Caley Thistle manager John Robertson insists he is not an advocate of the Betfred Cup group stage and would favour a return to a knock-out format.
Since 2016, the competition has started with a five-team group format, with all eight group winners qualifying for the second round along with the four best-placed runners-up.
The group stage is typically played ahead of the start of the league season, but was shifted back to an October start date this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Inverness go into their final Group A match at home to East Fife tomorrow with no prospect of advancing, and Robertson feels the tournament has lost some of its previous excitement.
Robertson said: “It’s not for me. It’s marmite, a lot of clubs use it for pre-season games, and I understand that.
“A lot of clubs don’t, as they want to get to the later end of the tournament.
“This year it would have been far better for the Championship, League One and League Two clubs to have got four really good, hard, technical games in the group stages before the first league match.
“We lost our first game to Hearts and drew our second game with Cowdenbeath, so we were virtually out of the tournament before we went to Kirkcaldy.
“The last two games are not meaningless because our injury situation has dictated they are still very important.
“For me it’s better to get the group stages done and dusted before the first league match.
“Personally, I’m not a great lover of the group stages, I would rather see it return to knock-out.
“We seem to be starting earlier every year and a lot of clubs use it as pre-season games.
“As a player I used to love the knock-out stages right away, then the final in October and the first bit of silverware is done and dusted. It becomes a very exciting start to the season.”
Robertson expects to be without defender Brad Mckay (foot) and James Vincent (nerve problem) for tomorrow’s visit of the Fifers, after the pair were injured in Tuesday’s 3-3 draw with Raith Rovers.
Robertson added: “It’s one step forward, and two steps back, we just can’t seem to catch a break on the injury situation.
“I don’t think either of the lads will be available this weekend. All we can do is just manage it.
“After the Raith Rovers game next Saturday we have a fortnight’s break, which will hopefully give us a chance to rest the players that need it, and get the other lads fitter.
“Hopefully we can have as many possible available for the next game on December 4 against Queen of the South.
Robertson is looking to use tomorrow’s game against his former club to rotate his side, and will hand goalkeeper Cammy Mackay a starting berth in place of first choice Mark Ridgers for the visit of the League One side.
Robertson added: “We want to do as well as we can in any cup, but now the cup is irrelevant to us – we can’t qualify.
“The biggest relevance we can give Saturday is to build momentum, we should never tire of winning football matches.
“We will use it ultimately to get players fit and ready for the following Saturday here against Raith Rovers.
“We have got to use it to our best interests, and that is to continue to get our injured players back playing football.
“We will give a little run out to a couple of our younger players who have not had any game time, and we will switch the goalkeepers over.”