realmadrid
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Posts posted by realmadrid
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22 minutes ago, pmonigatti said:
Am I correct in thinking the loan window is open for another month for lower division teams taking loanees from the top division?
Yes
Plus in his time at Saints both as an assistant and as manager we would sign released players at the start of February using contact down south. Dont panic if you don't get any additions today.
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That's the way Callum Davidson manages, you are either with him or gone.
If the player did not react well to being dropped there is a door and hes going through it.
You need everyone singing from the same song book in your position.
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Lochgelly with a superb result at the weekend.
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1 Leeann Dempster the media seen taken in by her , but look at the mess she left Queen's Park in, the state of the ground she thought was adequate and the costs they will have to fix things, a fraud of a wage
2 The Marr brothers, how they can show their face in Dundee after what they did to the club astounds me..
3 Pat Bonner- How he gets a gig on the BBC knowing nothing outside of Celtic and Rangers sums up large parts of the media
4 Scot Gardiner - Sacked at Dundee, Sacked at Hearts, loathed in Inverness yet cannot help himself with media appearances etc, the fact hes from Dundee and supports a team from Glasgow says it all
5 Chris Boys, born Irvine , first team Kilmarnock, whole life a team in Glasgow, offers nothing on Sky but a sour face when things dont go the way of his team
6 Chick Young - You should have retired 20 years ago
7 Derek Adams - lets destroy the product that pays your wages
8 Laura Brannan - Ex Motherwell media team and very opinionated mouthpiece with some wild view
9 Todd Cantwell - The whole Todd the prod thing summed him up, he knew what he was doing, only up here for easy money at Rangers
10 Tom English /Ann Budge - How he was taken in by her , yes her money saved Hearts but that main stand, how much money did her family make on that? and the Hearts relegation saga
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25 minutes ago, an86 said:
On the segregation thing, I’ve never had any issue at all with Ayr fans, or indeed most other sets of fans, but it’s probably better for them if they’re down the other end as well for a marginally better view. Better for our fans who don’t want to spend half an hour in a queue at half-time as well.
Having to open more of the ground = more cost, which is probably what this is about. Segregation, but everyone congregating at the same bit at half-time has never made a huge amount of sense to me. Over the years, Ayr have always brought one of the bigger supports to Hampden, so it doesn’t really make sense to me that we put Dunfermline in the east section and not them.
Would that not be for the TV
Although it looked awful as if no one was there
In a way would it not be better to have both sets of fans in the North stand
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On 15/01/2024 at 16:52, LeodhasXD said:
This is not unique to Falkirk and is endemic in Scottish football. St Johnstone were here early on in the season and everyone I spoke to was a volunteer.
You obviously did not speak to either of the 2 full time employees Saints had (They were there that day) nor the part time videographer who was also there.
We do run with a big team , 2 on comms , a match reporter and myself on facebook and sometimes twitter , these are voluntary posts but there are full time employees on the media side.
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I attended the "Albert" derby on Saturday and not only was the park in good condition and playable but it was a good game
The game finished 2-2
Lochgelly's seem to have found a bit of form and after a horrendous start in the league (9 defeats in the first 10 games) have only lost 2 of the last 7 games going back to mid October. They are a very young team and if the club can keep them together could be a contender for promotion in the next few years.
One of the most friendly places ive visited as a neutral and the grounds and facilities are in very good condition.
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21 hours ago, derektaylor84 said:
It will probably be something like this:
2:00 - 2:10 Chat about Ict v DU score from the Friday night (Big Dunc "what a character" and/or Goodwin "under massive pressure" briefly talk about Saturday fixtures.
2:10 - 2:40 Transfer chat about where premiership teams need to strengthen, which will just be Rangers/Celtic. Willie Collum, Var, Michael Beale comments about derby game away allocations.
2:40 - 2:55 talk about other premiership clubs transfers (Aberdeen, Hearts, Dundee) which will be "should Celtic/Rangers sign Miovski, Shankland, Beck" . Then ask Michael Stewart about Craig Levein at St Johnstone to try and get a reaction from him.
2:55 - 3:00 Championship team news.
3:00 onwards Open all Mics, speak about something in the English leagues.
The big question is will Pat Bonner be sent this week or will he have another Saturday off? Was it just a coincidence there was no Celtic game last weekend and he was not featured .
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I had been doing this for the Championship for all of last season and the start of this but there were so few draws this season so i switched to league 2 ....oh well
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Just now, Livi La Vida Loca said:
A9 for sure the issue for county but think the A90 from Dundee to Aberdeen has been completely closed. I know it's not a road Saints will be using was just a question as I was unsure of what it's like in Perth and surrounding areas currently.
