Footballfirst

Now a further statement by the Buckie club president. “As your club president it is not only my responsibility, but my duty to inform you of the facts / circumstances that resulted in the decision made yesterday by the SFA. I am personally gutted for our fantastic management team and our fantastic players, who all did so much to make us all proud, and to all of you , our fantastic and loyal supporters. The statement issued by the SFA yesterday indicates that we did not reply to their requests. We have in fact been actively preparing for a Bronze Licence since late last year when it was clear that was the requirement from the SPFL. I will state straight away that we did in fact miss the cut off date for the “period of grace “ from the SPFL. We have to accept that and categorise as an error never to be repeated. However earlier this week we were asked to submit a request for this to the SPFL, which we did straight away. Why did they request this ? On the licencing side ( SFA ) I had a Teams meeting with the SFA Licencing Committee at Hampden on Wednesday to discuss the 4 applications for derogation that we had previously submitted. We were granted 3 of those derogations, the Floodlights, The Safety Officer and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. The Medical Return was deferred to the next meeting due on the 15th of May. We have been unable to complete / submit our Medical Return because we are still trying to engage the services of a Doctor to attend all of our home games , this is a requirement for Bronze Level. This is currently our stumbling block and I believe the reason for our failure to be granted a Bronze Licence. I have to stress that during ALL the dialogue between the club, the SPFL and the SFA, there was never any mention of the pending disaster that unfolded last night. I received the e-mail last night at 5 o’clock, informing us that we would not be taking part in the Pyramid Playoffs. The rest, as they say is history. On a personal note I can only hope the above statement of fact clarifies the clubs current status as regards the licencing procedures and the efforts we have put into gaining a Bronze Licence. We felt we were in a good position , but unfortunately we were off the mark there. I would like to finish this by saying that the board, committee and management team will continue to pursue the Bronze Licence, do our utmost to keep our management team and players together, and fight ( as we did this season ) for the title again next season. We owe this to every one of you at Buckie Thistle Football Club.”

Here's a list of the licensing status published yesterday. https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/11752/240424-club-licensing-awards.pdf Strangely, Airdrie, Cove, Kelty, Edinburgh City and Peterhead still don't have a Bronze licence. I note that Beith still doesn't have a licence, so cannot participate in the LL Playoff with the EOS and SOS champions, should they win the WOS Premiership.

HL/LL Playoff binned because Buckie has been refused a Bronze Licence. https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scottish-fa-statement-pyramid-play-off-tie/?rid=13929 Thursday 25 April 2024 The Scottish FA regrets to announce that Buckie Thistle FC will not be eligible to participate in the Pyramid Play-Off tie between the champions of the Scottish Highland and Lowland Football Leagues this weekend. Under Pyramid Play-Off Rules, it is a prerequisite for participants to comply with SPFL Membership Criteria, specifically in this instance a Bronze-level club licence award from the Scottish FA. Buckie Thistle does not comply with this criterion following its failure to obtain an award by the Licensing Committee yesterday. Consequently, the match will no longer take place and East Kilbride FC, who were granted a bronze licence by the committee, will proceed to the cinch League Two play-off final against eventual Club 42. Scottish FA spokesperson: “The Licensing Committee considered a range of eligibility criteria in respect of Buckie Thistle’s application. Unfortunately, the submission did not meet the requirements for the award of a Bronze licence. “All SHFL and SLFL clubs were written to in December last year to advise that the audit process would be accelerated for those clubs with a chance of promotion, in light of the SPFL’s updated membership criteria requirements. "The Scottish FA’s club licensing department has been in regular dialogue with Buckie Thistle since then to notify the club of, and provide ample time to address, issues highlighted in their Club Licensing Report. “Unfortunately, these issues were not addressed by the club prior to yesterday’s licensing committee decision.” SPFL spokesperson: “Every club was made aware in summer last year of the need to have a Scottish FA Bronze Licence to participate in the SPFL. Regrettably, Buckie Thistle failed to respond to any of the three subsequent follow-up letters sent in October, February and March. “They are not compliant with SPFL Rules and failed to apply for a period of grace by the 31 March 2024 deadline. The SPFL Board has huge sympathy for Buckie and their fans, but has no option but to enforce our Rules.”

I think an early decision was made on Flatman and he was loaned out to allow Hearts to develop other younger centre backs. I'd expect all three to start the season in the LL. However, they, along with Forrester, Drysdale and Rathie, will all get the opportunity to show what they can do in pre season with the 1st team. It's up to them to show that they have what it takes to be part of Naismith's plans going forward.

