San Starko Rover

Fair enough as you say everyone has their opinions but so do the clubs and yes the SJFA is having a meeting but that’s a long way off full integration or any kind of deal, why should clubs in the East who want to join the Pyramid now wait at least one more season for the SJFA to possibly maybe negotiate a deal that might / might not work? When they can just do what Kelty did. You’re asking clubs to put faith in an organization that is historically against what they now say they want, yes the SJFA might get them a great deal but how long will it take? how many seasons will have passed by? How much potential cup revenue could be lost? How much stronger will Lowland league clubs be? How far behind Kelty could they find themselves? You’re happy to play the waiting game as it suits your club and there is no WoS league to consider so West Juniors will have more leverage but others would rather move now before the EoS fills up with more teams.

I don’t mean from next season I mean once the SJFA come to the table at least a season away and the EoS has already done what you mention.

Ignoring potential grudges between Seniors and Juniors I’ll guarantee right now the West Juniors will not join at tier5 as it’s the SPFL who flat out refused to have a 3 way split and unless you can convince them (bear in mind they want to play nationally) of its benefits then it won’t change. Best it’ll be is Tier 6 for West and North and if 13-15 juniors have applied for EoS then Tier 7 for the East.

Interesting if there is any truth to it, although it probably would make sense for Bo’ness, Linlithgow and Bonnyrigg to move together and could well be something the clubs boards have even discussed as it would be mutually beneficial to keep their rivalry in the new set up. Absolutely devastate the East Juniors if they lost those 3 after losing Kelty. Anyone heard the number of applications EoS have received? Interesting to see how many go and who, EoS and East Juniors are surely going to look very different next season.

Can’t see the logic in any team wanting to join the pyramid withdrawing its application because the SJFA are going to speak to the SFA. The best outcome they can get is tier 6 as there is no way they will be merged with the established Lowland / Highland. The SJFA have always been opposed to the pyramid so any progress is likely to be at glacial speed if at all (I fully expect more pish about keeping the Juniors separate but play off with LL/HL) teams that move now will be at Tier 6 next season the ones that sit on their hands could well find themselves at Tier 7 or even 8 in the East and it may take years to catch up with the likes of Kelty who will be in at least tier 5. The West and North teams may have good bargaining positions against the SoS and NCL due to their poor geographical areas but the EoS isn’t likely to roll over and let the Juniors jump them and with every Team that joins them their position becomes stronger.

If the West team is true, it obviously doesn’t say which division they’re from just that it’s not Clydebank. Could it be someone right over the east side of the divide like Shotts Bon Accord, Forth Wanderers or even Kilsyth Rangers for teams in this area you’d imagine travel East v West wouldn’t be much difference so switching would be relatively easy. All 100% speculation but it’ll be interesting to see after the end of the month who applied for EoS / SoS and if we hear anything more on WoS and which teams are nailing their colours to the Juniors mast.

Thought this was a poor episode, yes we get it Mick has funny teeth seriously that gag is primary school stuff. Obviously I’m not a fan of Mick and him being shoved in every episode is getting old but this episode would have been alright being the mascot if it wasn’t for the interview scene which was cringe levels off the chart. Other than that as has been said the football scenes were really stupid and the whole Navid hatchet man while funny came from nowhere so made no sense. Wasn’t expecting big Innes myself, my first thought was Tams mate the big guy that was in the Blighty’s Hardest boozer and Hatch episodes. Shame as I thought it was a decent idea for an episode but poorly done. Saving moment was Winston’s leg getting punted defiantly the best character the last few seasons.

I disagree, areas with more teams have more divisions going down more tiers. Not all the areas have the same number of teams but they all have the same number of promotion spots. It doesn’t matter how many splits you have, the best teams will rise up the divisions. Wanting the number of teams to be equal would either mean a border that moves like England where they had a ridiculous scenario of Gloucester playing in the northern league or you end up with a bottle neck of too many leagues playing off with each other where one league might be stronger and always win. Say HL/LLE/LLW promoting to a ten team SPFL 2, they’re never going to have 3 down so in theory if the HL and LLW where stronger LLE would struggle to progress as they keep losing the playoff and not moving up. I dislike the current HL/LL playoff. Champions of a league should move up.

