Northern Ireland Diamond Open Cup.

Northern Ireland Diamond Open Cup.

Here is an idea. As a way to improve football / soccer in Northern Ireland.

My idea is to have a open competitive football cup trophy. With the idea being that the first teams of all tier one Northern Irish sides, but also that teams are invited from outside Northern Ireland to take part, including big clubs B teams.

My idea would be that all Northern Irish tier one sides play in the trophy. But that B teams from the big Scottish, and English sides take part.

The Scottish Challenge Cup already allow Scottish Premiership clubs to enter B teams. And the first teams of Welsh league teams, and Northern Irish league teams have played in the Scottish Challenge Cup. The English lower tier EFL Trophy already has big EPL teams enter under-21 teams.

So my idea is for Northern Ireland to copy this idea by creating a trophy that has all tier one Northern Irish sides, but also the B teams of the big Scottish sides, such as Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers. Plus the B teams of the big English sides such as of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Leeds United, Sunderland, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, West Ham United, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, and Leicester City.

The idea is that the big Scottish and English sides have so many fans, that even their B teams are well supported. So the big Scottish and English sides will have such big supports and attract big supports to see them play the first teams of Northern Irish tier one sides.

The idea is that this will enable Northern Irish sides to get bigger attendances, marketing, tv ratings, and advertising from this.

The cup final could be played in Belfast. With in earlier rounds teams travelling home and away as normal.

Also the trophy could have first team tier one sides from the Irish Republic taking part. Plus representative teams from Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. Plus the first teams could be invited in from Southern Scotland, and North West England. Southern Scottish sides could include Stranraer, Ayr United, Annan Athletic, and Queen of the South.

The trophy could be a group stage trophy with tier one status in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish Challenge Cup, and EFL Trophy has shown big Scottish and English sides have been prepared to enter second string teams in competitive trophies, as it is a very good way develop young players. The big teams of Scotland and England would be unlikely to enter their first teams in tier one Northern Irish trophies due to fixture congestion, but I am sure they would be prepared to enter B teams in a high status Northern Irish club trophy.