JIM McIntyre yesterday applauded Scottish football chiefs for embracing radical change with the £8 million League Cup revamp.
But the Ross County manager admitted to some concerns over how “regionalised” group stages would operate and impact on his club.
McIntyre praised innovative aspects of the plan to breathe new life into the domestic game, including the introduction of competitive summer football and a two-week winter shutdown.
But while the former Dundee United and Dunfermline striker backed the overall concept, he confessed to some anxieties about the finer details.
Clubs, he feels, may have to use the League Cup group matches almost as part of the pre-season warm-up programme.
Even then, he envisages eating into the traditional close season rest period by bringing his squad back a week sooner.
And McIntyre also queried how five-team groups could be formed in the north if seeding placed Inverness and Ross County in separate sections.
Currently, from the lower leagues, only Elgin City could be considered regional neighbours to County and Caley Thistle.
Were Brora Rangers to retain their Highland League crown, they would be natural group members.
But Peterhead lies 122 miles from Dingwall, while a match against alternative Highland League champions such as Cove Rangers would involve an 118-mile trek.
Likewise, games against the Angus clubs would hardly fit the “regional” idea from a Highland perspective.
McIntyre said: “I can completely understand why this has been done. We’ve got to try and look to do something a little bit different in our game.
“Obviously, the teams who have qualified to play in Europe will come into the last 16, which I think is fair.
“I’m looking at the regionalising of the group stage and wondering how many teams are we going to have from this region?
“There is only one top seed in each group and you have us and Inverness already up here, so where do the other teams come from?
“You are only getting the title winners from the Highland League. If it’s us and Inverness, you have to have four teams and four teams.
“From that point of view, there is still likely to be a fair bit of travelling for us although I suppose that’s just the geography side of it we have to deal with.”
McIntyre isn’t opposed to the winter break, but stressed it was a far cry from the month-long shutdowns some continental leagues embrace.
The Staggies boss said: “The winter break is a hard one. When do you have it? We’re second-guessing the weather, really. You can get two weeks of snow in March.
“The whole concept of it, I can totally understand. I personally don’t mind the winter break at all.”
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