HibeeJibee

It'd be restrictive and disruptive. There's just 6-7 weeks from playoffs ending to LC starting. They're major income streams. Some grant funded. Several clubs haven't training centres. Many full-timers = 3Gs (Livingston/Airdrie/Raith/Hamilton/Falkirk/QotS/Cove/etc.).

Saturday 9th December 2023 Cowdenbeath 3-3 Celtic B Cumbernauld Colts 2-1 Berwick Rangers Edinburgh University 2-2 Albion Rovers University of Stirling 1-0 East Stirlingshire Formartine United 4-3 Brechin City

Haddington 5-0 Kinnoull Excellent entertainment on the Millfield. Hosts dominated early then to-&-fro amid teeming rain. Goalless at break. Then all Athletic knocking in 5 without reply and missing pen... #2 a cracking effort.

Heriots? Stewarts Melville (Inverleith)? Unlit.

First-ever home win today.

Closest we came to Santos gracing Scottish turf was 1963 - when had Dundee made it past AC Milan and won the European Cup they'd have visited Dens Park in an Intercontinental Cup Final. However there were several occasions friendlies may have happened. Celtic proposed a friendly on Wednesday 12th October 1966 but the Brazilian FA refused to let them travel. Santos later proposed to play a friendly with Celtic (at Hampden) on Monday 7th September 1970 - also playing in Manchester then London or perhaps Newcastle - but trip fell through. Perhaps most bizarrely of all St Johnstone tried to bring Pele & Co to Muirton on Saturday 26th February 1972, being free after exiting Scottish Cup, but out-bid by Bohemians & Drumcondra.

Whamageddon: DJ sorry for playing Last Christmas by Wham! - BBC News A football stadium DJ has apologised for playing Last Christmas by Wham!, potentially knocking more than 7,000 people out of cult game Whamageddon. Players try to avoid George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's 1984 hit for as long as possible before Christmas Eve and are eliminated once they hear it. Matt Facer, DJ at Northampton Town, was criticised for playing it at the home game against Portsmouth on 2 December. "I never knew people took it so seriously," he said.

Can't be many clubs who have moved county without moving ground, but Queen's Park is another (Hampden was Renfrewshire: indeed briefly each end was in a different police constabulary).

Maxwelltown - Wikipedia Maxwelltown (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Drochaid, IPA:[ˈkʰʲaun̴̪ˈt̪ɾɔxətʲ]) was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh and by the time of the burgh's abolition in 1929 it was the most populous burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. In 1929 Maxwelltown was merged with the neighbouring burgh of Dumfries.[1][2] Maxwelltown lies to the west of the River Nith, which forms the historic boundary between Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire. Maxwelltown was a hamlet known as Bridgend up until 1810, in which year it was made into a burgh of barony under its present name, later becoming a police burgh in 1833. Maxwelltown comprises several suburbs, including Summerhill, Troqueer, Janefield, Lochside, Lincluden, Sandside, and Summerville. The burgh of Maxwelltown straddled the two parishes of Terregles and Troqueer. In a referendum in 1928 the residents of Maxwelltown voted to join the burgh of Dumfries.[3] The change took effect on 3 October 1929, and also had the effect of transferring Maxwelltown from Kirkcudbrightshire to Dumfriesshire.[4][5]

Well...

It's supposed to be an L-shaped stand also running down the side of the pitch: but they haven't built the side yet... and perhaps never will? Whole project has taken over 10 years now - suffering numerous legal challenges from local residents (it's a very well-heeled area), plus numerous building and funding delays. Like all domestic clubs their crowds are low hundreds at best. There are no floodlights and the pitch isn't railed so wouldn't get an SFA licence currently. Your only hope on rugby front would be joining Watsonians at Myreside.

Poignantly the same year Pele was laid to rest. They were once the biggest name in world football. British clubs would pay fortunes for friendlies, even during the state of emergency 50yrs ago. Monday 22nd October 1962 Sheffield Wednesday 2-4 Santos 49,058 Tuesday 23rd September 1969 Stoke City 2-3 Santos 23,756 Monday 21st February 1972 Aston Villa 2-1 Santos 54,437 Wednesday 23rd February 1972 Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Santos 36,996 Friday 25th February 1972 Bohemians & Drumcondra 2-3 Santos 30,000 Monday 12th March 1973 Fulham 2-1 Santos 21,464 Wednesday 14th March 1973 Plymouth Argyle 3-2 Santos 37,639 Monday 20th August 1990 Derby County Santos Sunday 3rd August 1997 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Santos

Edinburgh Academical Football Club - Wikipedia Edinburgh Academical Football Club, also known as Edinburgh Accies, is a rugby union club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club is currently a member of the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of Scottish club rugby. Its home ground is Raeburn Place, in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

75 years ago today:

Developments in Ulster: Euro 2028: Casement Park needs new contractor for tournament rebuild - BBC News

