The League Cup is dying on its arse so fair play for them trying something even if it is reverting back to a way we did it before, kind of.

I get what you are saying about the final not being on free TV but the BT coverage of Scottish football is far better than the BBC coverage.

Danny Lennon has resigned as Alloa manager.

Definitely the right decision. He did well keeping them up last season but with his own players this season it just hasn't happened for him.

Gimmicks is a sure sign that the football is dreadful. Should maybe be more concerned with looking at that rather than having clubs playing more pointless games in the middle of July when they should be getting their fitness sorted.

They won't be pointless games though, they will be competitive games. It will help increase their fitness.

The winter break was needed.

Not sure about league cup format. A penalty shoot out after every drawn game in a group seems pretty silly.

They are pointless in terms of being needless games in a cup competition just to get to the knockout stage or indeed to be out. Does anyone really need that?


Don't see the point of a winter break when there is so much variety in the weather in Scotland.

Which is also why the clamour for proper summer football is a folly as well.

For a 10-month season, which two months are particularly bad - wet and windy October/November? Freezing cold December/January or January/February? Even March has seen snow in recent years.

No matter what months the season takes place in, we'll still have at least three with awful weather.

I don't think this league cup idea is that great to be honest who will turn out for these group games where the attendances will be terrible.

I would have had the last 16 in August , quarter in September semis October , final late November .

Now the tournament is even more stretched out.

So no more BBC then, although 13 games live is a lot

6 groups games
last 16 two games
Quarters two games
Both semis (always a farce that only 1 was shown though)
The final

What is wrong with the League Cup being brought back to being done and dusted before Christmas?

Oh and if they want to do something innovative that is sadly missed bring back the Tennents Sixes in the winter break.

So the answer is to play through all of the possibilities so you are guaranteed horrific weather?

A 2 week winter break in January is absolutely pointless, those 2 weeks might be better than the month before it and the month after it!

This is why Scottish football is screwed, the fans are just as daft as the people that run it.

There was no need for a winter break in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986 or 1990 when the Scottish national team were qualifying for World Cups and Scottish clubs were doing well in Europe, both on worse pitches than they play on today.

Whats daft is assuming that chucking a random break into the middle of the season where then there may or may not be bad weather will actually help improve anything to do with the game.

Agreed you can winter weather anytime from November to April you can also get mild winters /springs in this period as well.

All it will do is allow Celtic to go and play in the Middle East, Tenerife or wherever for friendlies then of course they will moan that not enough is being done for clubs in europe.

Regarding the league cup say rangers get promoted but they won't be in Europe, then of course that rules them out of pre season friendlies down south etc , instead off to Ayr, Dumbarton etc for league cup ties

It's head in the sand attitudes like those shown above that mean we will never progress,
"It worked in the past so it must be the best way to do it"

There has been a huge increase in the number of National Football teams since 1990 never mind theprevious dates, football is changing......except for viewers in Scotland!

What wouldn't improve with summer football? You'd have better pitches, better weather (despite arguments to the contrary), more people willing to attend games, increased interest from down south as it's their off season, increased sponsorship/tv interest etc. The list could go on and on but, just like the SFA blazers they so often criticise, too many of our fans are stuck in their ways.

Dare I say good pitches and nicer weather would be less conducive to running about a lot to keep warm and hoof ball because the ball won't roll on the mudflats.

What do our Dundee contingent make of Roger Mitchell's claims that the 2 sides were ready to merge?

Was it common knowledge in the city at the time?

Don't think I'd heard the story until I read the BBC site.

Evening telegraph saying it was possible but never as close as what roger Mitchell claimed it was

So as close to happening as SPL TV then.

Pretty much

If summer football is the answer - how did Northern Ireland and Wales avoid winters like Scotland gets?

My head isn't in the sand at all I just think the minor clamour for Summer football is totally avoiding the issue.

My point about the 70s and 80s wasn't to say "because something worked in the past don't change it", not at all. My point was that if you have good players then that overcomes any obstacles that there might be. I genuinely don't think the weather is that big a deal in truth. The problem is the football is mostly dreadful and there seems to be no one addressing THAT specifically. You can play football on bowling greens if you like but if the players are rank they are rank.

If you want to look at summer football as part of a package of measures to overhaul the game then by all means to do so but people are offering it up as some sort of stand alone idea and I think its pointless.

Every time Scotland bomb people shout about change, ignore whats going on around them and start again with the next qualifying campaign. Minor nations are now qualifying ahead of Scotland. Wales are light years ahead and now Northern Ireland are qualifying too. You cant blame the weather! Scotland are being left behind by countries of similar or lesser size who play in similar or worse conditions with similar or smaller leagues. People need to look a bit deeper as to why that might be.

Lets hope all our fans come home safe and sound, after the game tonight !

People down here dont give a damn about scottish football and a difference in periods of when games are played wont change that at all.

Now sure how things work in Scotland, but here in Wales I think there have bee a lot of changes going back around 10 years. My son would probably know more than me, but I think the style of football was drilled into the under 18s etc years ago. Also, i think training facilities have been centralised for all national teams including the womens' team, so the whole system is more inclusive. Even at grass routes a lot of effort was put into having coaches taking some level of training. Junior football was / is played at 7 a side until after 12 years old.

A decent enough performance tonight. I don't think too many people would have been shocked if Celtic had collapsed after conceding the goal but they kept going and got a good equaliser.

People will watch football when there is no other games on.

Very true but these days there really isn't much of the summer where there is no football on tv between preseason, summer international tourneys and now there's even post season tours as well. You're lucky to see two or three weeks empty.