I doubt we’ll ever see a 3 way split at Tier 5 while tier 4 is National. It’s nothing to do with how many clubs are in each area it’s more a gradual step for getting teams ready for a national league. At present Kelty are in the EoS and travel around Fife, Lothians and Borders. Next promotion will see them traveling a bit further across half the country and another promotion will see them travel nationally. With a 3 way split Kelty would go from traveling about a quarter of the country to the traveling the whole country after one promotion. In a pyramid the regions should gradually get larger as you progress so each promotion is easier to adjust to. Personally I’d have Premiership - national Championship- national North / South North East / North West / South West / South East Glasgow / Edinburgh/ Fife / Ayrshire.....etc With gradual splits as you go down. I’d like larger leagues and every team from amateur to right up to the SPFL premiership involved with no glass floors or ceilings.

Possibly but Pete was only in 13 episodes over a 5 year period, Mick has already been in 11. Should definitely be a background character but like Shug and Peggy doesn’t need to appear every episode. Perhaps he will fade over time.

That’s an interesting development, an Ayrshire team discussing it and specifically saying an EoS West Division. Other than Clydebank and Stirling University I don’t see who else would be in the West Division. Guess if they get the numbers applying it would start as EoS West Division and once established become a WoS league in its own right.

Good episode with some laugh out loud moments. What is with shoehorning Mick into every episode, Pete only appeared occasionally. Not a fan of the character but it would be fine if he appeared every now and then instead of every episode.

Can’t blame Bonnyrigg for looking at the possibility of moving, while they are very proud members of the East Juniors they are left with the possibility of being left behind. To me the pyramid is inevitable (look at England) as the trickle in the East has now started with Kelty, Dalkeith, Bo’ness (stated they will be joining the EoSL) who’ll blink next is anyone’s guess. Bonnyrigg could sit on their hands and refuse to leave the Juniors but there is the possibility that if they do this teams below them will jump them as Dalkeith are about to and fill the EoSL league and form extra divisions. With every team that crosses over the East Juniors will weaken and in 5 years time they could face the prospect of staying in a very weak league or joining at Tier 7 or even 8 having to battle past teams they were ahead of while looking at other teams they were ahead of who could be as high as Tier 4 or 5 if things go well. I think we all know the SFA and SJFA should have sorted a proper pyramid merger but the SFA seem fairly uninterested and the SJFA just wants to stick its fingers in its ears and hope this goes away. Bonnyrigg are right to look at what the future holds and where they want to be in 5 years+

So close to getting through a whole episode without Methadone Mick. Steady enough episode.

I’m sure like the rest of us they’d be able to make a tin pot list. There’s certainly enough in Scottish football history.

Yea that was the one, half the world had Ayr to score both half’s but it was 1-0 bookies must have loved us that day.

Us not being able to field a goalkeeper against Ayr United. Us loaning a player to Dumbarton who scored the goal that relegated us. Us giving Gary Locke a contract even though the whole of Scottish football knows he’s utter gash. In fact RRFC 2016-2017

Our ground was pretty much screwed by the old 10k seats rule the SPL forced on Scottish football to suit the ugly sisters fans. To meet this we had to build the ends too big and we’re now left with two ends that should be about the size of our stadium. Had this rule not been in we could have built the ends to about half their size and we’d have 4 functioning stands still. I like the quirky main stand but as mentioned it generates little income. In a perfect world with unlimited funds I’d rebuild the stadiums to hold around 6000-7000 with two terraced ends (safe standing) and two seated stands running down either side, Pratt Street side as long as it will allow with function rooms, bars, corporate boxes and meeting facilities under the stands with the stands raised above pitch level like Hamilton you could use the space under all 4 stands. I’d also have 3 corners filled in obviously north Pratt Street wouldn’t be possible. Reality is unless we’re in the top division the 3 stands more than covers our needs for attendances. The Railway stand is utterly redundant and the only option is something like Sims idea of turning it into corporate as I can’t see it being used as seating again. For our towns size 10k seats was a ridiculous size. We must have one of the only stadiums in world football that you can’t watch from the halfway line.

