St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright admits he is a firm fan of the early start to competitive matches in the new Betfred League Cup.
Saints kick-off their campaign on Saturday when they travel to face Jim Weir’s Elgin side, with further fixtures to come in “Group B” against Falkirk, Brechin City and Stirling Albion before the Premiership begins.
Wright believes his players will enjoy the games but he anticipates there will be tweaks to the format further down the line and he for one would like to be able to use more substitutes in the matches.
The McDiarmid manager said: “We are looking forward to the game on Saturday – that will be the season started.
“We just went with two friendlies because you don’t want to have five or six because it makes it a very long season.
“The competition is a good idea, though, and as always there are positives and negatives.
“It’s an early start but it’s good to get competitive matches going quickly, I think the players will enjoy that.
“I’m sure they will be looking at this as the first year of the competition and seeing what they can maybe change in the future.
“One thing I’d say about it is it might be an idea to look at using more subs in the group stages.
“At this time of the season, it would be good to be able to make more changes to the teams during games to give players a run-out.
“But it’s good to have a competition at this time of year and I’m sure there will be plenty of interest in it.”
