Now it’s almost upon us, I’m intrigued to see how the new League Cup format plays out.
I’m in total agreement with my colleague Lee Wilkie that it should go down well with players.
To have competitive games at this time of year has to be a better option than the usual plethora of friendlies.
Yes, they are necessary, but after two or three they can become a bit tiresome for players who just want to get on with the real stuff.
And, as a writer, I’d always prefer to watch competitive action.
Any week of the year I would take two junior teams battling it out for points or a trophy over even Barcelona and Real Madrid meeting when there was nothing at stake.
That may sound crazy, and maybe it is. For me, though, when there is nothing up for grabs at the end of 90 minutes, I’m left feeling a bit cheated.
Teams have to have a real prize to play for and that’s why I’m looking forward to heading down to Arbroath tonight to watch United and the Red Lichties battle it out.
And just the fact this is the first real game of what promises to be another interesting campaign, means, for this round of fixtures, I expect supporter interest to be high.
What I’m not sure about is the ability of the League Cup to hold the fans’ attention throughout the group stages.
Quite rightly, the groups have been seeded to keep top-flight clubs apart.
The problem with that is it means only a few look likely to be close.
Group F includes Motherwell and Rangers, so might be hard fought.
And, if United hit the ground running, they could challenge Inverness for top spot in Group C.
With the rest, it’s hard to see anyone other than the top-flight club coming out on top, leaving the only issue to be decided being who the four best runners-up to progress to the knockout stages will be.
I’m really not sure if that will be enough to keep the punters turning out in numbers over the next few weeks.
And for any team that loses the first couple of fixtures, the final two are likely to revert to being no more than friendlies they use to prepare for the league season.
That’s likely to see the crowds quickly falling back down to normal summer levels .
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