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2018/19 League Cup


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The draw for the group stage of the 2018/19 Betfred Cup will be made on Friday May 25 and will be broadcast live on BT Sport 2 at 6.30pm.

The 40-team group stage includes the 38 SPFL clubs not involved in European competition plus Highland League winners Cove Rangers and Lowland League champions Spartans.

The format remains the same as the two previous seasons, with the eight group winners and four best runners-up joining the four UEFA participants in the last 16.

The full group stage fixture list will be confirmed during the week commencing Monday June 4, once broadcast selections have been made. 

Betfred Cup dates 2018/19
Group stage MD1 – Weekend of Saturday July 14
Group stage MD2 – Tuesday/Wednesday July 17/18
Group stage MD3 – Weekend of Saturday July 21
Group stage MD4 – Tuesday/Wednesday July 24/25
Group stage MD5 – Weekend of Saturday July 28

Second round – Weekend of Saturday August 18
Quarter-finals – Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday September 25/26/27
Semi-finals – Saturday/Sunday October 27/28
Final – Sunday December 2

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1 hour ago, shootingboots said:

Is that a new thing having the second round on a Saturday?

Looks like it as last seasons were all played on the 8/9 August. Tuesday/Wednesday.

Edited by The Minertaur
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5 hours ago, shootingboots said:

Is that a new thing having the second round on a Saturday?

 

4 hours ago, The Minertaur said:

Looks like it as last seasons were all played on the 8/9 August. Tuesday/Wednesday.


UEFA have moved CL/EL qualifying rounds back 1 week*, gobbling-up the domestic midweek in August (which used to be the international friendly week before it was scrapped). To keep the LC Final before Christmas accordingly needed a weekend.

*actually back 2 weeks... everything moved back a further 1 week as the calendar creeps forward annually due to the fact there aren't 364 days in a year, and 2018 was coincidentally the year for a re-set. This is why CL/EL groupstages are 1 week later which in turn will be why LC QFs, SFs and Final are themselves 1 week later than previously.

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On 5/14/2018 at 21:21, EdTheDuck said:

I sincerely hope it's possible that Cove Rangers and Cowdenbeath can be in the same group. That would be fucking splendid

I was thinking that myself it would be interesting:lol: if it was to be at their place we would probably need to hire the SAS to get in and out safely.

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22 minutes ago, cowdenbeath said:

I was thinking that myself it would be interesting:lol: if it was to be at their place we would probably need to hire the SAS to get in and out safely.

Oh I'm sure they won't hold a grudge, it's not like they are serial bad losers or anything...*cough*

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Love the group stages of the league cup. We've only been in it one year since it was re-introduced so maybe still a novelty.

Great opportunity to visit new grounds, and a welcome change from playing killie/Thistle/Aberdeen or hearts 5 times a season.

Some great fairly local potential ties for us in the second seed pot; Pars, Falkirk, United. Plus Inverness. 

Hoping for an away trip to one or two out of Peterhead, Montrose, Stirling Albion or Cove.

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3 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

Love the group stages of the league cup.

Ironic that it's a bit of a return to the past - although Stranraer were usually in group 9 when I started following them.  This was the bottom five teams in the old second division.  The winners of this group had to play off against one of the winners of a 'proper' group of second division teams for a quarter final place that went automatically to all other group winners.

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On 5/19/2018 at 09:29, PauloPerth said:

Love the group stages of the league cup. We've only been in it one year since it was re-introduced so maybe still a novelty.

Great opportunity to visit new grounds, and a welcome change from playing killie/Thistle/Aberdeen or hearts 5 times a season.

Some great fairly local potential ties for us in the second seed pot; Pars, Falkirk, United. Plus Inverness. 

Hoping for an away trip to one or two out of Peterhead, Montrose, Stirling Albion or Cove.

We've been in it every year(obviously) and I still think it's great. 

 

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Despite being a diehard for over 30 years, I've never been to Palmerston, Shielfield or Links Park (their might have been friendlies but I don't do them) - I think I've been to all the other "old" grounds, so I've got a minor obsession with getting cup draws at these places. This north/south split & groups stuff makes the former 2 more likely and the latter much less likely - so QOTS and Berwick away please!

We seem to have played Morton a lot in recent years, so I'd rather avoid them if poss...

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Hearts and anyone from Raith, Arbroath, East Fife, Montrose, Peterhead and Cove Rangers. We've played the rest of them quite a lot over the last couple of years be it league, cup or friendlies.

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Guest Bushel o' Bricks

If I've worked this out correctly, on the basis of a purely geographical north-south divide, the teams with corresponding seedings should be as follows:

 

North

Dundee, Dundee United, Ross County, St Johnstone

Brechin City, Dunfermline Athletic, Falkirk, Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Cove Rangers, Cowdenbeath, East Fife, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Montrose, Peterhead, Raith Rovers, Stenhousemuir, Stirling Albion

 

South

Hamilton Academical, Heart Of Midlothian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell

Livingston, Partick Thistle, Queen Of The South, St Mirren

Airdrieonians, Albion Rovers, Annan Athletic, Ayr United, Berwick Rangers, Clyde, Dumbarton, Edinburgh City, Greenock Morton, Queen's Park, Spartans, Stranraer

 

The cut-off point is between Cumbernauld and Grangemouth, with Falkirk being the most southern-based team in the North section and Clyde the northern-most in the South.

 

The only problem with this is that the higher concentration of southern-based teams gives a slight advantage to some teams in the North; for example, Morton are unseeded in the South section despite finishing higher in the Championship than Brechin who would be second seeds in the North section. In any case, it seems unlikely to work this way as last year we had the geographical anomalies of Hearts in the North section and Edinburgh City in the South despite Tynecastle being geographically further south than Ainslie Park and Falkirk featuring in the North with Stenhousemuir in the South despite Ochilview being further north than The Falkirk Stadium.

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If I've worked this out correctly, on the basis of a purely geographical north-south divide, the teams with corresponding seedings should be as follows:
 
North
Dundee, Dundee United, Ross County, St Johnstone
Brechin City, Dunfermline Athletic, Falkirk, Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Cove Rangers, Cowdenbeath, East Fife, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Montrose, Peterhead, Raith Rovers, Stenhousemuir, Stirling Albion
 
South
Hamilton Academical, Heart Of Midlothian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell
Livingston, Partick Thistle, Queen Of The South, St Mirren
Airdrieonians, Albion Rovers, Annan Athletic, Ayr United, Berwick Rangers, Clyde, Dumbarton, Edinburgh City, Greenock Morton, Queen's Park, Spartans, Stranraer
 
The cut-off point is between Cumbernauld and Grangemouth, with Falkirk being the most southern-based team in the North section and Clyde the northern-most in the South.
 
The only problem with this is that the higher concentration of southern-based teams gives a slight advantage to some teams in the North; for example, Morton are unseeded in the South section despite finishing higher in the Championship than Brechin who would be second seeds in the North section. In any case, it seems unlikely to work this way as last year we had the geographical anomalies of Hearts in the North section and Edinburgh City in the South despite Tynecastle being geographically further south than Ainslie Park and Falkirk featuring in the North with Stenhousemuir in the South despite Ochilview being further north than The Falkirk Stadium.


The seeding is done first. Then split by region.

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