Well Wednesday sees the next round of the CIS Cup, with Livingston making the trip north to Tannadice.
Despite the fact that this competition’s predecessor, the League Cup, saw Dundee United’s first two trophy wins the competition in recent years has become devalued and no longer attracts an automatic UEFA cup place for the winner.
Despite various attempts to brighten things up - such as matches being played to a finish with penalty shoot outs if necessary, and a seeding policy - I’m afraid that it’s this correspondent’s view that it’s time to wind up this competition.
Low crowds are the order of the day and with Wednesday’s match not being covered by season tickets, and Livingston not bringing a large travelling support, I will be surprised if the crowd hits the 4000 mark for this game.
This is bound to affect the atmosphere, drums not withstanding, and have a knock on effect on the players, who are starting at last to show some spirit.
Saturday’s derby was one of the best I’ve seen for a long time and only an eternal optimist would expect more of the same on Wednesday night.
I can’t see many changes in the team – in the second half I reckon everyone played their part, and on that basis I suspect the same eleven will start the game, with Charlie Miller still out through injury (I heard an interesting story about how he sustained the injury by the way but I’d get shot for repeating it here!).
Predictions?
Poor crowd but a convincing United win and on we go to the next round. I stand by a prediction I made on the Glasgow Arabs bus that we’ll reach a cup final this season – and this could be the competition that proves me right – even though it’s totally worthless!