TFW

You love the opportunity to be hoisted by your own petard, don't you? When are you going to realise that nobody other than yourself and a few other dreamers don't give a flying f**k about how you do in the SECOND tier of our game?

It's gone by the look of things.

Geo you really shouldn't keep harping on about how good Samson is, you ken fine well it's only gonna inflame nocknosh's passions. Like yourself I thought he did very little other than score two absolutely brilliant goals. If he does the same next weekend am going to be having a go at him because it's about time he started scoring a hat trick or two, to repay the transfer fee. Oops, sorry, didn't mean that.....

Thing is, you have to go through the bad times to enjoy the good times. Boy, did it hurt, especially seeing the jeering faces at the end of the game. But......see the next season when we won the League Cup, the League Title, the Junior Cup and got to the 5th round of the Scottish Cup in a record breaking run for any Scottish non league side? That made everything just ever so slightly better. You must feel so small thinking we actually worry about what goes on down the road?

To be fair, they didn't do a bad job last weekend. Some canny players and they knocked the ball about well on the deck most of the time.

Away back to the District League where you belong.

Fiona, there's a link below to the Ayrshire Junior Football History site. Could do worse than ask on there. https://www.facebook.com/groups/665877687146752/?ref=bookmarks

Weather should be a tad better for what looks like a very interesting Scottish Cup game at Dundonald Bluebell this Saturday. Their very first crack at the senior Big Un, could be very entertaining, especially with all our young signings vying for a place in the starting line up.

Don't forget to let Darvel Legend into the loop.

Think the draw at Kilbirnie at 21/5 looks a decent punt?

I hope that the league is a tight affair, with maybe three or four teams challenging at the very top. Last year was exceptional with two teams going head to head over three quarters of the season with Talbot having the greater staying power in the end. Hurlford will probably be there or thereabouts this season. I also think Pollok will if they can get a decent start to the season. Beith didn't have half the season last year that they had the year before when they pipped us for the title, so maybe work in progress there. Would really like to see any of the promoted teams making a real go for it to show that it can be done. We've already had a better start than last season but that doesn't mean it's going to last. Recent signings look very good though and that augurs well for the long term benefit of the club.

I think you'll find that most grounds that we go to we get, and give, respect where it's merited. As Southerner says, you've one chancer from Darvel who is trying to Billy Big Baws his team up to be on some kind of parallel playing record with the Talbot. We haven't been in the District League, we don't normally go out of cup competitions early doors. We don't eat at their table.

Darvel lost because for all the bluster they simply could not deliver. Gubbed by the masters, of course.

Thing is though, history is viewed differently by everybody and I wasn't asking anyone to understand my views on it. It's a personal thing, and as it's the only grade of football I've regularly watched in the last 28 years after watching the game down south before then it's perhaps not unusual that I still view it as a breath of fresh air. As I have said on numerous other occasions I know Talbot will move if they have to, but that doesn't mean everybody's thrilled at the prospect - far from it.

.As a fan of Auchinleck Talbot, and Junior football, it is only with great reluctance that I think we will have to move as and when so the club does not get left behind. Am certainly not alone in that, either at Beechwood or elsewhere in the Junior game. The administration aside watching the Junior game for the past 28 years since moving up from England has been a real breath of fresh air. I love the history and the culture of the Junior game. It's history is indelibly linked to working class history and I, for one, certainly do not want to lose that. The thought of moving into a new set up en masse with other Western clubs isn't the problem, but moving into the Lowland League should we win the new league fills me with dread. Nomadic clubs, sterile atmospheres (from what I've seen already at the LL grounds have already been to) and teams that aren't as good as the clubs who will be playing in the league below them - and that's a real issue. Were Talbot to win the league in the first season and move into the LL, the other clubs would soon notice the difference financially, especially at Glenafton and Cumnock where the away support often outnumbers the home support significantly. The moving of the goalposts re licencing shows that the SFA really do not want that many more clubs, and they're patently not set up for any large transfer. Mention of LL2 is made, but what about LL3 and / or LL4 for all the other Western Junior clubs? Are they to be left to the wolves?

My club, Auchinleck Talbot, have made many upgrades to their ground over the years, new stands, toilets for females and disabled folk inside the ground, new pie hut, new sponsors hut being looked at, and floodlights now the main area for which we've already started fundraising - an initial crowdfunder before the Hearts game reaped £5,000. Not every club is in our position though and it certainly does appear that the moving of the goalposts is designed to keep a further mass of clubs from doing what those in the East are doing.

