Glencairn boss fears weather could scrap league cup

Jan 6 2010 by Douglas Dickie, Rutherglen Reformer

SCOTT SMITH says he would not be surprised if the league cup was scrapped as the big freeze continues to wipe out junior football.

Glencairn had no game scheduled for this weekend anyway, but Scott says he would be shocked if they played at all this month.

With temperatures expected to stay below freezing, a major fixture pile-up is on the horizon for junior clubs.

And Scott believes it may take drastic action to give them any chance of ending the season on time.

He said: “We’ve already organised training facilities for Saturday and if we play at all during the month of January I would be very, very happy.

“I think it will be two to three weeks at an absolute minimum.

“It will thaw eventually, but then you have to contend with flooded parks.

“It’s very frustrating but we’ve got to keep the boys ticking along. You try and mix things up and organise decent training sessions.

The attitude has been first class but eventually they will get bored. Everything is aimed at playing on the Saturday.

“Thankfully, everyone is in the same boat right now so it isn’t just us with this problem. Everyone will need to knuckle down.

“You’re hoping for a thaw but the weather just keeps getting worse.

“There isn’t much we can do about the weather so they might look at scrapping one of the smaller cups.

“The league cup tends to be for teams who have maybe finished their seasons and are out of the main cups. It’s more for teams from the second and first divisions, and perhaps our own.

“If there is a massive backlog of games they could not play it, or even let superleague teams opt out.

“Last year we were playing four times a week by the end of the season and the winter had been nothing like this.”

Scott expects the Glens’ first game back to be the long-awaited Scottish Cup tie with either Vale of Clyde or Johnstone Burgh.

Glens have been waiting on a winner of that tie since the start of October, and Scott knows it will be given priority.

However, that means Glens could face an extra week on the sidelines if they don’t get a scheduled league game when the weather turns.

Scott said: “That Scottish Cup tie has turned into a bit of a farce to be honest.

“They have really missed the boat with it. They keep chopping and changing the venue and even asked to play it on our park. That would have been fine, but it’s now unplayable.

“It’s not really anyone’s fault because normally when we get snow you expect it to be gone in a week or 10 days at the most.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen, but hopefully it turns soon. The biggest concern then is making sure you hit some form but I imagine our first game will be in the cup, and that means whoever we are playing will have had a week on us.

“We will have been sitting idle that bit longer and that’s very frustrating, but hopefully we can get something lined up.”

Scott hasn’t ruled out making additions to the squad, but he did say it would probably be just one new player, if any.

He also said he and fellow gaffer Willie Patterson, were in no rush to sign anyone up: “We’ve had a look about.

“We’re tempted to bring someone in to spice things up, but the problem we face is we’re not sure whether to go for a defender or midfielder.

“I think we’ve got plenty of cover up front, but we could maybe do with a bit more in the other areas.

“We won’t rush into anything and there isn’t much point doing it now as nothing is happening.

“We’re in no panic for players. We have a fully fit squad of 18 and they have been good enough for the first half of the season, we just need to hope they are good enough for the second.”