Looking forward to next season, Hearts will have to replace players who are no longer eligible at U20 (those born in 2004). Of those, Pollock and Kirk have contracts for next season, while Flatman, Dall, Gordon and Thomas are all out of contract and likely to be released. McFarlane is also a 2004, but he has a contract and keepers can be a year older so remains eligible. Given Pollock was with the 1st team and Flatman and Kirk were out on loan, only three regularly playing B Team football in the second half of this season need replaced. Tait, who is a year younger, has also progressed to the 1st team, so is unlikely to feature. The rest of the current squad will be a year older and more experienced at LL level so can be expected to compete towards the top end of the table once again. However I don't think they have the same depth among those coming through who will be 17/18. They do have a good crop of 16 year olds though, so I think they will seek to balance the squad with one third at 19, one third at 17/18 and one third at 16. The challenge for the younger ones is to get up to speed with the pace and physicality of the league, so they could be more vulnerable in the first couple of months of the season.

Who EK will face in the HL/LL playoff remains up for grabs with 3 HL sides still in contention going into the final week of games, Brechin, Fraseburgh and Buckie. Brechin remains favourite with points in the bag and an advantageous goal difference, but the gap can be closed, with any dropped points likely to be pivotal. Pos P W D L GF GA GD P Brechin City FC 1 32 24 3 5 87 27 60 75 Fraserburgh FC 2 32 23 3 6 89 37 52 72 Buckie Thistle FC 3 31 23 3 5 84 33 51 72 Remaining fixtures 15 April Buckie v Strathspey 16 April Brechin v Keith 17 April Strathspey v Buckie, Fraserburgh v Brora 20 April Brora v Brechin, Buckie v Keith, Fraserburgh v Strathspey Strathspey's involvement could be key, given that they have conceded 127 goals thus far. The opportunity is there for Buckie, in particular, to take advantage of their two games in midweek against the bottom club, while Fraserburgh play them on the final day. Brora has games against both Brechin and Fraserburgh, so there is scope for dropped points, similarly with Keith playing both Brechin and Buckie.

No dogs allowed but they do have resident family of foxes who I've seen getting fed with sausage rolls or on occasions run across the pitch (I don't mean Hearts B coach Liam Fox).

If you had highlighted the full sentence, then the explanation is clear re non Saturday games "Except as otherwise approved by the Board under a 'ground sharing' agreement". Broomhill, East Stirlingshire, University of Stirling, Hearts B and Celtic B all require that approval.

Balde's shot was definitely over the line.

It was an even game, but heavily influenced by the wind. Tranent had the better of the first half with the wind at their backs and East Kilbride the second. Tranent's opener came from an in-swinging corner with Brett forcing it over the line at the back post. Balde's equaliser had an element of doubt about whether or not it crossed the line after coming off the underside of the crossbar, but it was a good strike from the edge of the box. No doubt about EK's second from Lockie though. It was a great strike from 25 yards into the postage stamp corner. Higginbotham's equaliser for Tranent had a bit of good fortune about it. His free kick from the left was poorly struck and hit the single defender in front of him, but the rebound came straight back to him and his cross cum shot dipped just under the bar at the far post. Cammy Ross should have won it in the final seconds of stoppage time but shot wildly over when through on goal. The less said about the quality of the penalties, the better. 7 misses out of 16 attempts.

You could reasonably make the same criticism of University of Stirling, Broomhill, East Stirlingshire and Celtic B who have rescheduled games because of ground sharing conflicts with their host clubs.

£50k lost in the relegation season. How are the finances doing in this financial year? Any progress on the fan ownership front?

The identity of the Highland League champions who will compete in the play-off is still uncertain after Brechin lost to Buckie last night. Brechin still remains favourite, but there are still 4 teams with a realistic chance. Pos P W D L GF GA GD P Brechin City FC 1 29 22 3 4 77 21 56 69 Fraserburgh FC 2 30 21 3 6 80 34 46 66 Banks o' Dee FC 3 30 19 8 3 82 29 53 65 Buckie Thistle FC 4 27 20 2 5 73 32 41 62 Formartine United FC 5 28 17 5 6 68 40 28 56 Huntly FC 6 31 16 5 10 80 58 22 53 Brora Rangers FC 7 27 15 7 5 54 33 21 52 Nairn County FC 8 31 15 4 12 55 56 -1 49 Turriff United FC 9 29 14 1 14 66 57 9 43 Games to play (not necessarily in that order due to rescheduled games) Brechin - Wick (A), Keith (A), Fraserburgh (A), Forres (H), Brora (A) Fraserburgh - Brechin (H), Strathspey (A), Brora (H), Strathspey (H) Bank's O'Dee - Clachnacuddin (A), Huntly (H), Brora (A), Wick (A) Buckie - Deveronvale (A), Strathspey (H), Keith (A), Deveronvale (H), Brora (H), Keith (H), Strathspey (A) Key game looks to be Fraserburgh v Brechin on 6th April.

Makenzie Kirk outscored him in the first half of the season, before heading out on loan. Other Hearts B players for consideration in a team of the season would be keeper Liam McFarlane, centre back Luke Rathie and attacking midfielder Callum Sandilands.

I came across these aerial shots when browsing a photographic archive site. They're dated 20/09/1932. Plenty coal wagons surrounding the ground. https://canmore.org.uk/search/image?SIMPLE_KEYWORD=cowdenbeath%20central%20park&per_page=72