Incredibly, this technically starts tomorrow!
We don't enter until the 4th Round (which is now in 'back' in its traditional January slot), but the draw for the opening stages is being held tomorrow at Hampden. Davie Moyes drawing out teams he'll never have heard of!

Interestingly, no 'first time' winner has retained the trophy since the 1870s.

To my knowledge, this seasons competition will have the most ever clubs with 92. And with 2 preliminary rounds scheduled, there are effectively 10 rounds of competition - again a record.
In the old North of Scotland Qualifying Cup, if I remember, the 16 Highland League teams had to win two games to reach the semi-finals, and qualification to the Scottish Cup.
Then (the Scottish Cup) had 4 rounds before the quarter-finals...so a total of 9 matches to win the whole thing! (sometimes even a bye in Round 1 was a possibility).

But this season's marathon means that when we enter, 5 of the 10 rounds will already have been played, and 60 of the 92 clubs will have been eliminated!

The 2 preliminary rounds are drawn tomorrow with the Scottish Amateur Cup winners involved for the first time - apparently a team called Harestanes from Kirkintilloch who play on a public park!

4 hours ago, Sneckboy said:

Have checked the 'stats' and no Scottish club has ever been relegated and still won the Cup in the same season!
Wigan Athletic were the first team to do it in England - and that was just a few seasons ago - but it's never happened in Scotland...

 

I know it's a different cup but Birmingham won the league cup in 2010-11 and were relegated in the same season. 

Record against Hibs in all comps is won 15 drawn 6 lost 9. As Sneckboy says only one cup gamewhich was fourth round 2008 Hibs won 3-0 They had Filipe Morais sent off and we had Phil McGuire sent off. No mention in match report of Niculae missed penalty though.

It was the league match the previous September that Ma-Kalambay saved the Niculae penalty.

Russell Duncan handled in the box right at the start and Hibs scored the resulting penalty.  Brewster was brought down just before half-time for our penalty which was saved.

Just out of interest, Astra are currently top of the Romania League:  

 http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=rou/domesticleague/standings/index.html

We may have been disappointed but we can be extremely proud of our debut in Europe. 

 

5 hours ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Just out of interest, Astra are currently top of the Romania League:  

 http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=rou/domesticleague/standings/index.html

We may have been disappointed but we can be extremely proud of our debut in Europe. 

 

Would Monday nights team have beaten Astra I believe they would . Bring on another European journey 

11 hours ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Just out of interest, Astra are currently top of the Romania League:  

 http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=rou/domesticleague/standings/index.html

We may have been disappointed but we can be extremely proud of our debut in Europe. 

 

I notice their away form in the league was considerably better than their home form, which is consistent with how they did in the cup ties against us.  I wouldn't be devastated if we had to play them again this summer.

I notice too, that they've scored in all but 1 of their 15 home games this season - only failing to net against Inverness CT!
http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=3207&teamTabs=results

It is absoulutely ridiculous that with just over 2 weeks to go we do not yet know on what day or at what time our QF tie against the Hobos is. Some of us wishing to go have travel and accommodation arrangements to make and with prices rising having to wait until after the Dee v Sons replay next week is utter nonsense. There again I suppose we can't expect anything better from the SFA or their paymaster TV companies.  

27 minutes ago, Row S said:

It is absoulutely ridiculous that with just over 2 weeks to go we do not yet know on what day or at what time our QF tie against the Hobos is. Some of us wishing to go have travel and accommodation arrangements to make and with prices rising having to wait until after the Dee v Sons replay next week is utter nonsense. There again I suppose we can't expect anything better from the SFA or their paymaster TV companies.  

Could not agree more. It is an absolute joke.  I can see it taking the best part of a week yet, leaving us just a few days to get air tickets (at premium prices), and match tickets sent out etc etc.  It is no wonder that some 'long distance' fans just don't bother any more.

6 hours ago, Caley Mad In Berks said:

Could not agree more. It is an absolute joke.  I can see it taking the best part of a week yet, leaving us just a few days to get air tickets (at premium prices), and match tickets sent out etc etc.  It is no wonder that some 'long distance' fans just don't bother any more.

Word on the street is  it is the Sunday so possibly tv 

Ross County v Dundee United is the least likely tie to be televised. Yet, ironically, it's the 'stands out tie' of the round!
But Premiership v Premiership comes below Premiership v Championship when the Ugly Sisters are sniffing about!

Would be nice to know. Because the powers that be have left it so late my only chance of going to this game now is if its on a Sunday. Would be helpful if they could be considerate of the fans attending the match. Some of whom have to work weekends and can't exactly get a holiday with one weeks notice...

Less than two weeks until the match, much longer since the draw than it is to the match itself and we still don't know the day far less the time the game will be played.

