WILL CLARK – Time to bin Trust Trophy and free up fixture calendar
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The Trust Trophy, what’s the point? Anyone who’s bothered to read my column over the years will know i’m not a fan of this competition and see little value in it
.
Judging by the attendance at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday for Inverness against Brechin City, I don’t appear to be the only one.
The official attendance through the gates was 832, nowhere close to breaking the four figure mark as Caley Thistle squeezed past Highland League outfit Brechin City on penalties to progress to the next round.
Premiership clubs were given the opportunity to enter colt teams into the competition, but Ross County decided against it.
I can’t remember what the actual reason was, but if the reason was they didn’t feel it was worth the effort, I wouldn’t blame them.
As much as I am a big fan of the Scottish Cup and the League Cup, even the group stages which I think is a brilliant way to kick off the season, the Trust Trophy for me is a cup competition too far.
I am unsure how much financial value there is to the competition unless you win it. Or even winning it.
But I remember being told a few years ago when Caley Thistle beat Rangers Colts in the semi final, television companies were offered to show the competition for free.
Freeing up the date and moving a scheduled league match during midweek to a Saturday would be beneficial in every sense to clubs involved.
I know the Trust Trophy, previously known as the Challenge Cup, is a competition which has added to the silverware cabinet at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
The club have won the competition outright twice and shared the trophy with Raith Rovers after the 2020 final could not be played due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ross County have won the competition three times, with their last victory in 2019 with a 3–1 win over Welsh Club Connah’s Quay Nomads.
Despite that final being held at the Caledonian Stadium in Inverness, Staggies fans didn’t stampede their way over the Kessock Bridge for the game, with the official attendance being 3057, not even filling 50 per cent of the ground’s capacity.
The attitude of clubs of exiting the competition appears to be “meh.”
Even that is some clubs’ attitudes to winning the tournament.
The competition also features top clubs from Northern Ireland and Wales.
Top clubs from the Republic of Ireland and non-league teams from England used to take part, but have decided against remaining part of the competition.
The whole cross border element of the competition is something that I was uncomfortable with, fearing the embarrassment for the Scottish game if a foreign club won a Scottish tournament. Scottish clubs, Dundee United and Motherwell, have proved in Europe this season they are more than capable of causing embarrassment for themselves.
Personally, if the competition continues, which it will, I would like to see those teams as well as colts teams, replaced by Highland League and Lowland League clubs, but this would probably add congestion to their own divisions.
I think serious consideration should be taken by all clubs involved if the Trust Trophy is something worth carrying on with in the future. Because I don’t.
