Irish League clubs in Scottish Challenge Cup!

[culloty82]

Somewhat of an oddity, this - it's the Scottish equivalent of the Football League Trophy, so Hibs and St. Mirren would be the biggest draws for NI clubs, though Old Firm reserves could well progress far in the tournament. On the other hand, Crues v Montrose would hardly draw the punters!

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36483962

[pineapple stu]

Dundee United would be a decent draw too. Interesting to see what happens if they're drawn away to Bala Town.

Bit of a weird one alright though - hard to see what the tournament gains by bringing them in. You'd imagine there could be security issues around some games involving Northern Irish teams in particular.

Also have to wonder if inviting the SPL U-20 teams doesn't defeat the point of the tournament, which to an extent is to give the lower-league teams a shot at a big day out (like Rangers got this year :) ). Don't know what standard the U-20 teams would be at, and of course they start in the first round, so more chance of getting knocked out along the way.

[Steve Bruce]

Linfield vs Celtic reserves would draw a massive crowd, Linfield vs Rangers Reserves would draw a big crowd but I would suspect not quite as many as Celtic. (not for the right reasons)

I'm looking forward to a trip to Scotland.

[BonnieShels]

So this is what that Celtic v Annan thing was all about last night!

[pineapple stu]

These matches were all played this weekend. All the U-20 sides got knocked out before the last 16, so it's just 12 Scottish sides, Bala and TNS from Wales, and Linfield and Crusaders from the North.

Only TNS made it through. Results were -

Crusaders 1-2 Livingston
Bala 2-4 Alloa
Forfar 1-3 TNS
Queen of the South 2-0 Linfield (AET)

QotS are top of the Scottish Div 1; Livi and Alloa are Scottish Div 2 and Forfar are top of Scottish Div 3. So make of the results what you will! Three of the four games involving non-Scottish teams were shown live.

Have to say it's an interesting idea (the Welsh/NI teams; not so the U-20s); presumably the LoI won't get invited because of the different season if nothing else. Obviously it's not going to revolutionise the game, but a Celtic Cup would be a bit of fun to be in.

[Martinho II]

These matches were all played this weekend. All the U-20 sides got knocked out before the last 16, so it's just 12 Scottish sides, Bala and TNS from Wales, and Linfield and Crusaders from the North.

Only TNS made it through. Results were -

Crusaders 1-2 Livingston
Bala 2-4 Alloa
Forfar 1-3 TNS
Queen of the South 2-0 Linfield (AET)

QotS are top of the Scottish Div 1; Livi and Alloa are Scottish Div 2 and Forfar are top of Scottish Div 3. So make of the results what you will! Three of the four games involving non-Scottish teams were shown live.

Have to say it's an interesting idea (the Welsh/NI teams; not so the U-20s); presumably the LoI won't get invited because of the different season if nothing else. Obviously it's not going to revolutionise the game, but a Celtic Cup would be a bit of fun to be in.

saw the crusaders game on bt sport today.is this the first year its run?

[BonnieShels]

saw the crusaders game on bt sport today.is this the first year its run?

Yeah it is.

[pineapple stu]

Livingston v TNS in the quarter-finals so.

Interesting to see if they fare any better than Crusaders.