PETER HOUSTON, the Falkirk manager, refused to criticise the new regionalised Betfred Cup format that could see his team face a 350-mile round trip following tonight’s first round draw.
Next season’s tournament will start off during July and will feature eight groups with five teams including two seeded teams per section, split geographically between north and south.
However, the regionalised pots have thrown up several anomalies. As Falkirk feature in seeding pot No.2, they have been categorised for the north half of the draw, despite near neighbours Stenhousemuir and East Stirlingshire, who play at Ochilview three miles north of Falkirk, being placed in the southern district.
That means Houston’s team could potentially be drawn in a group with Ross County, Peterhead or Elgin City 175 miles away. Despite the road trips that could be thrown up though, the 57-year-old, who yesterday was named the Ladbrokes Championship manager of the year, confessed he’d much rather hit the high road than face weeks of meaningless pre-season friendlies.
“Scotland is not that big a place. A couple of hours in the bus and you’re there,” said the Falkirk manager.
“It doesn’t frustrate me. I’m looking forward to it, it’s something new. We’re trying something, let us suck it and see as they say and see how it works. The travel doesn’t bother me.
“I hate pre-season games and i always have, when they bring up the bring clubs and they play Everton and the likes of Sheffield Wednesday. We played Rotherham a couple of years ago, I hate those games because they mean nothing and there’s not a competitive edge to it. If you get battered 5-0 by Rotherham at home, you’re fans are against you right away. I’d rather go into that.”
Houston collected the award after his team’s impressive season saw them go all the way to the Premiership play-off final only for them to eventually come unstuck at Rugby Park on Sunday, going down 4-1 on aggregate.
“You’ve got to get it out of your system and move on and that’s what we’re going to try and do,” he said. “I’m in a better position mentally and if the Falkirk fans come out and by season ticket books then I might get some money to bring better quality in.
“The players and fans deserve credit because it was a decent season without winning anything. You don’t get anything for finishing second - in the league or the play-offs - but we dust ourselves down and start back on June 23.”
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