The closure is north of Dundee
https://www.traffic.gov.scot/more-details?sid=c377918&type=incidents
The only issue saints fans could have is on the return as there is a north bound flood on the M90 at Glenfarg but by 11pm that should have gone
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6 hours ago, ++Ammo - Airdrie++ said:
Apologies about the layout. See below.
What a view? There's plenty on here (including myself) who follow vast amounts of Scottish football at all levels, and have an interest in the pyramid and developments in the game. Not wanting other fans to comment on a decision your club's made because you KNOW it's deemed unfashionable by the greater majority of league clubs. Personally, I've been pretty quiet on the whole affair, I have my thoughts but it's only that, thoughts. I think for transparency and for anyone having an interest in this, clubs should have the courage of their convictions and at least not be trying to hide behind secret emails to only members. Just imo though.
A sensible outlook.
Firstly – a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from the Cowdenbeath FC Board. We are sure you will agree that the team’s performances this season have been vastly improved from those of the last couple of seasons.
We write primarily to give you a Lowland League update – including the vote by member clubs on B Teams which took place on Monday evening (18th Dec). This as ever proved somewhat contentious albeit social media debate on the matter is pretty one-dimensional. Our policy is always to be completely transparent in such matters with our fans. The Lowland League essentially held a vote whether to allow B Teams to continue to participate for another 2 seasons and this was carried by a majority vote by the member clubs. The Cowdenbeath FC Board carefully considered the matter in the round and on this further occasion on balance decided to allow the status quo to persist. It was not an easy decision.
To recap, we have never supported B teams coming into the pyramid. We declined to support their admission to the SPFL on more than one occasion and opposed them continuing in the Lowland League when we first joined its ranks at the start of last season. The majority of clubs though voted for them to continue in membership. Thus, the genie had been well and truly let out the bottle by the original admission to the Lowland League in 2021/22. At the tail end of last season, we firmly opposed the Conference League proposal which CFC believed was a deeply flawed project but elected to agree to let B teams continue in membership for 2023/24 for the reasons we outlined at the time to our supporters.
Following that end of season scenario, CFC were then prominently involved in the Lowland League Board putting forward a proposal to remove the membership cap of 16 clubs that applies to the LL. A league with 18/20 member clubs in CFC’s view would then readily allow for more promotion from the Tier 6 leagues and kick-start ventilation by bringing in some strong clubs straight away. It also would maintain what we believe would constitute a suitable League match programme for a full season. The SFA though advised it was unwilling to allow the Lowland League to have any more than 16 member clubs and the LL’s rule change was vetoed.
From a CFC perspective, without additional teams being promoted into the League to swell its numbers and in the absence of B teams, we would only have a guaranteed 33 competitive matches next season compared to 42 in our SPFL days – that was not an appetising prospect – we played more games than that in the truncated Covid season which ended in early March. More cup competitions cannot suitably fill the void – indeed, this season we have a Lowland League Cup draw which ensures we will receive no gate money at all even if we get through all the rounds and make the final whilst in the South Region Challenge Cup, because we are VAT registered, at our home games the visiting club gets a better share of the gate than we do! A suitable regular league match programme laid out at the start of the season is the bread and butter of professional football. B teams to us are sub-optimal (and no offence to the personnel at the clubs involved who have been a pleasure to deal with) but are not some sort of footballing Armageddon as some seem keen to portray.
Touching on the subject of ventilation, we raised the matter re opening up promotion to the Lowland League when we joined but were advised the member clubs’ overall view was that this was contingent on automatic promotion being granted by the SPFL. We believed this to be flawed reasoning and also knew that the SPFL would not agree to this in any event. There is no constituency among the SPFL members, as far as we are aware, which actively desires to see automatic relegation from SPFL 2 introduced – and we can’t see why that would
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change. We wouldn’t have supported that when we were in the SPFL after already having conceded a play-off route to promotion which did not previously exist. Why would they accept auto-relegation when nothing is offered in return? As regards ventilation from Tier 6, this is a subject we are happy to consider further with our fellow member clubs.
There are though many pressing issues for the Lowland League. The Lowland League is a recent creation, it has not built-up sizeable reserves through a long existence. It meets a number of costs incurred on behalf of its member clubs and provides a range of services to them. It would greatly benefit by building a stronger financial base for the future.