On this basis then it's probably safe to assume there'll be no Junior Cup or Super League winners in the Scottish Cup next season without floodlights? On a different perspective, the SFA now seem to be going down the same route as the FA down south where strict ground criteria, regardless of any club potentially bankrupting themselves for absolute minimum return, will oversee everything else. So many excellent clubs with long proud histories, like the original King's Lynn FC, put themselves out of business because of constant ground upgrading requirements they just couldn't realistically finance.

Will those clubs in the West, who may be thinking of moving into the new set up also be allowed a year's grace / derogation then or are the SFA now saying they don't want them?

There's no denying the Medda have pulled off a superb turnaround after their appalling start to the season when they seemed to be everybody's favourites for the drop. Very well done to them. Some folk need to get out more, or consider a full frontal lobotomy with their unwarranted criticism.

If it's okay with your good self I'll await your next literary pearl of wisdom.

Think you'll realistically get £300k for Shankland if he goes into the English Championship. Downside to that scenario though is that if he does go there it'll be to help whoever buys him to either get promotion or to avoid relegation - most likely the former. They'll certainly not release him back for the rest of the season as it just wouldn't make common sense. If he goes south he'll not be back, end of.

Re Eeeka Peeka. For those who are not aware of it's origins - and I'll not give you Goldie's, hilarious though it is - it's actually a celebration of diversity in a back handed way. Many moons ago when Talbot hosted Cumnock at Beechwood in a particularly highly charged atmosphere Cumnock were winning 1-0 when two quick goals from the 'Bot quickly changed things around. The Talbot hordes quickly started up a chant of "You're not singing any more" In amongst the Talbot fans was a deaf fan. He couldn't hear what was being sung but realised it must be something he'd not "heard" before because the lip movements from the fans were different from other songs he'd lip read. He decided to join in but it came out as "Eeka Peeka Pukka Po" The Talbot fans upon hearing him stopped and listened, and the legend of Eeeka Peeka was born, and is still sung at games today. If you go on youtube and see any of the numerous films of Talbot winning something you'll inevitably see the players singing it as well in the post match celebrations on the pitch along with the trophy and the medals. It's been thus for 30 years, and if you really think it's all about inbred country bumpkins then I genuinely pity you, it's anything but. I hope your ears are pounding with it at the end.....

Talbot's official capacity at the moment is 3,500, and if we get that it will be one hell of an atmosphere. Our game against Cove in the second round replay was as good an atmosphere as we've had for years, and the Ayr game should be better. You'll not play on a better playing surface anywhere in Scotland, it's superb, but don't take my word for it ask anyone who's ever been there and they'll confirm it. Having seen your highlights against Beith it will definitely suit your style of play. We lose very few games at Beechwood, and that's something historical, there's not many clubs get a result there. This season in our league games - we've only played 8 because of our Scottish Cup exploits - our defence is meaner than Philip Hammond at Budget time and we've only conceded four goals. That said, we know we're up against some quality, and there'll be some sibling rivalry as well as we also have a decent Shankland in our squad. He's been out injured since the first Cove Rangers game, but imagine he'll be chomping at the bit for this one. Whatever happens it'll be a great day for us - we can't lose. The finances we get from the game will give us a boost for next season. After we played at Hearts and got the financial boost from that game we won the next four Super League titles on the bounce, and two Junior Cups. Expectations are high. Am confident everyone will be made most welcome...the talk of stab vests is daft, there'll be no trouble. Looking forward immensely to this game. EPPP.

The one thing that really does worry me will be how some folk see attaching themselves to some of the bigger clubs as a way to get very good and cheap kudos by pumping money into them. We've seen it before with numerous Junior clubs, and the English game is littered with them, and the dash for glory will inevitably lead to some clubs overstretching. Eventually, if promotion is only going to be available on the status of the top club's ground (as in England where they have a lusicrous system) there's either a hell of a lot of work needing to be carried out on a lot of grounds or the leagues could become places of stagnation. Think it's a step forward. Look forward to the debate as any proposals come forward.

Jamie Glasgow missed the start of today's game because of a tweak to his mamstring, albeit it he was on the bench. He came on with 5 minutes to go, touched the ball twice and both times it ended up in the back of the net. Guy's phenomenal.