I won’t risk the Swifts’ bid to retain cup by tinkering, maintains Lindsay
KRIS Lindsay insists that there is a steely determination in the Dungannon Swifts ranks to hold onto the trophy they won last season, ahead of tonight’s BetMcLean League Cup quarter-final at Cliftonville.
The Dungannon boss insisted that despite being in the middle of a relegation fight he would not be making wholesale changes for the knockout clash at Solitude, declaring that it would be ‘ridiculous’ for him to do so.
In last week’s last-eight League Cup fixtures, some managers decided to switch their sides around quite considerably — but such a scenario is not in Lindsay’s thoughts.
“I have a good squad of players here and have every confidence in all of them, but it’s a cup quarter-final and I’ll be going there to try and win it,” said Lindsay, whose side have not lost on the road since September.
“League Cup quarter-finals aren’t the time to give boys opportunities to stake a claim. Yes, if I need to make changes due to performance levels I will make them, but I won’t be making changes for changes sake.
“I think that’s ridiculous in a cup quarter-final. You want to go there and win it. It’s not the time or place — potentially in a Mid-Ulster game the week after, but not in a cup competition the club worked so hard to win last season.”
It was under Rodney McAree that the Swifts created history, claiming their first major trophy with a convincing victory over Ballymena United in the decider.
With a home semi-final against Portadown or Linfield awaiting tonight’s victors, there is plenty of incentive.
Dungannon played well in a 1-1 draw at Warrenpoint at the weekend, while Cliftonville will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2-1 league defeat to Ballymena United.
Lindsay is well aware of the challenge his players will face, especially in defence trying to stop goal machine Joe Gormley.
“We will be facing Joe Gormley, probably the best striker in the league, so we will need to be on top of our game defensively and not give away soft goals,” stated Lindsay.
“If we make slightly better decisions going forward we will cause them problems.
“Dungannon won the League Cup last season so it is a competition we are determined to progress in.” Holding firm: Kris Lindsay will not make wholesale changes THE SPFL have announced they have agreed a new five-year broadcast deal that will see Scottish Premiership matches shown exclusively on Sky Sports from 2020.
It is believed the new deal will be worth up to £100m and will see the games move from BT Sport to their broadcasting rivals for the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
The new deal is worth considerably more than the existing package with Sky and BT, which allows each broadcaster to show 30 games each, currently worth around £17.5m per season.
Under the new deal, Sky will show 48 games, along with the six end-of-season Premiership/ Championship play-off ties.
BT Sport will have no Scottish football from 2020 onwards after the SPFL announced earlier this month that Premier Sports had won the rights to League Cup games, while BBC Scotland will show highlights after agreeing a new deal until 2025.
The BBC have also agreed to show up to 20 games from the Scottish Championship, with their radio coverage being extended and they will now offer enhanced digital coverage and more extensive highlights.
BBC Alba will show one Premiership match via deferred coverage per week, as they have already been doing, along with IRN BRU Cup matches and playoffs from the lower Scottish leagues.
Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive, said: “Taken together, these deals represent the largest ever injection of broadcast investment since the SPL was founded over 20 years ago.
“Whilst we are not in a position to reveal exact figures, it’s indicative of the sums involved that the clubs quickly voted to accept the deals put before them.
“It has been a remarkably complex and time-consuming process, but we have definitely got the right result.
“The significant, additional money which will come into Scottish football will be extremely welcome.”