Disc Potato

Cheers much appreciated.

Do you have a list of dates for LL matches Hibee ?

Responsibility for recruitment and man management the major differences between a coach and a manager. Recruitment has become a major problem for BRFC over recent seasons and that challenge is even harder with our decline down the leagues. Yano like most in his position will be doing the work but getting deals concluded looks a problem with little in the way of announcements. As AB says above this is most likely to come down to finance. Preparing for relegation some 8 weeks ago, you could see these problems on the horizon regardless of who was in charge. I did some work with an SPL club who reached out with an offer of help to us. It was disappointing our club didn’t follow this up with talks to discuss further. It was readily dismissed by some despite individuals doing a fair bit of work to help. BRFC would have been the major benefactor of this agreement.

I don't think for one minute players are turning us down because Yano is our manager, he is an excellent coach. Certainly wouldn't hold him responsible for Whitehill Welfare's finishing position last season. I do agree with the second part of your post, the lack of information from the club tells its own story. I can't remember us having so few signed players so close to a new season. Names that were rumoured to be summer targets are all decent players but there has been no movement at all while other clubs in the LL continue to announce new signings. There is still time to put a reasonable squad together but a small update from the club wouldn't go amiss.

Yes but did you know we haven’t played Stranraer since 2010/11 in the old division three. Its pounds and points we need not needless statistics.

Stayed completely away from here for ten days or so as the combination of relegation and actions of a few weren’t nice and hurtful. Catching up after the recent statements there is good debate but I totally disagree with personal attacks under aliases on here. Derek Bell has created a Facebook group Newblackandgoldream with excellent content and comments. I’d rather discuss on there moving forward than here.

Exactly, it’s the same old rumours doing the rounds. I don’t wish to see any club go under. Good luck.

It’s happened now we can’t change that, it’s all about the future. The SC statement suggests they want to appoint a new board. Good luck to whoever takes up those positions. We lost a good man in George Mathison and despite reservations about becoming Chairman, John Bell is a major asset to the club as a director, he shouldn’t be singled out. The worry going forward is that we’ll be unable to compete with other Lowland League teams. It’s going to take time adjusting to the fact we support a mid-table Lowland League team.

They were singing Sack The Board which I think includes everyone. None should get off Scot free. Reality will sink in over the next few weeks and can’t see a way out of it.

Sad to hear that Dumbarton could end next week. Great club, deserves better.

Stick your Lowland League up your arse. I’d swap all of the above for our league status. There might be a spot in the SPFL up for grabs next week with one very close to folding.

The anger is turning quickly into sadness. How has this great club arrived at this stage?? This board started with 200k in the bank(Wow) and in three seasons have completely destroyed this club. I asked one today, how has it come to this ? His reply, no thanks to you trying to get Harvey sacked. Fair to say I gave him it both barrels. He also bolted out the door with 25 mins to go (hopefully never to be seen again). I honestly don’t know what the future holds but seeing 40+ Berwick fans singing sack the board and anti John Bell songs in the free trade suggests radical change is needed. Gutted, hurt and some of these b*****ds should be up on attempted murder charges. To all the great clubs in Div two, good luck for next season and beyond.

Capacity issues

Tomorrow's match will be shown live on the Comedy Channel.

Due to capacity issues the JB Lounge will not be open post match to the public and the end of season awards have been postponed to a later social event

