Jambo'ness

Definitely not a closed shop as can be evidenced by the fluid membership over the years. Clubs have come and gone regularly.

Yes, good luck to them but a fanciful notion of reaching the Premiership. I'm sure my own club, with its history and fan base has no such delusions. I well remember the Ebbsfleet experience and it is not profitable. Most people joined up out of curiosity, myself included, just to see how it would work but soon lost interest when it became clear I was better off playing Football Manager!

Loved the quote from Chris Ewing... "We have no history, we have no fan base and we have carte blanche to create a brand new football club that meets the needs of the supporters." If they have no fan base how is it meeting needs of supporters?

Had to check there it wasn't April 1st.

Sorry, still not buying it. Full-time is a commitment that should only be entered into when you have sufficient guaranteed income streams. I respect your opinion but feel it verges towards fantasy on this issue. Also no interest in furthering the modern-day slave trade that is young, full-time professionals

Pro-youth football is one of the reasons that Junior football has declined in quality over the last few years. Before, the youths would join a junior side from their juvenile team, then make the step-up to senior. That path has almost disappeared recently. Only now with community clubs bringing through their own players are we going to see an improvement.

Putting aside your lame attempt at sarcasm, it is indeed the Junior Football forum. However, please also note this is a thread called 'Junior football, what is the future?' As the future will most likely mean a complete overhaul in the current Junior game, it is sensible to discuss football as a whole.

Maybe we would make some progress if we stopped making the distinction between junior football and senior football. Amazingly enough, it is all FOOTBALL.

Whilst I agree with the rest of your post, I have to take issue with the opening sentence. No way are we big enough to go full-time.

http://www.londonhearts.com/scores/players/mathesondougal.html The link above should tie it all up, with yet another variance in spelling but did play for both Yoker & Fauldhouse.

Interesting set of figures. If anything, they give hope to a club like mine. Bo'ness had a population of just under 15,000 in 2008, now increased. I would be confident that entering into a structure where we could progress would see our gates exceed the 1000 mark, the higher we went, thus roughly giving us 15%. So even getting to L2 would see us outstrip the current incumbents. Conjecture I know but based on our support at Junior level through the years.

Good one

It used to be about the pools money. Being in the 'Leagues' meant you would appear on the Littlewoods coupon. Now it's as much about Soccer Saturday on Sky. They don't give scores for the Lowland League, occasionally chuck in a Highland League result. Clubs are fearful their national exposure will be diminished by regionalisation, thus affecting sponsorship.

She's looking at things from the top(ish) end of the scale. As usual, those in that position are only interested in protecting their financial interests, with little consideration for the good of the game or the fans at large. Nobody has the right to dictate how many clubs there should be. If clubs are viable, they have a right to exist. Some business people forget their roots and if their current opinions had been applied to them when they started, they'd have been burst from the start.

They are not the ones that regionalisation should focus on. If you use England as an example, tier 5 is the National League, Tier 6 is split North and South, then tier 7 and below is far more localised, more on county lines by and large. Here, we have tried the East Super League with varying degrees of success but we have to acknowledge the junior fanbase is , ironically, an older one and travel is an issue, so 4 or 5 hour round trips to Tayside aren't helping our game any. Fans feel no attachment to a game against, say, Carnoustie but are more interested in Bathgate playing us. Personally, I'm okay with travel but many aren't and we risk alienating an already dwindling support further.

It's more like the Juniors, or rather TJ, wanted 'F' all to do with the SFA. He probably saw his powers would be diminished and like most administrators, thought of himself first.

Bo'ness played them there a few years ago in the big Scottish and playing in the shadow of Ben Nevis and with the giant yellow rescue 'copter beside the ground it was some experience. BUT it was a bugger to reach and that seems to be the problem in Scotland. There are a lot of remote areas and it seems to bring down plans when people try to work things out. That can't be allowed to happen and regionalisation may need to be invoked to a further degree, creating further leagues. Just look at England, Germany, Spain etc. They all have a multitude of feeder leagues. The last thing anyone wants is to increase travel times, not just for fans but players too.

Going by the records I have, it was common for named players to appear up to three times for a club before signing fully. So in this instance, he may have signed provisionally because he knew he was going to be playing for Scotland. That's why he only appeared in midweek games for Montrose, leaving the weekends free for Scotland? Further confirmation about this player from the Clydesdale Bank S|FL Review 1981/82 - DoB 01/08/59 and signed from Banks o' Dee

Dug out the old Rothmans book here and can provide the following: They have his name as M C Turnbull and his three league games were played on March 24, April 1 & April 8, all midweek fixtures. The two Saturdays in between, he didn't play, so maybe playing for his Junior team?

Have a 'close but no cigar' one here. Donald Ford joined Bo'ness United in January 1964 and played for an East of Scotland select against a Hearts XI in April, in a 3-1 defeat. He subsequently joined Hears in June 1964 and played for the Scotland Amateur team on 20/02/65, against Wales at Rhyl. He scored in the 1-1 draw. Of course he then went on to play for Scotland and was part of the World Cup Squad in West Germany in 1974.

Good to see someone change their mind after being presented with facts. I do agree that unless a licence is forthcoming, it would seem little point in switching. However, a time will come when applications may not be accepted. On that basis, the risk has to be taken. Nothing official regarding Bo'ness or Linlitgow has bee announced but it's commonly accepted that if one leaves so will the other. If that was to happen, it would leave an East SuperLeague with a distinct Tayside bias.

We have spent all season debating the Kelty move, without any general agreement being reached. A club leaving that has received funding and investment has not been seen as a threat to the 'junior' structure. Now we have Dalkeith. A minnow in junior terms, with all due respect. Their move will shake up quite a few committee meetings and it's now a case of who gets away from the blocks next. TheLad says he sees the juniors as a 'wasteland' in 10 years. My only argument with that is the timescale. Half it and you'd be more accurate. Change is already happening. To all fans, do you want your club to be left behind?

Not privy to the inner workings of the committee but I believe that it is going to be another year before it occurs. This weeks news regarding the funding for the ground being received by the Newtown Park Association may just advance things. I do hope a move is made sooner rather than later.

One small amendment in spelling. It should be Wodecki. He went on to play for Alloa Athletic

Dalkeith moving could be the spark that ignites a fire. Everybody expected if anyone was to move, it would be one of the SuperLeague sides. Nobody considered that a side outwith the top division would make the jump. Good luck to them and I hope it heralds more movement in the East, at any rate.