NE63 exile

When does this finish

Big car park at the Sports Centre

I follow the Irish Premier closely. The last few seasons the Glens have pushed their way into the title frame and won a couple of Irish Cups. However the bigger clubs have come in with big money and plundered a lot of their big hitters so it’s a total rebuilding job from scratch this season. Must admit I didn’t see the collapse at both Linfield and Larne coming. The one thing their manager Gary Hamilton usually has them in hard to beat and very well organised. Quite rightly Rovers will fancy their chances on Saturday.

FT Arthurlie 2 Darvel 3

Take a look on the LEFA thread on the Amateur forum. You’ll get your answers on there.

Any games off in Fife?

Two good shouts there. I wonder whether this job would tempt Stevie Aitken who of course is a former Warriors player. One thing is for sure there will be plenty applicants I’m sure. Stenhousemuir’s location is ideal for recruiting players from the East or West coast so it’s an attractive gig.

What’s Harry Cairney doing these days? Always seemed to have Annan competing well in the bottom tier. And a great servant to City as a player!

That’s the problem we have found at Berwick this season. It’s no longer an easier sell to get players to commit to coming down from Edinburgh when there are 6 or 7 sides already in that area playing in the Lowland League whereas the pull of the SPFL gave us a better selling pitch for getting players to sign.

I look at Brechin this season and a see a parallel of how our season panned out last season. Granted we had a couple of seasons of flying with the crows at the bottom end of league 2 and taking the risk of being shot whereas Brechin haven’t been down this division since 2001/02 and were up the second level just two seasons ago. But the bottom line now is once your in the bottom tier your one bad season from a 180-minute lottery for your league survival. Some big decisions to be made up at Glebe Park if results keep going like they are.

Absolute crying shame that some young Dundonald supporters heid has blocked the footage of the build up to Talbot’s first goal. Stef White has absolutely cemented the Dundonald player with such a tackle in the build up. An absolute peach of a challenge totally old school but timed perfectly with absolute no malice. I was cringing as the two of them went in at full pelt and the pass straight after the challenge to set the guy clean on goal is inch perfect. The two Dundonald goals were top draw too. Cracking afternoons entertainment.

Caledonian Braves v Dumfries YMCA - 25 (HC)

Are the South of Scotland League side playing their home games at the new facility too

Thought he was older than 35 but that’s what his wiki page says. Saw him playing up front for Edinburgh City must have been two seasons ago. His legs were well gone but you could see he still had it upstairs and had a young striker who was quick and played off his knocks. Think he had a bad injury up at Elgin at the start of last season. Certainly should be a good addition to Stedfast’s ranks with all his experience

Very sad news. One of the junior games good guys. A really nice big guy was Alex. Condolences to his family and friends.

Week 1: Stirling Albion

Can’t argue with your sentiments as Cove never needed to get out of first gear in either leg and still comfortably won the tie 7-0 on aggregate. My gut feeling is they will be pushing to go up the way rather than down the way.

I would agree I reckon Cove will definitely in the play off mix next season. Definitely be a good addition to the league.

A real lump in my throat after reading that. The likes of Moyes and Romaines wouldn’t have took that defeat lying down today.

Wouldn’t be up to the Northern League. The FA decide who’s going where. The league’s have no say in the matter. I’ve closely being watching the situation regarding Colwyn Bay who are returning back to Wales and from what I’m hearing they seem to be heading to the third tier. Of course England has a bigger pyramid system so that means nothing. I wouldn’t think we would have to go the bottom. I’m sure the FA would accommodate us somewhere and my guess would be the Northern League for starters. Would we better off in England I’m not sure. The travelling in the NL might not be so bad as the SPFL but the drawback is a lot of the NL clubs don’t bring much travelling support.

It’s very much the same problem that Elgin City and Peterhead face in this division and Stranraer too. The decent players down in the North East are getting decent money in the Northern League. £100-£150 on average perhaps a bit more in some cases but have next to no travelling. But the bottom line is a lot of them don’t want to travel hence clubs like Morpeth (who have a millionaire Chairman) are paying well over the odds to get players to commit and in some cases offer them a job in his factory as a sweetener to keep them. The likes of Blyth Spartans, Spennymoor and Darlington are struggling to get players to commit to travel in the National League North and they are on the door step down there. We’ve had a number of players from down there over the years. Only really Peter Davidson and Ken Bowron stuck it out long term. Most hung around for a season but the lure of earning as much money locally and not trailing up the A1 four times a week is the deal breaker.

Maybe I’m mistaken he was playing that night.