Stenhousemuir have just published the following, an example of how far we have fallen behind that type of club. Statement from the Chairman, looking back at the 2018/19 season. I wanted to provide supporters with a review of the season just ended and an update of where we are as a club. We went into this season looking to consolidate our place in League 1 after gaining promotion through the playoffs in the previous season. We were aware that we had one of the lowest budgets amongst our competitors but nonetheless, we were upbeat about our chances. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Player recruitment as we went into the season fell short of where it needed to be. We did secure the services of a number of good players who were well able to compete at this level, however, we had significant gaps in the squad which meant that despite their dedication and best efforts, we were always going to find it difficult. We felt a change in team management was required and this was enacted prior to the January transfer window opening. Unfortunately, it is difficult to strengthen a squad outside of the window, and even in January, there isn’t always the availability of quality players in the positions needed. This reinforces the need to get things right in the pre-season period. Colin McMenamin was appointed as the new Manager, and through his diligent efforts, he did manage to bring in some key personnel in January that had an immediate positive impact on the team, particularly in defence. However, as time would show, we were unable to reverse our fortunes in terms of our league position. We gave ourselves a fighting chance by managing to lift ourselves off the bottom spot, but we came up against an in-form Annan Athletic who beat us in the playoff semi-final and deserved to progress to the finals at our expense. We wish them every success. There were a number of positives from the last season that shouldn’t be overlooked. We had a short but strong Scottish Cup run that began with a 4-2 victory against our local rivals, the now former Championship club Falkirk FC. This match was battled out before a packed Ochilview, and the Warriors came out firing on all cylinders from the first kick of the ball and never looked back. As well as allowing us to progress into the next round of the cup, the match was financially successful for the club too. In the next round we were drawn against Aberdeen up at Pittodrie. We headed up there wanting to acquit ourselves well, and we did just that. We had a good travelling support at the game, and we gave Aberdeen a game. We endured a lot of pressure and struggled at times to create solid chances, but we struck when it counted and the game finished 1-1. This secured a replay at Ochilview. In the resultant replay, Aberdeen showed their quality and ran out eventual winners, but once again, the Warriors gave them a game, and the match provided a financial boost to the club as well. Those games against Falkirk and Aberdeen will long be remembered at Ochilview! In terms of club finances, even if we take away the benefits from the cup run, the club has had a strong financial year. We had set ourselves the target of increasing the club income by around 10%. Whilst that may sound like a challenge in difficult times for Scottish football, we had plans in place behind every number and felt this was realistic with some re-organisation and hard work. Not only did we achieve our targets, but we exceeded them in many areas. For the year ahead, we are focusing on increasing the income yet again, and we are quietly confident that we will reach our goals. This means that we have not only been able to maintain the player budget for the season ahead, but we have been able to include a substantial increase. We will go into League 2 in a far stronger position financially than when we did previously. This increase will not come at the expense of maintaining our strong financial position. This increase will be from new money that is being brought into the club. At this stage I would like to thank our sponsors, donors and partners who committed funds to the club last season, and those who have already signed up for next season. We have partners like Leemic and The Gulnar who have been supporting the club for a number of years which is a great commitment from these local community minded businesses. We welcome LOC Hire to the club as our new front of shirt partners. LOC Hire has committed to a four year deal and is already helping in other ways too. Your help is invaluable and has made the difference that allows us to grow as a club. With new kit deals in place with UHL Sport and RJM Sports, which have positive financial benefits to the club, we are able to ensure that we continue to grow, but maintain our ‘one club’ approach as the new kit will be introduced across all parts of the club. Our community programme continues to flourish and we are looking to grow this part of the club this coming year. Our mental health team were recognised by FIFA last season for this ground breaking programme that we run in conjunction with Forth Valley mental health nurses. This, along with the hundreds of kids, and people of all ages, who are now playing football in teams at Ochilview is a great source of pride for us. Yes Hire has signed a 5 year partnership deal to become the principal sponsor of our community programme. I’d like to place our thanks on record to them for this fantastic support. Not only does this allow us to support and grow our extensive community programme, but it means we are looking to introduce a new Rewards Scheme for young community programme members. Our young people will be the next generation of players, supporters, volunteers, board members and sponsors, so we want to introduce new ways to make them feel rewarded for being part of our club. We are actively looking into creating a family section in the stand, and we’ll provide further information about this as plans develop. We are also about to launch our new Coaching Academy programme for young adults from the community. This is a coaching pathway for young people that will give them new skills, experience and qualifications that will be invaluable not only to Stenhousemuir Football Club, but to the whole community as these young people can get involved in a range of different activities and groups. The first recipient of the Terje Eriksen Scholarship Fund was Tiwi Daramola. Tiwi first joined the club at 8 years old and has now been awarded funding to sign his first professional contract with us. Not only is this great news for Tiwi, but it further cements our enduring partnership with our Norwegian Supporters Club, of which Terje was hugely involved. Tiwi is already making a name for himself with the Scottish Schools Under 18s team and we were all proud to see him being awarded his first cap at Hampden recently. Returning to the first team, whilst there have been successes and failures over the last season, there is no doubt that the players fought hard for the club. There have been changes and challenges to deal with, but they continued to fight right up to the final games. They have been a credit to themselves as professionals and individuals. I’d like to thank them all for their contribution to Stenhousemuir FC. Some will be moving on to new opportunities, and I wish them all well. The Manager is focused on recruiting new players for next season’s squad, and we as a Board have put in place additional support to help that happen. As mentioned previously, at our level, successful pre-season recruitment is essential to a good season. We will provide as much support as we can to ensure that Colin has the right strategy and approach to secure the squad that we need. The resources are in place early, and talks with targets are already underway. So whilst the disappointment of relegation is felt by us all, we just need to take this in our stride and look to overcome the new challenges that lie ahead. We are on a long term journey to build our club. We are on track to do so. We are achieving year on year growth, and in cash terms, we are making a profit. We are attracting new sponsors, partners and investment. Not many clubs in Scottish football can say that. We want to be a strong successful club both on and off the field. We want to progress up the leagues. We are putting the structures and finances in place to enable us to do just that. Finally, I’d like to pay tribute to our staff, volunteers, my colleagues on the Board, and most importantly our dedicated supporters. Fans continue to support us through good times and bad and this is not taken for granted. We simply could not continue without this support. We are a community, within the community and that is why we will succeed. Looking ahead, there will be ups, and downs. But if we can continue to work together towards common goals, then there will be considerably more ups ahead. See you next season. Iain McMenemy Chairman – Stenhousemuir FC

