One piece of The Scottish Football League’s silverware collection will be played for under a new name this coming season after the SFL Challenge Cup was recently launched at a press conference at Hampden and will now be known as The Ramsdens Cup.
The High Street Pawnbroking chain, who already sponsor Tony Mowbray’s Middlesbrough side, are to lend their name to the knockout competition that will be competed for by 32 clubs during season 2011/12 with Scottish Highland Football League sides Buckie Thistle and Deveronvale joining the 30 IRN-BRU SFL First, Second and Third Division clubs.
As well as a new sponsor and two new clubs, the competition will also have a new date for the Cup Final with the serendipitous move to an April date following last season’s successful Cup Final between Ross County and Queen of the South being staged in the spring.
SFL Chief Executive David Longmuir said: “We are delighted to welcome such a new and thriving business as Ramsdens into the family of sponsors at The Scottish Football League. They are a family based business in the north east of England and are keen to expand in Scotland. They will sponsor The Ramsdens Cup for one season with a view to a longer relationship.
“We are also delighted to welcome Buckie Thistle and Deveronvale to the competition and it is very pleasing to work with progressive clubs.”
In regard to the change of date for the Cup Final Longmuir said: “The weather problems last season actually worked in our favour as we ended up with a Final played in bright sunshine and watched with fans in shirt sleeves.
“April is also at a time in the season when Cup Finals are played and it gives everyone a longer time to look forward to the Final by having it later in the season so it was an easy decision to make.”
The clubs that finished first and second in last season’s Highland League Championship were represented in Glasgow with champions, Buckie Thistle, drawing Forfar Athletic away and second placed, Deveronvale, welcoming Stirling Albion to Banff to start their seasons off in fine style.
Victoria Park Committee Member Garry Farquhar said: “What a great start to the season for both ourselves and Deveronvale. Our biggest concern was that we would draw each other as that would have diluted things a wee bit but we have avoided that.”
Getting to play with the big boys is normally reserved only for the Scottish Cup and it did not take the Highland League Champions long to agree to take part in the SFL’s competition as a reward for the work they have done with regard to the SFA’s Club Licensing Scheme.
Farquhar said: “We were very honoured to be invited into this competition and we feel it is a very good accolade from the SFL to the clubs that are working hard towards Club Licencing.”
Buckie’s last game was their title triumph against Deveronvale and Farquhar is sure that the positivity felt from that result will help them get their season off with a bang at Station Park.
He explained: “After waiting 52 years for a title win, we have now had two in two seasons so we are very positive at the moment.
“We gained cup experience last season against East Stirling and Brechin and we have played Forfar before in a pre-season friendly so we are really looking forward to opening our season in The Ramsdens Cup.”
Deveronvale Manager, Scott Anderson, was also in Glasgow and he said: “I am delighted to have Stirling Albion at home and it is a great tie for us to look forward to.
“It is great to be in this competition and to have a home tie against a side that were in the First Division last season is something our players and supporters will really look forward to.
“This will be our first game of the season and that will give it a huge focus and we will have a good backing at the game. We have one or two senior players that have good experience as well as the Scottish Cup experience that all the players have picked up over the years.”
Anderson added: “I am delighted that the club took up the offer of joining this competition. After the disappointment of finishing second in the Highland League last season, this has given us a huge boost. I would imagine all the Highland League clubs would want to be involved in the competition.”
The First Round is again regionalised with holders Ross County drawn at home against local rivals Elgin City in a tie that emphasises the progression to SFL status that Highland League clubs have made over the last two decades.
Elgin City Manager, Ross Jack, was delighted, even if the pairing will deny his men a pre-season friendly as he said: “It is a fantastic draw for us and for Ross County. They will be delighted to be at home and I am sure our fans will turn out in big numbers for this one.
“It is a great way for us to open our season although our plans for a friendly against Ross County will have to be shelved now.”
