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!

Same prices as the original tie so it's £20 for adults and £10 for concessions. U16s get in for £5.

Hibs are not running buses. Will be interesting to see what the away crowd will be. Safe trip to everyone who can make it and are going. 

44 minutes ago, TopSix said:

Hibs are not running buses. Will be interesting to see what the away crowd will be. Safe trip to everyone who can make it and are going. 

According to Hibs.net they are. There's certainly Hibs SC buses heading up anyway. Wouldn't be surprised to see a few hundred Hibs fans up the road.

I suspect there will be the best part of a thousand away fans.

2 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

I suspect there will be the best part of a thousand away fans.

I don't think they'll muster as many as that. Heads severely down following their loss to the wee team. 

Both the team and their fans should be well up for this. Their season has gone a bit pear-shaped and this is a huge opportunity for them to turn it around. We need to be on top of our game tonight!

I thing we can do this tonight.

 

YES!

3 hours ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

YES!

Er ....  No!

That's our defence of the trophy over - but at least we remain champions until another team lifts the trophy on Cup Final day. 

Did Hibs field an ineligible player?

Edited March 16, 20169 yr by AlexJones

2 hours ago, AlexJones said:

Did Hibs field an ineligible player?

No.

Did we field an inelegant player ?

20 hours ago, AlexJones said:

Did Hibs field an ineligible player?

Does visually impaired count?

3 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

Did we field an inelegant player ?

Did we use unintelligible tactics?

What a pity our defence of the cup failed so tamely a few weeks ago, against one of the ultimate finalists.

Anyway, it must be encouraging for all the other teams to see two 'diddy' teams from the lower leagues reach the final.

When did that last happen I wonder?  Actually, I don't wonder that much, otherwise I'd look it up!

Apparently, according to BBC yesterday, it has never happened and only one team from outside the top flight has ever won the cup, East Fife.

10 minutes ago, Caley Mad In Berks said:

What a pity our defence of the cup failed so tamely a few weeks ago, against one of the ultimate finalists.

Anyway, it must be encouraging for all the other teams to see two 'diddy' teams from the lower leagues reach the final.

When did that last happen I wonder?  Actually, I don't wonder that much, otherwise I'd look it up!

Has never happened before!
Two non-top top-flight teams in the final! Also sorry for East Fife. Their famous record will no longer be a quiz question!

Through the entire competition there have been 9 ties between Premiership and Championship sides with Premiership sides winning on only 3 occasions.  The Rangers and Hibs have both beaten 3 Premiership sides.  On top of that, County needed a replay to see off a league 1 side, we needed a replay to see off a league 2 side and Hamilton memorably got well beaten by a league 2 side.  That's 7 of the 12 Premiership sides getting knocked out by lower league opposition.  This is all evidence that the top flight is a pretty weak league at the moment.

 

Or maybe, like in England, the Premiership sides like us just don't take the competition seriously. 

It'll be like a Challenge Cup final.

5 hours ago, Sneckboy said:

Has never happened before!
Two non-top top-flight teams in the final!

First ever all lower league Scottish Cup final. One club hasnt won the cup for 104 years. The other has never won it.

114 years for Hibs, in fact!

6 minutes ago, Sneckboy said:

114 years for Hibs, in fact!

Sorry. Not very good at sums.

40 minutes ago, mainstander said:

First ever all lower league Scottish Cup final. One club hasnt won the cup for 104 years. The other has never won it.

Can't say I want either of them to win it.  Two clubs who are not in the Premiership due to financial mismanagement in the past and who are now buying their way to cup success and the top flight by running at an operating loss.  It is not good to have the premier cup competition won by a club in debt, so perhaps the SFA  should declare the competition nul and void this year and just let us hold onto the trophy for another year.

14 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

Can't say I want either of them to win it.  Two clubs who are not in the Premiership due to financial mismanagement in the past and who are now buying their way to cup success and the top flight by running at an operating loss.  It is not good to have the premier cup competition won by a club in debt, so perhaps the SFA  should declare the competition nul and void this year and just let us hold onto the trophy for another year.

I'm not so sure that Hibs are not currently in the Premiership because of past financial mismanagement which in their case was about 25 years ago - long before even Caley Thistle's financial near-death experience. I would be more inclined to say that Hibs are not in the Premiership for the altogether more conventional reason of having been downright rank on the park!