Rabid Al you may wish to check your sums again. Raith Rovers average attendance for league one in over 1800 not boosted by any huge championship gates. https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/scottish-league-one/attendances The lowest home gate is over 1200 so to suggest our core support is only 1200 is a bit false. We got more than 1200 for a Tuesday night game in sub zero temperatures and I doubt many where Albion Rovers fans https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/scottish-league-one/attendances/minimum

Stage 1 - Stockpile youth. Stage 2- Colt Teams. Stage 3 - ?????????? Stage 4 - World class players.

It sounds like both would be better scrapping their youth academy’s and use the money to buy the players the other teams successfully produce. Seems to be what they do anyway.

Hampden for me ideally rebuilt, I know people will say where is the money but there must be a way if Republic of Ireland can build Croke Park and the Aviva and the Welsh can find money to build the Millennium stadium then there must be ways to raise the money. None of the alternatives work for me. 1. Move games round the country, yes it works in Spain, Germany and Italy but our stadiums are too small only Hampden, Ibrox, Celtic Park and Murrayfield have the capacity for a final or competitive international match. 2. Use Ibrox and Celtic Park, both stadiums are decent enough although Ibrox needs some TLC and the away section at CP has restricted views but my main problem with this is giving Celtic and Rangers more money is not going to help our domestic game and what’s the solution to Cup finals hardly fair if they get home advantage against the smaller teams and what about when they play each other. 3. Use Murrayfield, yes it seems a good stadium and hosts Rugby internationals and cup finals although as has been mentioned the stands at either end aren’t close to the pitch and there’s a running track at one side. Transport links are better than Hampden but do we really want to pour football money into Rugby coffers? And I can’t see Edinburgh Council being thrilled about the prospects of an Old Firm cup final offending the tourists. 4. Build a shiny new stadium away from Glasgow / Edinburgh, seen this one mentioned lots on various forums. Great idea as long as you’re driving there but it lacks infrastructure there’s no hotels for fans from further away or the away fans, there would be no bars or restaurants except in the stadium and forget a train link, if Glasgow and Edinburgh airport don’t have them then no way a stadium will get one. Hampden has its flaws as The Spider mentions a lot of this was caused by Rangers screwing us over in the 80s (not sure Celtic were involved) when they tried to push Ibrox as an alternative causing the Tory government at the time to remove the funding. We then had to re do Hampden on the cheap. For me Hampden is Scotland’s home I’ve been to Ibrox and Celtic Park and the atmosphere at Hampden for big games is every bit as good when it’s France, Italy, England etc. I’ve been in the back row of the West stand and yes there are better views but it’s nowhere near as bad as some make out as I could see everything that happened. I’d like to see it rebuilt even if it’s a future plan as it’s hardly a crumbling wreck of a stadium. Find a way to raise the money and rebuild it. As mentioned the transport to the Centre isn’t inadequate the problem is getting back to Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee after an evening game surely this could be resolved by a deal with Scotrail, Scotland fans are hardly renowned for hooliganism a few late trains shouldn’t be beyond reason.

There is no amount of money that makes the proposal acceptable even if it was £200,000 it’s still a bribe and is very questionable ethically. So as per the example a team are in financial trouble and the Old Firm bribe them £200,000 to support their Colt proposals. The team agree and take the money. You then have one Organisation member bribing another, what if they meet the big team in the cup? You’d have a team playing against their benefactor in a competitive match. What’s to stop the bigger team leaning on them with vague threats of removing their financial backing if they knock them out. No member club should be giving brides to another member club it should be against the rules for the integrity of our competitions.

Have I missed something, I can understand Celtic pushing for this with CL money but last I heard Rangers need to find Millions for the next two seasons. Where are they going to find money for a second team?

Was that after their fans were predicting winning every game and all 3 cups?