New League Cup format has backing of Caley Thistle coach Duncan Shearer
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DUNCAN Shearer is delighted that his Caley Thistle development team will be competing in next season’s revamped Scottish Challenge Cup.
For the first time, all 12 Scottish Premiership clubs’ under-20s will be involved from the first round of the knock-out competition, to be called the Irn Bru Cup, which was last year won by Championship winners Rangers.
The SPFL also announced last week that, from round four, two teams each from Northern Ireland and Wales will join to add spice to the chase for silverware.
So, as well as competing in the Development League, Caley Thistle and Ross County will be among the other top-flight clubs battling it out against sides from the Championship, League One and Two and the Highland and Lowland Leagues.
The development squad head coach at ICT, Shearer will link up with Danny MacDonald for 2016-17 and he explained the enthusiasm shown by new manager Richie Foran towards the new setup has been welcomed.
“We’re really looking forward to this as a club. I always say the harder the game the better and we will be up against it from the first round,” said Shearer.
“I’ve already had a meeting with the new manager, who was involved with the udner-20s last season, and he knows the importance of this group of players to the club.
“In recent years we have had Ryan Christie (now at Celtic) and Liam Polworth come through to the first-team, while Jason Brown and Ali Sutherland are two others, who have recently made their mark, which is great and Richie appreciates that.
“I think in the past couple of years, the development side has been lost somewhere along the way.
“Being involved in the Challenge Cup is something we will relish and it brings a real freshness to the season. The standard will be very good.
“I just hope that we will be allowed to use five over-age players as we can do at the moment.
“We have been playing in the North of Scotland Cup and I felt we needed something like this to happen.
Rather than, with the greatest of respect, win games away from home 7-0 or 8-0 we will get tougher games from the start.
All our games in the North of Scotland Cup were away and we were not really getting much benefit from that. The Challenge Cup will be different.”
The first three rounds of the Challenge Cup will be regionalised and seeded, with the Welsh and Northern Irish sides kept apart in the latter stages.
Irn Bru were announced as tournament sponsor at the end of last week, while competition dates are expected to be revealed this week. Coverage of the competition will be on BBC Alba, S4C and Premier Sports.
Development squad regulars Ali Sutherland, Jason Brown and Cammy Mackay have all signed first-team contracts for the new season, while Blair MacLennan and Andrew Macrae both featured on the bench for the first-team.
One player who will not be around for the new season, however, is Jordan Roberts (right).
The former Aldershot winger endured an injury-hit season in the Highland capital and appeared to confirm on his Twitter feed yesterday that his time with the club had come to an end.
Roberts showed flashes of promise during pre-season last year before a troublesome groin injury sidelined him for the best part of six months.
He announced his return to the side with a spectacular winner against Motherwell in the Scottish Cup but managed just 13 appearances over the campaign, contributing three goals.
“Would like to thank @ICTFC for the past year. From the fans, staff and the lads you made season very enjoyable and was (sic) very supportive through-out my time at the club,” said Roberts.
“Was a very good opportunity/experience to play the season up in Scotland despite a long six injured months.
“However I enjoyed every minute, especially my tap in against Motherwell.
“Would like to wish the club and boys all the best for next season.”
