8 reasons why the Co-operative Insurance Cup still matters

Published on Saturday 25 October 2008 19:41

In the past five years alone there have been no fewer than four winners of the Co-operative Insurance-sponsored League Cup. With Hibernian and Livingston claiming the trophy in that time, it has easily become the most open competition in Scottish football.

1 Unpredictability

In the past five years alone there have been no fewer than four winners of the Co-operative Insurance-sponsored League Cup. With Hibernian and Livingston claiming the trophy in that time, it has easily become the most open competition in Scottish football. You have to look back across 11 years to find four different names on the Scottish Cup. Meanwhile, there have only been four champions of Scotland's top flight league since 1966.

2 Capacity for producing poignant moments

There seems to be something about the League Cup final that inspires emotional outpourings. There was no more moving sight in Scottish football in recent years than 'Sunshine On Leith' reverberating around Hampden after Hibs' 2007 final win as manager John Collins walked towards the celebrating fans with lip trembling following the loss of his father shortly before.

Last year, Eddie Thompson was moved to tears by the Dundee United support using the occasion to celebrate the dying chairman's passionate efforts on behalf of their club. And three years ago, Celtic supporters turned their showpiece against Dunfermline into a fitting tribute to Jimmy Johnstone, who had passed away the previous week.

3 It has served up some corking finals

There is an argument for saying that, since coming on to the scene in 1946/47, the League Cup has produced a greater number of memorable finals than its more illustrious counterpart, the Scottish Cup. Two wins for East Fife in the early years… the 7-1 drubbing, a world record for a final, of Rangers by Celtic in 1957… Dundee United's first major club honour in 1979… the great Aberdeen-Rangers finals of the 1980s… Raith Rovers' remarkable success over Celtic in 1994 and Livingston's 2004 success, the month they went into liquidation, to name but a few.

4 It is still respected by Celtic and Rangers

So discredited is the English League Cup, in recent seasons even such as Reading and Wigan have treated it in desultory fashion with their team selections for ties. No club in Scotland is so demeaning towards the third-ranked tournament in the country – and that includes Celtic and Rangers. A Co-operative Insurance Cup success won't make their season, but they still send out teams in early rounds they believe are strong enough to ensure their progress.

Winning the trophy is the only means by which the two clubs can pursue the perfect domestic season in the form of a treble; a bounty that carries a special resonance. Equally, it can prevent a season being viewed as a complete write-off.

And when it comes to bauble-baiting between rival Old Firm supporters, a League Cup triumph can be given as much weight as any other trophy win. It is often pointed out that Alex McLeish bagged more honours at Rangers than Martin O'Neill at Celtic. McLeish's haul was seven to O'Neill's six because he enjoyed three League Cup wins to the Irishman's one…

5 Sponsorship spondulicks

In these austere times, it wouldn't do to be sniffy about any financial backing for the Scottish game. The League Cup link-up with the Co-operative Insurance Services – while hardly making for snappy branding – has been a successful partnership for a decade, and is an investment that has run to several million pounds. It is a huge selling factor for a competition that is well run, in conjunction with the Scottish Football league, well promoted and well covered and, significantly, worth in the region of 600,000 to finalists.

6 Hampden isn't exactly an overused facility

With all due respect to the 500-odd who turn up to watch Queen's Park every other week, in a good year there are at best about a dozen occasions that the 52,000-capacity national stadium serves any purpose. With the final and, assuming the involvement of either Celtic or Rangers, the semi-final, the League Cup tends to provoke at least two occasions in the football calendar that Hampden is dusted down. Attendances for the January semi-finals, as with early rounds, can be underwhelming, but the decider tends to be played in front of a capacity crowd.

7 It has proved an innovative tournament

It was as early as 1984 that the SFL recognised punters' demand for a cup competition of the true knock-out variety, introducing ties played to a conclusion, through penalties if need be, over a single evening. Within two years, two-legged semi-finals were scrapped and the short, sharp format born. Before extended European and international commitments, the League Cup was completed by late October, and it is only the absence of free dates that forced the end of that popular scheduling.

8 It is a trophy of true distinction

The League Cup trophy given over to victors today is the same one presented to first winners Rangers in 1947. It has a simplistic grandeur. It isn't particularly ornate or opulent like some 19th century silverware, but neither is it unremarkable. Three-handled, the over-sized quaich is large enough in diameter for, appropriately enough, a football to fit in it.