Sutton believes cup revamp will bring new fizz to competition
Former Celtic striker relishes return of Glasgow derbies as Rangers ready themselves for cup and title bids
CHRIS SUTTON’S job as a pundit may be to promote the Betfred Cup which BT Sports will broadcast live next season, but his enthusiasm for the revamping of the competition sounded utterly genuine as he looked ahead to what promises to be a high octane start to the new season.
There should be no shortage of interest in the fixtures they show on the opening weekend as Ray McKinnon bids to get his Dundee United revival underway against Arbroath before Rangers get the chance to show their readiness for the top flight against Motherwell, who denied them a place in the Premiership last year by beating them in the playoffs. However he also believes the new format will revive what was a flagging competition, while he needed no encouragement to discuss the impetus that will be provided by next season’s return of the big Glasgow derbies.
“I thought the old format was a little bit tired (whereas) the group system is exciting and it will be rare to get any dead rubbers,” he said.
“The bonus point for a win on penalties if it is a draw is another good idea. It’s summer football, it’s short and sharp and the final comes in November which is a big deal.
“For the past few seasons everybody has been talking about whether Celtic have a chance of doing the treble and Brendan Rodgers will be desperate to get that one under his belt. You also have Rangers pushing this season and they feature in three of the first five live games. There is an extra edge to their game with Motherwell because of the Lee Erwin and Mohsni punch-up the last time they met.
“When the draw came out that was the tie because Motherwell haven’t played Rangers since the 6-1 which was such an enormous tie and there’ll certainly be a lot at stake.
“Rangers will want to go to Motherwell and make a statement, show that they’re going to push not only in the cups but in the league this season.
“There is so much to look forward to. It is really refreshing.”
He has been impressed by the way Rangers have set about preparing for the step up.
“Mark Warburton has had a disappointing end to the season at Rangers, albeit a successful season when they’ve gone up comfortably,” said Sutton.
“I like the fact they’ve signed Joey Barton. I know there’s been different things said about Joey Barton, but it only makes Scottish football more exciting and Rangers will want to go to Motherwell and make a statement, show that they’re going to push not only in the cups but in the league this season.”
He believes that for different reasons both Celtic and Rangers supporters need to be patient as the new season gets underway, but he acknowledged that Brendan Rodgers, the new Celtic manager, will be hoping to impose his authority and that of the champions immediately.
In order to achieve that the former Celtic striker reckons that with only Leigh Griffiths and Kieran Tierney having fully proved their worth in the past season, he needs support from his board and in particular major shareholder Dermot Desmond. He acknowledged that all involved with the club were jolted by the nature of the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers.
“Celtic had gone backwards under Ronny Deila and was that the game that Dermot saw it with his own eyes and realised how bad it’d got? I think it was,” Sutton contended.
“They are making a statement now by getting someone of Brendan Rodgers’ stature and ilk in and Celtic mean business. They need to back it up in terms of bringing new players into the club and I’m sure that will be the case.
“It’ll be an important few weeks for Brendan. I believe he’s met some of the players, he’s met the captain Scott Brown but they need players in because the Champions League qualifiers are a really big deal in terms of Celtic showing they’ve improved in Europe.
“Brendan will want to hit the ground running. Celtic let the gap close for me and that one result Rangers deserved to win – and if you were a Celtic fan that must have hurt.”