The Football League's proposals for merging the Worthington Cup and Scotland's CIS Insurance Cup competitions at the semi-final stage will have to wait because of a sponsorship hitch. The League has put forward proposals to combine the two Cup competitions in a bid to give both a much-needed boost. In recent years, the top clubs in the Premiership have fielded under-strength teams in the Worthington Cup but League bosses are confident that their idea would revive the competition, making it more appealing to the top teams as well as sponsors and TV companies.
However, any such plan to amalgamate the two tournaments at any stage can only take place once the current sponsorship deal between the Scottish Football League and CIS Insurance has expired. SFL secretary Peter Donald maintained today that the organisation has not been involved in any discussions over these proposals. "We have a year to run on the sponsorship with CIS Insurance so we would not be free to contemplate anything in that direction until the sponsorship deal has been served," he explained.
Football League chief executive David Burns was hoping that the plan could be put into place by the start of next season but he will now have to wait a further 12 months before the top clubs from England and Scotland face each other in a possible British SuperCup competition.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
