I am writing to you with the idea for a new Welsh football trophy consisting of Welsh Premier League sides, Welsh teams in the English non league system, and the under twenty year old teams, of the English Premier, and Scottish Premier. The Welsh Gold Cup My idea is a new trophy based on the concept of all the first teams of every Welsh Premier side to play in a new cross border trophy against under twenty year old sides of the Scottish Premier and English Premier. The rationale behind the idea - In Spain, Germany, France and the Netherlands all the big sides play reserve sides in the lower divisions, so that young players can get early competitive games against real teams, with games reported in the papers, and fans who care deeply about the score, rather than the friendly - training game atmosphere of reserve and youth level games. Unfortunately it is very unlikely that the Scottish and English leagues would allow reserve teams into their real league system. So my idea is the Welsh could exploit this. And use the attraction of their first team sides of the Welsh Premier to give the youth sides of Scotland and England the chance to play games in such a competitive serious trophy. Attraction of games - Around a year ago I went to a Rhyl first team v Manchester City youth team game. And Rhyl had a bigger crowd than they normally get in the Welsh league. The atmosphere was intense with many Man City fans. Man City drew a big crowd to the game, and brought a relatively big travelling support. It was a great experience for the young Man City team to play a real first team side in front of a decent passionate crowd. Why not make this the inspiration for a real trophy? Other senior teams invited Perhaps the top 2 or more sides of the Welsh non league system could also play in the trophy, if they could afford it to add more non under 20 teams into the trophy. I could also see the other Welsh teams from outside the Welsh League such as Colwyn Bay, Wrexham and League Two Newport County, invited into the trophy. Also perhaps English non league teams from the Welsh border region such as Tranmere Rovers, Bath, Hereford, Southport, Telford, Hednesford, Nuneaton, Leamington, Gloucester, could be invited into the trophy. Attraction for Scottish and English sides - The possibility to playing real teams for their young players would be a massive boon for the Scottish sides. The Welsh league is of a good standard and would be a tremendous level for the under 20 teams to play against. I would see the Welsh sides as favourites for these games, but it would be a great experience for the Scottish sides. If it is considered too expensive for all the young teams of Scotland, to travel to Wales then the big Scottish sides of Glasgow Celtic, Glasgow Rangers, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Motherwell, and Aberdeen could on their own be able to provide the teams to play in the trophy. The Scottish youth teams are ambitious and of a decent standard so would put up a good test for Welsh League sides. English Premier clubs are awash with money and would enjoy spending their resources on playing large Welsh Premier League sides. The English Premier Youth sides would be favourites in these games, and could give future superstars the chance to test themselves at a young age. Attraction for Welsh and non league sides The possibility of helping to develop young superstars of the English Premier League as well as the top young players of the Scottish League. Also if young Welsh players perform well they could be signed up to the English or top Scottish sides. Which could result in Welsh Premier sides getting a reputation as breeding grounds for top young players. Just imagine what a draw the under 20 sides of Glasgow Celtic, Glasgow Rangers, Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City, Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton and West Ham United would be. I remember Barry filling their stadium for a game against a Man Utd youth side. Sponsorship, TV revenue, and Attendances I think for Welsh sides and non league sides attendances could be relatively high. I am not suggesting than 5,000 people would turn up for Bala Town v West Brom under 20 sides. But a good crowd be expected. Above the typical Welsh league attendances. The income from attendances, sponsorship and TV could be shared equally among the competing sides. So when Bangor City play Man Utd Under 20’s the attendance income would be shared equally between the home and away side. Is there time in the calendar for these games? I think this would be a straight knockout cup, so at most 5- 7 games, which could easily fit in the calendar. Typical Format of the Trophy - The format of the trophy could be flexible according to how many teams are in the trophy. A typical example could be ; 12 Welsh Premier first team sides, 12 Scottish Premier under 20 sides, 20 English Premier under 20 sides, 5 teams from the English non league system. Total - 49 sides. A straight knockout one leg trophy until the final. So at first a preliminary round would be needed to get to a final 32. So 15 of the teams would needed to be given a bye to the first round, and 34 play in the straight knockout preliminary round. The Preliminary round of 34 teams drawn randomly. The winning 17 preliminary round teams qualify for the next round, and join the other 15 teams who were given a bye to the first round. First round 32 sides Second Round 16 sides Quarter Final 8 sides. 4 sides in the semi final. 2 sides in a two legged final. Total maximum of 7 games. The final could be two legged, as the English FA Youth Cup is, or played at a neutral venue of equidistance between the two participating teams. Or the final game could be held in a Welsh stadium to bring revenues to the Welsh football world. To ensure teams are not tired out via the knockout rounds, the knockout rounds could have no replays and no extra time with a straight penalty shoot out after the 90 minutes. Scottish participation - If you think only the big Scottish sides could attract fans, then it could be just the youth sides of Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, and Hearts who participate. But I feel all Scottish Premier sides could afford to participate, At the very least Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers should participate as they would bring massive travelling supports larger than the vast majority of English Premier sides. And would put up youth teams of a high standard. It would also increase the brand awareness of the trophy and make it of a higher prestige if Scotland participated in trophy, rather than just Welsh and English sides. Travel costs - Travel costs could be subsidised by the cash rich English Premier sides, or the draw could be fixed so that Welsh sides play at home in the early rounds guaranteed. So this would cut out travel costs for Welsh sides. And this rule would be useful as it would as the English and Scottish under 20 sides would have a better chance of playing to a big atmosphere in the crowd. As under 20 games are not as big a draw for big sides as the under 20 sides will be for the Welsh Premier sides. Name of the trophy I think a Welsh Gold Cup would be a good idea. But other names could be the Welsh Invitational Cup, The Welsh Super Cup, The Welsh Open Cup, The Welsh Challenge Shield, the Welsh Major League Cup, the Welsh Major, or how about the Welsh Crystal Cup?
Something similar seems to be happening. The Scottish challenge cup will now include 2 teams from Wales & 2 teams from Northern Ireland Also in cup are under 20 Scottish premier sides & 8 Scottish non league sides. Mide you Bala to Elgin is a 16 hour/900 mile round trip but apparently the cup is regionlised presuming Welsh and Northern Irish sides will be in the southern Scotland area. (or east Scotland depending on how split is done.) interest in cup might not be so high now that Rangers won't be in it this year. btw Welsh & NI sides enter in round 4 (last 16) with 1 side from each guaranteed a home game.
