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00:00So, the Scottish League Cup kicks off this weekend. Group stages, Ben. Working with Fingerwell,
00:13have you had a chance to look at the groups? Is there any one group that stands out to
00:17you at the moment? Any teams from maybe lower down the divisions we might be expecting,
00:22and then of course, to cause an upset, then of course we've got the likes of Aberdeen
00:27and Hibs. We're going to get an early look at some of the new faces in the door. They
00:31are excited.
00:32Well, it's nice to just have the competitive action back. The Euros buzz lasted all of
00:38about eight days for us, so it's nice to get the competitive stuff back here. But I think
00:43probably the most intriguing, if you're looking at maybe the bigger teams, is how Aberdeen
00:46look under sort of new management. Same with Hibs. I think Hibs particularly have got sort
00:52of still scars of this competition a couple of years ago. I can remember being in the
00:57stadium when they were playing Morton at this stage in the tournament, July 22, and sort
01:02of wondering, is Rocky Bashiri not meant to be suspended for this game? And then sort
01:07of they get jumped out the cup off the back of all that type of stuff. So I think this
01:12competition is sometimes written off as pre-season friendlies, and I've already heard bit and
01:16wee different snippets of, you know, is this a good build up to the league season? I think
01:21it's really dangerous for even managers down the divisions to view it as that, but especially
01:26at Premiership level, you don't want it to be happening to what happened to St. Johnston
01:29last season, where you could beat 4-0 off Stirling Albion, and you could beat off Stenhouse
01:33Muir, and then you need to go into your league season off the back of that already out the
01:36cup. So I think it gives you a good base for starting your Premiership season, if you can
01:41get off to, even if it is against lower league opposition, rack up two or three decent enough
01:46wins, get through in the cup, try out your squad if you get the opportunity to do that,
01:51and then you're in in the last 16 as well. But I think probably for me, probably Aberdeen
01:57is probably the more interesting one. Kind of had a wee bit of seeing what a David Gray
02:02team would look like over these last four interim stints, but Aberdeen I think is a
02:08totally unknown quantity this season. We haven't really heard or seen a lot from them yet,
02:13so it'll be interesting to see how they sort of attack this group stage.
02:16Yeah, the thing I love about, I mean, I'm a big fan of the group stage, I know not everyone
02:21is, but I think if you're a manager, it really can go either one way or the other. And I
02:26look at the groups and I don't want to pick on certain clubs because a lot can change
02:33in the early weeks of the summer. But if you're David Gray and you're looking at your group
02:37of Queens Park, Kelty Hearts, Peterhead and Elgin, you've sort of, well, it's the same
02:44for all these lower league clubs. They've really got everything to gain and nothing
02:47to lose. So if you're a premiership club, it can be quite deadly. But I think David
02:53Gray, even with the sort of fluctuations in Hibs last season, backs himself to get a win
02:59in all those games. The Queens Park are going to be their biggest test. And I think that
03:05kind of tells you everything you need to know. I'm not saying that to be disrespectful
03:09to Queens Park, but Hibs are going to be massive favorites going into that. And Queens Park
03:13are perfectly capable of causing an upset there. And it's going to be a difficult game
03:18for them. But after that, with the sort of quality they've got, they really should be
03:23looking to blow away the likes of Kelty, Peterhead and Elgin. And then you look at Dundee, a
03:29similar situation. Inverness, a club in turmoil. Arbroath, a club rebuilding after relegation.
03:36And then Annan and Bonnyrig, two solid League One, League Two clubs. But again, you'd be
03:42talking huge upsets for either of them to get something off Dundee. And then you've
03:47got the opposite. So I think if you're Craig Levine, for example, and you're looking at
03:50that group, Greenock Morton, Aloe Athletic and East Fife are probably, like I say, Morton
03:58wouldn't surprise me if they took something off of St. Johnston. Aloe, again, a very capable
04:06League One team. Wouldn't surprise me if they got some good results. Motherwell, potentially
04:11in a similar situation with Partick, Thistle and Montrose. Ross County, of course, will
04:15get Rafe Rovers and Hamilton Ackies. That's absolutely brutal for them. But Aberdeen's
04:21interesting one. Obviously, East Kilbride, Dumbarton, teams you expect them to be. Queen
04:27of the South, a team that you'll expect them to be. Airdrie Onions, that's going to be
04:31a really interesting match. I'm looking forward to that one from an Aberdeen perspective.