It should also be fully understood that the SPFL recently changed its rules. Any club going into the Pyramid play-off games from the Highland and Lowland Leagues will need to have an SFA bronze license. That applies at the end of this season. The only way a Highland or Lowland League club can compete in the end of season play offs in May 2024 is for it to be Bronze licensed. Just one team out of the 34 clubs in the Lowland and Highland Leagues currently has a Bronze licence (Cumbernauld Colts). The Lowland League board is now looking to see how best it can raise standards in this area over time so that LL clubs can look to meet the higher level of requirements. This will likely include looking for engagement to seek assistance from the SFA for its members – the SFA recently made clear to us that rather than general additional cash distributions at end of year to all its licensed clubs the focus would henceforth be on directing funds to improve infrastructure of clubs in Scottish football.
The SFA is working again on devising a development system for the elite 18 – 21 age group. We believe the ultimate answer to this issue lies outwith the pyramid system but accept that it will take time to come up with a solution. The raison d’etre of B teams is markedly different to that of the other clubs in the pyramid structure. They each have a very separate place in the game. Playing in the Lowland League does aid these young players to develop, the question as to whether it succeeds in producing much increased numbers of regular 1st team and even international quality players for those clubs can only be answered in time – we doubt it but await the evidence in due course having allowed ample time for a proper conclusion to be drawn as the B teams head towards their exit. The Club previously assisted the SFA in participating in Project Brave in terms of youth development which ultimately left the participating Clubs including Cowdenbeath high and dry and abandoned - it is vital that this whole issue is now properly addressed on a robust basis. We believe too that the restriction on the Lowland League member club numbers should also be revisited in the period ahead.
Finally, the Board of the Lowland League has a voting membership of six drawn from its member clubs. There were only two club reps prepared to serve when we joined the LL in 2022. We along with East Kilbride then volunteered to put forward a club rep to be on the Board – a very active role that requires much time, commitment and a great deal of work. In the current season the Board still does not have a full complement. CFC finds this most disappointing.
The LL Board has faced a myriad of challenges whilst operating without a full complement of members – e.g. dealing with major matters involving powerful organisations such as the SPFL and SFA who have large resources at their disposal, tackling the future of the Development League, discussions are now being facilitated with SPFL 2 clubs to seek a better mutual understanding and common ground – building relationships needs constructive dialogue, now introducing Financial Fair Play rules to the League in line with those that
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apply in Tiers 1 to 4 of the Scottish game, and potentially the possible issue re a Regulator for Scottish football as being implemented in England and mooted by the Scottish Parliament, as well as meeting the running costs of the League. B team funding in the absence of any other major income stream in the short term does help bolster the League’s resources to potentially help it evolve and strengthen its standing (e.g. to focus further on areas such as sponsorship, media, strategy, membership standards, prize money, building alliances, etc). Tier 5 is part of the professional side of Scottish football as members of the Professional Game Board, and we believe a progressive upwards focus is needed to further enhance the Lowland League brand and standing. If the LL is to be a vibrant, successful league it needs the full range of its membership to be involved in driving it forward. We note just this week various statements by Clubs on the B Team issue which shows that they have strong views, so it is surely incumbent upon them to play a full part in taking the League forward in a progressive manner and work to improve the pyramid.
Fair enough on some of the points but as someone who attends 50 plus neutral games a season, many of which are in Fife i wont give a penny to any of the teams who voted for this charade to continue . Id hope many fellow groundhoppers will do the same.
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19 minutes ago, Blue Brazil Forever said:
Certain people in the SFA are pissed off because their pet Conference scheme was roundly opposed and defeated. I have asked if the Conference company set up by the SFA has been wound up. Is anyone able to advise ?
Nail on the head there.
The SFA from Maxwell down needs a total clear out and no one with an old firm connection should be anywhere near the new set up.
They just dont get it and are looking out for the bigger clubs over everyone else.
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Will the BBC ask Leeann Dempster some lame questions at half time where she says everything is on plan but we have some small issues and then cut back to the pitch side where she is then praised for doing a good job.
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13 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:
I wonder if we might end up moving ground.
is there a season ticket waiting list?
I would have thought Villa could have filled the extra seats
is the cancellation possibly them thinking about lost revenue in the Champions league ?
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Just now, stanley said:
Has there not only been one playoff so far? That's not exactly a big statement yet.
The comment was more directed at the person who just wanted the WOSL to replace the Lowland league totally forgetting the EOSL many of who's members showed the ambition to move into the pyramid when many clubs in the west were happy to sit in their own Junior bubble
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26 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:
Villa have cancelled North Stand redevelopment, so capacity will stay at ~42k for foreseeable future. Not sure if this rules us out of Euro 2028 hosting duties.
i cannot see any news of that online, Why after all the various planning applications and removal of the live venue are they pulling this.