Plus the previous week Celtic, Hibs and St Bernards all played league games on Saturday 23rd December - then travelled to England for Monday friendlies on Christmas Day... Hibs then played another on Boxing Day. Note also from your cutting that Rangers v Hibs on Tuesday 2nd January was an Inter City League clash... another modern fans myth and gripe is "too many games" and "playing each other too many times". This has occurred through most of Scottish football history: it just happened in different competitions. Hearts and Hibs faced OF on 4 occasions in the league in 1899-00: 2 in SFL and 2 in ICL. Indeed the Edinburgh pair played 38 league games... but across 3 different leagues: met each other 6 times in league games met Rangers, Celtic, St Bernards, Third Lanark, Dundee each 4 times in league games met Clyde, Queen's Park, Leith, Kilmarnock, Raith, St Mirren each twice in league games = 38 games against 13 opponents (compared to 38 against 11 nowadays) There were 8 competitive Old Firm derbies* and incredible 11 competitive Edinburgh derbies** . *2 in SFL, 2 in ICL, Scottish Cup SF + replay, Glasgow Cup Final, Glasgow Charity Cup Final **2 in SFL, 2 in ICL, 2 in East League, Scottish Cup R2 + replay, East of Scotland Shield Final, Rosebery Charity Cup Final + replay

SPFL club facing cash crisis after failing to pay players' wages - with payments before Christmas NOT guaranteed | The Scottish Sun TOUGH TIMES - Edinburgh City facing cash crisis after failing to pay players' wages EDINBURGH CITY are facing a cash crisis with the struggling League One outfit unable to pay some of their players - with payments before Christmas NOT guaranteed. It’s believed club chiefs had been expecting a significant level of income in recent weeks. But that money has so far failed to materialise, which has now left gutted directors facing a cash-flow crisis. It's believed players could leave for free in January. SunSport can reveal a number of the first-team squad - bossed by Scotland B cap Michael McIndoe - are already owed wages. And they have been warned payments are NOT guaranteed before Christmas. A club spokesperson confirmed: “It is an unfortunate situation but we desperately want to resolve it in the best interests of all concerned. “We are doing everything humanly possible to find a solution as quickly as possible.” It’s understood chairman John Dickson has made the SPFL aware of the situation.

Some posts on previous page have lapsed into the common assumption most 'big' clubs are already in SPFL and few below are as 'big' or well supported. Evidence suggests otherwise? Edinburgh City are notoriously weakly followed then had ground then owner/name issues, but were still mid-rank in SPFL2 and 500+ average last season. Kelty were best in SPFL2 and 800+ last season. Cove ditto in SPFL2 and 1,000+ last season. Bonnyrigg ditto in SPFL2 last season with 900+. Spartans currently 3rd on 600+. Everybody who comes up grows - and exceeds those they replace. Plenty more beneath. This season, still in LL + EOSL, you've Linlithgow at about 500... Berwick, Tranent about 400... Bo'ness Utd, Camelon, Cowdenbeath, Dunbar, EK, Musselburgh about 300... and crowd-wise there's considerably more strength-in-depth in WOSL. There is a portion of Berwick fans clearly perplexed and/or mortified by East Lothian clubs like Dunbar, Haddington, Musselburgh and Tranent surpassing us competitively and breathing down our necks in terms of finance or support. I've no idea why given population/affluence/sponsors/youth set-ups/etc. It just so happens we were in SFL from 1951-2019 whereas they only turned senior in 2018. Unsurprisingly... given they'd be amateurs . (Outside north-east).

Many howlers nowadays, but some are very impressive... for me top 6 would feature: USSR/Russia Spain The Netherlands Fiji Japan Kenya Argentine

It has occasionally taken best part of 2 seasons to get 1 edition played (1945-46, 1949-50, 1971-72, 2007-08); with 2x QFs + both SFs still due this may be same, unless progress before spring. EDIT: that said it would have to go a long way to beat 1949-50 which actually started in 1948-49 when East Fife beat Burntisland in preliminary tie on 27th April 1949... and didn't finish until end of 1950-51 when the Methil side beat Cowdenbeath in final 2nd leg on 2nd April 1951... so that was just 3.5 weeks short of taking 2 full years!

Bo'ness United 1-3 University of Stirling

Also... Elgin face SPFL probe after match called off due to gravel on pitch (northern-scot.co.uk) Elgin face SPFL probe after match called off due to gravel on pitch Referee Gavin Ross called the game off an hour before kick off, after Cowdenbeath raised concerns over player safety on an area of the pitch covered in stones. City chairman Graham Tatters insisted the park was in the same condition when it was declared playable for home matches already played this season. But he promised action will be taken by the club to ensure next Saturday’s home game against Stirling Albion is allowed to go ahead. “We understand it is a major problem but there is nothing we can do about it,” he said. “It is not a new problem. The last home game and the game before that, we knew it, the referees have mentioned it to us but they said ‘we are marking you down’. “There’s just nothing we can do. We’ve had the fire brigade on it hosing it down, we’ve had one of the guys who does crop spraying, we’ve had about 15,000 litres of water on here and it just disappears.