League Cup: John McGlynn says no cup draw was missed opportunity

HEARTS manager John McGlynn has criticised the authorities for failing to hold the draw for the quarter-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup immediately after this week’s ties.

• Clubs forced to admit they had no knowledge of when the draw for the next round would take place

• John McGlynn points to England where the draw was made straight after the round of games had been completed

• The cup’s organisers, the SFL, put the delay down to awaiting confirmation from the Scottish Government, who sponsor the tournament

Hearts beat Livingston in one of the six third-round ties played on Tuesday evening, while Rangers and Aberdeen progressed the following night and, after both sets of games, clubs were left to admit they did not know when the draw for the next round would be. This contrasted with the League Cup in England, where the draw was made on Wednesday night – something that McGlynn thinks should have happened here.

“It would have been nice to have had the draw on Wednesday night,” the Hearts manager said. “I can’t believe we didn’t have the draw – we were shown up by England again. The final two ties were played on Wednesday night and everyone was anticipating a draw. That’s what happened in England, big ties came out and people are excited. We’ve got to wait until they sort out the balls.

“I watched the Rangers game on TV and listened to the Dunfermline game on the radio. Fans were all asking ‘What’s happening with the draw?’. Fans want to know who they’re going to play. There was a big stage with TV cameras at Ibrox and I’m sure the SFL could find their way to Ibrox and pull a few balls out a hat.

“I thought our English counterparts grabbed the opportunity and we missed it. It was there, everyone would have stayed by the TV to see the draw and then gone into work talking about the big games.”

When contacted yesterday morning, the Scottish Football League said that they were waiting for confirmation from the Scottish Government, who sponsor the competition, before announcing the draw date.

That announcement was eventually made mid-afternoon and the draw will be held at Dumbarton’s Bet Butler Stadium at 1.30pm next Thursday.