we at least give this a shot.

jgl07
08-12-2015, 01:17 PM
Not too fussed about the winter break either way as one of those weeks is usually cup weekend anyway.
The Winter break was a bad joke the last time.

Scotland will not give up the New Year fixtures. That means a break in January to allow Celtic and Rangers to play money spinning matches in the Far East or USA. Teams would still have to play in foul wet weather in December and would be back by February just in time for the big freeze. There was decent weather in January when the break was on the last time.

I don't see how it can be fitted in around a 38 match League season. The only major League to have a winter break is Germany who play only 34 league matches. Spain, Italy, France and England play 38. With the League Cup starting in July, it would mean going through to June to complete the fixtures. That would not work half the time with World Cup and European Championships on.

That is unless the SPFL PD season was reduced to say 30 matches?

PatHead
08-12-2015, 01:20 PM
The Winter break was a bad joke the last time.

Scotland will not give up the New Year fixtures. That means a break in January to allow Celtic and Rangers to play money spinning matches in the Far East or USA. Teams would still have to play in foul wet weather in December and would be back by February just in time for the big freeze. There was decent weather in January when the break was on the last time.

I don't see how it can be fitted in around a 38 match League season. The only major League to have a winter break is Germany who play only 34 league matches. Spain, Italy, France and England play 38. With the League Cup starting in July, it would mean going through to June to complete the fixtures. That would not work half the time with World Cup and European Championships on.

That is unless the SPFL PD season was reduced to say 30 matches?

A shorter season with the lower number of games funded by a better tv deal which included exclusive summer football filling their dead time in the summer? More tv coverage means better sponsorship and a higher profile to the game in general.

Could work perhaps.

MrSmith
08-12-2015, 01:29 PM
I heard it this morning and instantly thought "beware of Trojan's bearing gifts!"

Lots of "we listened to the fans" "the fans drove this" "the SMSM with the fans pushed this along"

For me, all a distraction in relation to the ongoing circus at The Rangers! Regan and Doncaster attempting to get back into the good books by offering an open door for reconstruction to distract those who suspect them of dodgy dealings in the sevcogate plot!

PatHead
08-12-2015, 01:30 PM
Love a good conspiracy theory. What bad news are they burying?

The_Sauz
08-12-2015, 02:33 PM
Just came up on the BBC website, Ann Budge not happy about the League Cup change! looks like the SPFL just went a head and changed it with out telling the clubs!

GreenCastle
08-12-2015, 02:47 PM
Haha!

This answers my earlier question...who actually decided this ?!!! Surely a vote needs to take place?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35040077

I want to know Hibs views on this change ?

PatHead
08-12-2015, 02:57 PM
Haha!

This answers my earlier question...who actually decided this ?!!! Surely a vote needs to take place?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35040077

I want to know Hibs views on this change ?

It is funny how they (Doncaster, Regan, et al) are only carrying out the clubs wishes when it suits however clubs appear in the dark over these changes.

GreenCastle
08-12-2015, 03:03 PM
It is funny how they (Doncaster, Regan, et al) are only carrying out the clubs wishes when it suits however clubs appear in the dark over these changes.

I would like to know if Hibs were consulted ? LD should be able to give us an update.

Did a vote take place where Budge wasn't on the board ? I remember a few months ago she wasn't able to get on it..

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/budge-fails-in-spfl-role-bid_sto4827925/story.shtml

Seems 8 people decided on this change then?

Kato
08-12-2015, 03:06 PM
Just came up on the BBC website, Ann Budge not happy about the League Cup change! looks like the SPFL just went a head and changed it with out telling the clubs!

Oh dear, better go back and undo the changes and wait on her approval in that case.

mghibs
08-12-2015, 03:39 PM
Interesting change, however could still be coupled with a future change to the league. I remember reading they had inserted a rule that they could not discuss further league reconstruction until the summer of 2016. Could be that we get a year of the current league with the new league cup, before a restructured league for the summer of 2017.

Jim44
08-12-2015, 03:40 PM
Oh dear, better go back and undo the changes and wait on her approval in that case.

OK, it's good to see Queen Anne getting miffed, but she does have a point. Nice of them to mention their China TV deal in passing. No mention of it's worth except as a marketing opportunity.

Hibeesforever
08-12-2015, 06:53 PM
I'd do some sort of anglo Scottish cup in July instead.

Absolutely more interesting to the punter. Another alternative is to reinstate an Edinburgh select and then take on decent European opposition.
Sounds like a long winded Dryborough Cup.
Four competitive games in two weeks during pre-season training will mean conditioning programmes will need to evolve.

WhileTheChief..
08-12-2015, 07:02 PM
And the SPFL have now refuted Budge's assertion that she was kept in the dark. She's talking *****.

heretoday
08-12-2015, 10:37 PM
on the up side, Hibernian - in another first - will be the only side to win the league cup successively in two formats....

A proud boast indeed. Remind me how that works again. Actually, don't bother.

0762
09-12-2015, 11:33 AM
Funny the only 2 out of 42 clubs who have publicly come out with comments that "we didn't know about this" were Hearts and Motherwell.

One the owner of Motherwell ..........who apparently lives in Barbados. The other, Queen Anne of Hearts who might be showing she's not that much in touch with the game. In both cases likely the team behind the scenes didn't brief them properly.

The reform of the League Cup is something that's been talked about for years. The only thing I've never heard about before was the penalty shoot-out which when I think about it might even add a bit of excitement to a 0-0 draw. Not sure that many clubs will start that much earlier with pre-season, its more likely they will use these games as a more competitive pre-season. Given out lack of quality matches in pre-season and resultant slow to the season this might not be a bad thing. Had we been more match ready maybe we would not have slipped to Dumbarton and Rangers at the start of this season.

The SPFL have tracked potential change through the media for a while now - let's give it a change. If its not right change it again but without change you will never get improvement.

fat freddy
09-12-2015, 12:12 PM
43 years ago today. We won this. Makes me feel old

Nutmegged
09-12-2015, 04:30 PM
Im all for these changes, while I accept some people believe these changes will demean the competition I personally cannot agree with that assessment at all, the League Cup has been dying a death until the Semi-Final stage for a long time so if anything I actually think this will reinvigorate our appetite for the tournament, a far better TV deal, an innovative rule change, competitife Summer Football and a chance to recharge the batters in January, the Pros far outweight the Cons here.

whiskyhibby
11-12-2015, 08:24 PM
Can't post link but spfl just announced the change to the cup. 8 groups of 5 playing each other once. Penalty shoot outs for bonus point after a draw.

Guess club will have to amend cup top now.

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic IMHO, Scottish football is dying due to a lack of competition, this small but welcome change isn't going to address that, we need to have a British league

heretoday
11-12-2015, 08:47 PM
The old League Cup was great. Bring it back instead of these stupid pre-season friendlies and have the final in November.