PREMIERSHIP clubs across the west of Scotland have agreed in principle to set up a new 15-a-side Glasgow Cup' competition designed to increase their competitiveness and improve the profile of the game.

West of Scotland coach John Beattie is driving the concept forward after being inspired by envy of the more competitive Borders environment.

According to Beattie, all Premiership clubs in the district, conveniently numbering 10 at the moment - West, Hawks, Ayr, GHA, Hamilton, Ardrossan Accies, Cartha QP, Hillhead/Jordanhill, Garnock and Irvine - have agreed that such a competition would be beneficial and should be set up.

There are logistical issues to be taken into consideration, but he believes every effort should be made to get the new tournament under way as soon as possible.

"I've always thought the Borders had a real advantage coming into this time of year," he explained.

"As an example, we had a really big game in the division two title race against Selkirk this time last year and they'd had really competitive games every week when the Premiership was off because they were playing in the Borders League, whereas we'd only had a couple of games.

"Ideally, what we want is a competition that gets under way in pre-season, to help us get ready for the national competition, with the rest of the matches played towards the middle and end of the season.

"It would be great to have a final play-off day, too, in the best of the weather in May, when all the teams involved could play-off for places, ending in a final in the evening.

"If there was real flexibility with fixtures then if two teams were knocked out of the cup competitions and had no fixture they could play one another that weekend.

"I'd like to think we could have something under way in the closing stages of this season to get it off the ground."