As the SPFL confirmed yesterday that the Betfred Cup second-round draw would be shown live on TV this Sunday, I feel it’s important to cover the relevance of the competition.
Yup, Hibernian vs Dundee will be shown live on Premier Sports, with the game kicking-off at 4:30pm (Celtic Park Time). Immediately afterward, the coverage will go straight to the draw for the second round of the competition.
This is, as is always the case, the stage in which Celtic will enter. The Hoops go into the draw as a seeded side, with the last-16 ties set to take place on the weekend of November 28/29.
But what I want to cover here is a wider discussion on the Betfred Cup – the whole “does it even matter?” debate that seems to be picking up some steam this year.
Given Celtic are on the hunt for 10-in-a-row, there are real question marks over the seriousness of Scotland’s third-highest major trophy. There’s an idea that the Betfred Cup should be put on the back-burner and dismissed to an extent. After all, we’re after bigger fish this year, right?
Well, the truth is, a competition win will always be a competition win. When Celtic have won the Betfred Cup in each of the last four years, it’s been a brilliant experience on each occasion. The Celtic fans love a Betfred Cup success, and it’s proven to be a real springboard for us for the rest of the season.
Momentum is key – losing the Betfred does nothing for us
It’s undoubted that Celtic have taken some real momentum from our League Cup wins ever since Brendan Rodgers first started dominating the trophy in 2016. And, in contrast, losing it has left our rivals toiling.
And that’s what makes it just as important this year as any other. There’s a momentum that you can only get from winning this competition. Given that the final will be played in February this year, it’s arguably even more important. It could give us a massive morale-boost at such a crucial stage in the season.
Say we decided to not try our hardest to win the competition and allow Rangers to pick it up. All that will do is throw more pressure onto us at a time in the season when we want to be positive about the club. In contrast, Steven Gerrard’s side will take so much confidence from winning their first trophy, and we would be kicking ourselves for playing weakened sides in it.
You also have to take into account that Celtic have won 11 consecutive domestic trophies. Should they win the Scottish Cup in December, that will go up to 12. This is a team of pure winners. Not only will the negative press when they eventually lose a competition anger them, but the fact they would’ve let themselves lose it period would infuriate the likes of Scott Brown, Callum McGregor, James Forrest etc.
Let’s be totally honest – there is no silver lining to being knocked out of the Betfred Cup. There’s nothing nice about it and there’s certainly nothing positive about it that would help steer us towards 10-in-a-row.
Our best chance of winning the 10 would be aided by the momentum that could only be secured by winning the League Cup once again. This year, success in this competition is more important than ever.
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