FORMER Celtic midfielder Peter Grant reckons that one of Scotland's three  domestic cup competitions should be scrapped - as the congested fixture list is having an adverse effect on lower league clubs and the national team.

Teams throughout the SPFL pyramid are facing a hectic campaign thanks to the one-month break this winter to accomodate the World Cup in Qatar.

The former Dunfermline and Alloa manager believes that the bigger sides in the country will be unwilling to send youngsters out on loan in order to cope with the demands of the busy season - and as a result, up-and-coming players won't play as many games as they otherwise would.

The Premier Sports Cup kicked off last weekend, the SPFL Trust Trophy will begin next month and top-flight clubs will enter the Scottish Cup in January.

Grant would like to see one of the cups axed and believes the benefits would be far-reaching.

He told the Scottish Sun: "One thing I experienced not only at Alloa but at Dunfermline too, especially in the Covid season, is that we need to cut one of the cups out and let it flow and see how it goes.

"Is it worth [having three cup competitions]? I don't think it is. Most of the teams that end up in the final are the big clubs anyway.

"By the time that the big money comes into it, the wee teams haven't made any money from it because they're out of the competition and have ran it at a loss.

"There's so much going on and we don't have the finances to support it and you can see it with the wages that some of the full-time clubs are offering in the lower leagues.

"A lot of them are offering near-on part-time wages. That's why some boys will be thinking that they need to go down and get a different route, they were going to go and get jobs anyway so why not bring it forward.

"That's just my opinion though - the decision making isn't up to me. If it was up to me though, I'd have definitely got rid of one of the cup competitions by now for sure."

Grant continued: "You look at the way it's going to be this year with the World Cup, everything comes forward.

"The Premiership teams are going to be playing every single midweek, if you think about it, with Celtic and Rangers having their runs in Europe hopefully - alongside Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell having runs of their own as well.

"If they do manage to do that they're never going to have a break up until the World Cup. Then you fit in international games, Challenge Cup games for the Championship and below - it's just way too much.

"They worry about flogging players and getting the best for them and from them in terms of player care.

"It all has an impact on the leagues below too because that'll mean that the bigger teams are stretched because the young kids will be needed to sit on the bench and they'll not get the opportunity to go out and learn their way in the game.

"Before you know it you'll have another season lost where they've not been playing matches, which annoys me particularly.

"We're quick to slate the Scottish national team saying that we're not technically good enough this that and the other, it's impossible to have that if they're not playing games. Players are set back years in their development as a result."