http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/hearts/1335126-clubs-to-get-bonus-points-for-penalty-shootout-wins-in-new-league-cup/

 

 

Clubs to get bonus points for penalty shootout wins in new League Cup

By Grant Russell

7 December 2015 22:30 GMT

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The SPFL announce Utilita Energy as official presenting partner of the Scottish League Cup for the remainder of the 2015/16 season

Points change: The Scottish League Cup is set for a radical overhaul.SNS Group

Clubs are to be awarded a bonus point for winning penalty shootouts in a radical overhaul of the Scottish League Cup competition.

 

A regionalised group stage format for the early stages of the tournament is to be introduced from the 2016/17 season.

 

Eight groups of five teams will play across five match days in July, with a total of 80 games being completed in the first round.

 

The traditional three points for a win and one point for a draw format will be followed.

 

But in a move to try and reduce the number of dead rubbers, teams will gain an additional point if they win the shootout, which will be played at the end of 90 minutes in the event of a draw.

 

The changes will also lead to the reintroduction of a winter break for the Scottish Premiership in the first two weeks of January.

 

Clubs in the SPFL's other three divisions are also being consulted over taking the break.

 

With the league's four European entrants exempt from taking part in the first round, the winners of the Highland and Lowland Leagues will be included in the group stages.

 

The changes to the League Cup have also resulted in a four-year TV deal with BT Sport. The broadcaster will show 13 matches per season, with six from the group stage being aired.

 

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said of the changes: "The new format of the Scottish League Cup marks an exciting new chapter for the competition and sees Scottish football leading the way with a number of innovations.

 

"Fans, the media and clubs alike have expressed a desire for competitive summer football which will be delivered from next July, while the groundbreaking bonus point system should add incentive to teams and excitement for supporters."

 

The tournament in detail

 

A group stage will be introduced for the first round of the competition

40 teams will take part. Thirty-eight will be drawn from the SPFL, with the champions of the Highland and Lowland Leagues also participating

The season's European participants will not enter until the second round

Eight groups of five teams will be drawn on what the SPFL is describing as a "loosely regionalised" basis, meaning no teams will face long trips

Teams will play each other once in an identical format to the 2006/07 UEFA Cup, with each side playing two games at home and two away

Premiership teams will be seeded and each placed into one of the eight groups

The first match will be played on Saturday, July 16

Subsequent matches will be played on July 20, 23, 27 and 30, all before the start of the league season

Drawn matches in the group stage will go immediately to a penalty shootout

The winner of the penalty shootout will be awarded a bonus point

The tiebreak format for the competition will be in order: points gained, away goals scored, goal difference, total goals scored

The eight group winners, and the four best runners up, will qualify for the second round

Four rounds will then follow on an unseeded basis

The final will continue to be played in March

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Thoughts?

I think it sounds absolutely pish but then I cannot be arsed with football in July and don't see the point of a winter break 

So it starts in July yet the Final is still the following March 

 

Remember the days when it Started in August and finished in November?

Was looking good until they said the final is still in March.

 

The group stage will bring in more cash for lower league teams, gives prem teams a competitive pre-season, and also gives fans a chance to go to a ground they don't see all that often.

 

All they had to do was make it a November/December final, even January, and it'd be superb. A March final again means this ridiculous theee month wait between the quarters and semis.

 

Winter break I like. All managers and players say they like a break and that tends to tell me it's a good thing.

 

Bonus points - I'll wait and see how it goes before forming an opinion.

Heard about this on the radio this morning, where did all this come from? All for the first part of the league cup format but as others have said, why leave it so long to play the semis and the final? Are they working on the assumption that Scottish teams will still be in Europe up until Christmas? Personally, I can't see the point in a winter break, weather is unpredictable, trying to find a few weeks where there might be less bad weather is impossible. We have shit weather in the summer ffs.

Seems to me this a step towards a bigger league

Or a step toward summer fitba? Either way, another undisclosed, without-consultation, exclusive bag of shite. Might work like, but can they not have these discussions out in the open, engage with folk? At least pretend you give a fuck about what your paying customers think.

Another question, does this mean that it may actually be in teams favour to play for the draw and win on penalties?  I'd have thought that you should reward a team for scoring 2 or more goals more than a team winning on penalties.

We have the current league cup in the current form due to the old group format being pish and nobody turning up to watch them. Cannot see it being any different this time. Only change that was needed was to change the final back to November/December. Winter break is fine as long as English keep playing as will let me head down there to see games.

So, we're making the smaller clubs play more matches - some may be out of pocket as their players may be on appearance money rather than a weekly/monthly wage but we're also taking away the prospect of a big cup tie for a lot of teams surely?

 

Winter break in Scotland is a farce as no cunt has any idea when the fucker actually is.