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13 hours ago, bullyweehutch said:
Joke of a league cannot be taken seriously as long as they sell themselves for a pound to B teams. This joke of a league should be abolished and make let the West of Scotland Premier take its place. For all the criticism Leage 2 gets for no Automatic relegation for a league to decide when it wants relegation, cry about no automatic to League 2 then allow B teams to scream past multiple tiers in the Pyramid is funking astounding. f**k the LL and any of its members who voted this in.
That's the west of Scotland league that's Champion club has yet to win a single play off against the East of Scotland champion
If any league should take the place of the Lowland it would be the East not the junior clubs living in the past in the West who never took the chance when Kelty and several progressive teams in the East showed them how it should be done.
In an ideal world we would scrap the Lowland and replace it with both the East and the West both of whom now are building good strong leagues without B teams.
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On 16/12/2023 at 10:30, Wee man the jackass said:
Hearing the goalkeeper move has fell through
id imagine a lot of targets will turn the opportunity down, its a big risk of having a relegation out of the league on your CV.
Even with yet another loss at the weekend the gap between Clyde , Forfar and Elgin looks manageable and would only take a back to back win to put the pressure on the other 2.
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Looking in from the outside how much money is going to be thrown at this?
A whole new squad?
I guess the first couple of signings need to be correct as who in their right mind would join the team just now? Get the first couple right and it becomes obvious your are not joining a sinking ship.
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On 23/01/2023 at 16:24, Elixir said:
How are they such an abhorrently performing club? Mental.
its such an outlying club with regard to major trophies, considering the size of the city, the support they undoubtedly have etc , have they just been unlucky with draws or just badly run?
Today is 50 years since their last league cup win. Anyone legally allowed in a pub to drink that day should now be retired!
In the 50 years since alongside Rangers and Celtic multiple times , Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hibs, Raith Rovers, Livingston, Kilmarnock, St Mirren, Ross County and St Johnstone have all won the league cup at least once and in the scottish along with the old firm , Aberdeen , St Mirren, Motherwell, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Hearts, St Johnstone, Inverness CT and even Hibs have won the Scottish cup at least once in that time.
There is no reason why Dundee FC cannot win one of the domestic cups, maybe like Hibs in the Scottish their time will come one day.
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meant to post a well done to Letham in getting their game on last Saturday.
A strange game, Letham scored injury time goals in each half and looked comfortable at times but as soon as FWE scored 1 i knew they would get another.
5-2 flattered Letham a bit in the end.
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1 minute ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:
That's sort of what I thought you'd be going for, albeit with a slightly larger main stand
I knocked this up while bored on my lunch break, reckon you could have a decent stadium there
That would be more than adequate for the current situation and tbh 99% of Clyde games.
A far better stadium than what QP have done to lesser Hampden.
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3 hours ago, Archie McSquackle said:
I'm on 10 points and was always hoping that not everyone on higher points would go to all three games and some of the higher price tickets. Hopefully that's the case and I'll see what's available on Saturday. If it's only the ludicrously priced tickets I'll try the ballot although I haven't looked into that at all yet.
That certainly will be the case
I know one person who is at every home game and has been a member for 10 years plus but due to family situation cannot ever be away overnight let alone a few days away so hes not even opened the code, his words on Wednesday night at the game were "i saw something come in but its not for me"
Another in our group decided just to do the opener and make it a 3 day trip so there will be extra spots for sure for those on 9, 10 or 11 id guess
Should we make the round of 16 the 6000 tickets may be about right, 40% of our group have said they can only stay for 2 weeks and booked flights home, the rest will ride it out
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We have found it impossible to link the tickets if you have 1 game in another category , one of our group is doing 1 game and he can link to the only other to get 3 fans first, all of the rest of us have at least one cat 3 game and it wont link as they were all bought in one transaction
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Clyde Season 23/24
in Scottish League 2 General Chatter
Posted · Edited by realmadrid
That is one of the strangest questions ive seen on here ever
People stayed Clyde supporters when they were relegated from the Championship and league 1, its not England with the fake tourist fans from Asia who only support a team in the Premier League.
The clubs issue is not having a home, without that there is no hope of getting any new fans in Hamilton and like many organisations such as a church the members (supporters) can only be getting older and passing away so the support will fall to a point that the club in its present form cannot exist.
It was obvious from the outside that trying to sign quality from the bottom of the league would be hard but i still think at this stage what you have signed should be enough to get you to 8th or 9th. You should then have a seasons grace as Edinburgh City will be club 42 next season if they keep to the promise of living within their means .
Getting past this season is the understandable priority but after May there has to be a push to get back to Glasgow , even in a rented ground and put down some roots again or some of the prophets of doom on here will be correct.