I honetly can't see anyone brave enough to take on this project. There is far too much wreckage to sort through. For as long as I've known, Berwick Rangers has never been a sustainable business. It's all about minimising the losses and managing a deficit until the luck of the draw comes into play and the club benefit from a windfall. Director's have covered cash flow problems with short/long term loans until they can draw their money back. It's only the last few year's that have seen us in the comfort zone but that time is coming to an end. At this moment in time we are working on budget that is throwing up around a 40k loss. Fair play to the chairman elect for trying to address this with his plans discussed at the recent forum. His ideas are the same as directors had 30 years ago, there was nothing new. Again John talked about increasing revenue in the following areas :- - Advertising - Hospitality - Kit Sponsorship - Match day Attendance With relegation almost certain, I only see income dropping further in the above areas and creating even bigger financial losses next year. The overheads appear to have spiralled out of control. There is lots of pressure now on directors to make tough decisions which could result in job losses to non playing staff. The club can no longer afford all the paid roles at the club. This sadly is the result of mis-mangement at board level. 8 players are already signed for next season which will take up a fair percentage of the playing budget, this could make it even harder to find a manager to come in. It's a mess, a huge fucking mess right now. The last thing we need is the SC and ST working against each other, as major shareholders it is up to them to try and find a solution to our current problems and that means working together. The word "ambition" gets thrown about from time to time. Any ambition to move forward needs to be parked for now while some fire fighting is done, just to get the club on the straight and narrow will take a huge effort from lots of people. So forget about bouncing back at the first attempt, that looks unachievable even with the parachute payment. I'll doff my cap to any party that financially gets involved. Should we fail to see any new owners arrive on the scene, we need to start by appointing a strong chairman who is not afraid to make bold decisions that can build a structure for the club. That might mean the ST and SC have to advertise that position. It'll take a minimum of three years to get anywhere, that will also mean there will be no parachute payment but then we might have a base to build from, there is no quick fix to our current problems.

8 players under contract until 31st May 2020. Jack Cook, Aidan Mcilduff, Grant Rose, Daryl Healy, Calum Adamson, Craig Hume, Andy Forbes and Lewy Barr. Hmmm.

It's an arsonist we need not a hypnotist.

Team for Sat Dabrowski Hamilton Todd Fleming Davie Willis Lavery Phillips Hurst Scott Murrell

He travelled but can’t help you any further. Brennan, Cook and Brown in and draw the remaining 8 places out of a hat.

Playing surface at Cove looked excellent, wouldn't judge it on the pellets. Certainly one of the better 3/4G pitches and streets ahead of the one at Spartans.

Bolo has signed for Spartans. Eddie Malone gone to “Shire”. Dylan Easton along with more ex league players heading for Kelty. Some serious work needing done at Shielfield in the coming weeks.

Thanks for sharing. John was asked at the open forum by a previous chairman about the need to have a commercial director on the board. He didn’t think there was a need for one and the duties should be shared. This way has already seen deals for sponsorship collapse. We need a structure and a new leader at the top to take us forward.

What now? Is the big question needing answered. It’s hard on us all but Dennis McCleary has given 49 years service to the club and will spend his 50th year as secretary of a Lowland League club. What that man doesn’t know isn’t worth knowing, thanks for everything you have done for Berwick Rangers Dennis. I also feel for some players, the captain Robert Wilson in particular has given it everything through difficult conditions. No doubt that bad injury he suffered and his long spell on the sidelines has impacted on his career. There are many changes required but the club most re-engage itself with supporters, the divide is growing and evident when players ran off down the tunnel at the end of the match and continued chants of sack the board by the away following. The worrying thing is relegation doesn’t mean this has bottomed out just yet, we remain in free fall and I think we all fear where it eventually ends. John Brownlie and Yano deserve credit for taking on the challenge, it wasn’t to be. Over to you directors of Berwick Rangers Plc.