Plenty of people will now not be able to attend because cheaper travel and/or accommodation options will have gone and no doubt the Weegie press and media will be slating us again for a poor turn out.

I know that the SFA have sold the soul of the competition to TV but the fact that no date has been confirmed is grossly unfair and a bigger farce than the draw itself. Increasingly clear that Scottish football needs a change at the top.

Edited February 22, 20169 yr by Kingsmills

38 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

Less than two weeks until the match, much longer since the draw than it is to the match itself and we still don't know the day far less the time the game will be played.

Plenty of people will now not be able to attend because cheaper travel and/or accommodation options will have gone and no doubt the Weegie press and media will be slating us again for a poor turn out.

I know that the SFA have sold the soul of the competition to TV but the fact that no date has been confirmed is grossly unfair and a bigger farce than the draw itself. Increasingly clear that Scottish football needs a change at the top.

Its an absolute joke. I'm unable to go anymore. I hope others do the same. Shouldn't tolerate being shafted like this and being expected to be in easter road in under two weeks from the Highlands

19 minutes ago, lightlamp2 said:

Its an absolute joke. I'm unable to go anymore. I hope others do the same. Shouldn't tolerate being shafted like this and being expected to be in easter road in under two weeks from the Highlands

Could well be that I'll be in the same boat.  Looks like we won't know until later this week at the earliest what day and time our game at Hibs will be.  Absolutely outrageous. SFA treat travelling fans like s***. They should tell the TV companies to stick their cameras where the sun don't shine.  There is absolutely no excuse for keeping us waiting this long.  Wish there was something more constructive we could do about it.

24 minutes ago, Caley Mad In Berks said:

They should tell the TV companies to stick their cameras where the sun don't shine.  

You mean televise the County v Utd game instead?!

The SFA tried to decide who plays when by drawing plastic eggs out of a fishbowl. Two of them contained small plastic toys and another turned out to be a real one which cracked open as it was taken out of the bowl resulting in a bit of egg on Stewart Regan's face. In the confusion the fourth egg was dropped and rolled under the sofa. An emergency egg retrieval committee meeting has been scheduled for 7th March to decide on a suitable strategy for getting it back in the bowl. When they realised that this is the day after the quarter final weekend an emergency 'meeting rescheduling meeting' was scheduled for 4th of March to investigate whether the egg retrieval meeting can be rescheduled. If not the results of the quarter-finals will be decided impartially and those clubs with the biggest fan base will progress to the semi-finals.

Then they'll only need two eggs which surely even they couldn't feck up..... 

Im assuming regardless of tickets sold there will be no pay at the gate option and we will have to get tickets from ICT in advance. By the time there is a decision on times, tickets printed then put on sale there isnt much time. As a remote spporter i will have to get mine posted out as i cant justify travelling to inverness to collect, im sure there are plenty others in a similar position. How can this not affect crowd numbers then the SFA and other clubs have the cheek to criticise our low numbers when yet again they have been less than helpful. Fully expecting an early KO time on Sunday just to mess up travel for those who rely on public transport too.

Rather than just moan on here about it, I have just written to the SFA Chief Exec about it.  I don't suppose I'll even get any sort of reply, but I'll keep you posted.

Ive had a reply from Daryl Broadfoot Communications Manager on twitter saying they are finalising arrangements and announcement imminent.

Yeah after they find out who Sevco play

surely they can't be waiting for tomorrow's tie! Either way, the old firm will have to be on different days and it's inevitable they'll both be on telly so I don't see why they can't just tell us that our game will be the sat or sun! I'd imagine sky sports will get 2 games and BBC one game, so why they can't just say that Rangers and Celtic will be live and pick one of the other ties! 

But no, it's got to be the hard way, screw the punters and make Scottish football worse than it already is with **** poor crowds! Anyway I hope to go but I'll only get if it's Saturday so hope it works out! 

Hibs v ICT on Sunday 6th March at 14:00 on the BBC. Sky taking both the OF matches so why the f'ck have they had to wait until now? Ridiculous!

56 minutes ago, RiG said:

Hibs v ICT on Sunday 6th March at 14:00 on the BBC. Sky taking both the OF matches so why the f'ck have they had to wait until now? Ridiculous!

The SFA need to state publicly just why that could not have been announced within 24 hours of the Edinburgh Derby replay finishing. Agreed a disgrace.

Edited February 23, 20169 yr by Kingsmills

53 minutes ago, RiG said:

Hibs v ICT on Sunday 6th March at 14:00 on the BBC. Sky taking both the OF matches so why the f'ck have they had to wait until now? Ridiculous!

Because our authorities couldn't run a bath or organise a raffle.