Hamilton Academical will begin life as a First Division side against Queen’s Park at Hampden with Spiders’ Head Coach Gardner Speirs saying: “What a real test for us to open the season. I don’t think we could have had it tougher and when you consider we have Ross County away in The Scottish Communities League Cup the following Saturday, we have to really hit the ground running.”
Albion Rovers and Annan Athletic will meet in a re-run of their Play-Off Final encounter that saw the Coatbridge men promoted with Rovers boss Paul Martin saying: “We ended the season with two games against Annan so it seems a bit strange to be starting the new one against them as well. They will be out for revenge I am sure of that.”
Ramsdens Chief Executive, Peter Kenyon, is going through a crash course in Scottish football and he is delighted to learn more about the clubs that are participating in The Ramsdens Cup.
Kenyon was asked why the company was getting involved and he said: “We have a huge interest in Scotland, in fact one third of Ramsdens branches are in Scotland.
“We have had a successful start to sponsorship with English Championship side Middlesbrough after getting involved with them at the start of last season where they had the innovative approach of having a monthly jersey sponsor as opposed to an annual one.
“We took sponsorship with them for four months and then had a break in February when we looked at how the sponsorship had worked. We got great customer feedback and decided to go back in with Middlesbrough until the end of the season and we have agreed a deal with them until 2014 to have our green and white lettering on their jerseys.
“The Middlesbrough shirt sponsorship deal proved very beneficial to us locally and we wanted to replicate that in Scotland and the Challenge Cup seemed a great competition for us to get involved in.”
The Scottish Football League and Ramsdens have been talking for some time with Kenyon advising: “Scottish football is a major factor in any community and usually it is at the heart of that community. We did not want to have a one club deal here so being in partnership with The Scottish Football League is a logical move.
“MG ALBA were contracted until the end of last season and when the opportunity came up to sponsor this competition for the new season, we were delighted to get involved.”
Kenyon has been doing his homework as he explained: “I am slowly getting used to where the teams are from and our Scottish Director, Colin McLauchlin, knows the scene really well and is helping complete my knowledge.
“I know Raith Rovers are from Kirkcaldy, Albion Rovers are based in Coatbridge and Queen of the South are from Dumfries so I am getting there!”
Being involved in the knockout competition is an exciting development for Ramsdens with Kenyon explaining: “It will be exciting to see our name associated with a national cup competition and being involved will also broaden people’s awareness of what Ramsdens do.
“We have been labelled various things but we are a pawnbroking business and proud to be that. We issue pawnbroking loans to customers who want them but we consider ourselves a 21st Century pawnbroker.
“We deal in gold, silver, mobile phones and foreign currency and we are a very innovative company. We were buying gold from customers on a non-direct basis long before the American companies came in and gave the market a poor name.
“We are a very modern High Street company with branches that look like a Bank, where we do the right bits of banking in a relationship managed way, and a jewellers where we deal in pawnbroking with gold as we have for many years.”
Kenyon is going to keep up with his education as he explained: “I will be attending games but we do not have a branch in Banff or Buckie as yet so I may not make there but I am delighted that they have been included in the expanded Ramsdens Cup.”
The full draw is:-
SATURDAY 23RD JULY 2011
NORTH/EAST DRAW
- Brechin City v Falkirk
- Raith Rovers v Cowdenbeath
- Forfar Athletic v Buckie Thistle
- Peterhead v Alloa Athletic
- Ross County v Elgin City
- Montrose v East Fife
- Deveronvale v Stirling Albion (Kick-off 1.00pm)
- Arbroath v Dundee
SOUTH/WEST DRAW
- Clyde v Berwick Rangers
- Airdrie United v Livingston
- Partick Thistle v Stenhousemuir
- Ayr United v Queen of the South
- Stranraer v Morton
- Queen’s Park v Hamilton Academical
- Albion Rovers v Annan Athletic
SUNDAY 24TH JULY 2011
SOUTH/WEST DRAW
- Dumbarton v East Stirlingshire
All kick-offs 3.00pm, unless otherwise stated
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