STAGING full-scale Old Firm games in this season's Glasgow Cup will be discussed at a meeting of the Glasgow Football Association next week.
The tournament has already been scheduled to continue as an under-17s event for the coming campaign but that has yet to be ratified by the Scottish Football Association.
When the Glasgow FA holds a scheduled meeting next week, there will be talks on whether to seek a change to the competition in order to guarantee Celtic versus Rangers games at senior level in the coming months, assuming Rangers newco are granted SFA membership to play football at all.
The SFA and representatives of Rangers newco held a second day of discussions over the membership application yesterday but have still to reach a resolution. The SFA want the newco club to accept sanctions relating to the oldco, and the governing body also wants more information on who is in the consortium fronted by Charles Green. Talks will continue today.
Unless the clubs are drawn in the cup competitions, Celtic and Rangers newco are not scheduled to play each other until 2015 at the earliest, and only then if the newco gains three consecutive promotions through the Scottish Football League divisions. That could give the Glasgow FA a unique platform to stage the derby and potentially generate lucrative television rights to one or more derbies.
"We have had the competition in different formats over the years, it is constantly under review," said John Taylor, secretary of the Glasgow FA. "The reason for going to under-19s and then under-17s level for the past few years was simply that it was harder for the Old Firm to get dates into their schedules. So we've had a commitment to promote youth football in the city instead and it's been a great tournament for the youth teams. The coaches are still enthusiastic about that."
The Glasgow Cup has not been held as a genuine first-team event since the mid-1980s, notably when more than 40,000 watched the Old Firm final of 1986, which gave Graeme Souness his first trophy as Rangers' player-manager. Subsequently it began to slip way down the two clubs' priorities.
Both Celtic and Rangers' representatives will have their say next week, though, and the absence of four league derbies each season – each of which guarantees a capacity crowd – could lead to a move to resurrect the Glasgow Cup as a senior event. Partick Thistle, Clyde and Queen's Park are the other Glasgow FA member clubs.
Meanwhile, lawyers acting for Dunfermline Athletic have formally requested an explanation of the SPL's decision to hand Dundee the "Club 12" place vacated by Rangers. It is understood it may take up to a fortnight for a response to be forthcoming and chairman John Yorkston will pursue an explanation and potentially financial compensation, without attempting to block Dundee's promotion.
"We need to get on with the league," said Yorkston. "There has been enough turmoil and we don't want to cause a delay to the season or it could all end in more farce. We have already been placed at a sporting disadvantage by the unnecessary wait we had to find out that Dundee were to be invited in. It may be that we pursue financial compensation instead."
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