AlansHotBath

It's definitely a bit of a nonsense selection and we don't deserve to be there on sporting merit, but it has been quite funny to see people react like it's a moral outrage on par with the SPFL introducing racial segregation. Rest assured, we'll waste the £5K or whatever it is we get.

Yeah, it's not for me but they're probably onto something here, it's more common than ever to support a team you have no family or geographical link to because of the accessibility of the games via the internet and they are adopting a model geared towards that. I'm sure it's not unique in football and it won't be the last example. And the name is perfectly calibrated towards the sort of Yanks that want to own part of a football club in Scotland.

I've been out of the loop with stuff for a while now, but I agree this is bizarre. The guy writing this stuff has complete LinkedIn brain, something AI couldn't hope to capture. It's all about "the journey", the club website has a bunch of stuff like that. This makes a lot of sense, when I saw the stuff about the club 'donating' £25,000 worth of used office furniture I assumed it was just made up, because where in gods name would a lower league football club, particularly a lower league football club without a ground, get that much old desks and chairs? I think the most charitable reading is that they've tied this environmental stuff (which I have no issue with a club embracing in principle, but I don't think it's a completely sincere goal here) to the club in the hope of attracting sponsorship, budgeted for said sponsorship, and it's not materialised so now they are trying to cover with a vague crowdfunding drive, but have went about it all in a cockamamie way. Considering they've tried to drive sponsorship in the club across last season, this can't exactly fill anyone considering sponsoring for the first time with a massive amount of confidence. I will say they have done some good stuff, like distributing tickets in schools and to low-income families, and organising that foodbank drive at an Albion Rovers game last year.

£10

That is basically my understanding, although I am not sure if Mackin is still actively trying to sell it - apparently he has turned up at Shire games in previous seasons to try to reach some kind of arrangement with the club to rebuild a ground there with his involvement (which wasn't taken up for obvious reasons), and I don't know how much that land parcel of land in central Falkirk is worth now compared to 20 years ago. I don't live in Falkirk anymore but I know there is a big push to turn a lot of the empty shops in the town centre into flats, so a lot of the focus will be on there rather than the back end of the retail park. Also the issue of where the club could get the money to actually build a ground.

Pretty good video. That guy gets grief from some people but anything I've seen from him looks like he has a genuine interest in all levels of Scottish football and he's definitely nowhere near as obnoxious as some YT football folk, so I am glad he made it along to a Shire game and hopefully he does videos from other LL and below grounds. I haven't actually seen the inside of the former Firs Park for years, so I didn't appreciate how overgrown it now is, looks like a nature reserve (albeit one with cans of Strongbow Dark Fruit dotted around). Although I do disagree we were a 'top league' team, two seasons of top flight football in nearly 150 years doesn't really count in the same way you'd consider say Dundee United to be a top flight team. The first goal he missed was a belter:

I think a draw was a fair result today, although 0-0 would've been the fairest. Two pretty rubbish teams, didn't see Braves scoring without a penalty, and we had to rely on Shaun Brown digging us out of a hole with a great run and cross to set up the equaliser. Overall, a dire game with a good last ten minutes. I can't see Scullion being long for the job, tbh - I don't think we've beaten anyone aside from the two other teams who are clearly worse than us since he came in, but really the team has no discernable plan or coherence on the pitch. Silver lining is that the guy Rankin we've signed on loan looks decent, was feeding off scraps today but was disruptive to the Braves backline. Him, Hodges, Brown and Flynn (when he's fit) could form the bones of a decent attacking unit.

I wonder if their promotion push will be toast now he's out the door?

Disappointing start to the season, I think the game against Gretna this weekend is a big one. I'd agree that the next month is going to be pretty key and if he comes out of that with some poor results then the pressure is definitely on. Could always just blame the refs, mind you.

This is a good gesture by the club. The new board are definitely putting more emphasis on community work which is a massive positive. I won't be at the game but I hope everyone who takes up the offer has a great time.

I was at the game on Saturday and it's difficult to get a great view of how the season will shape up from it - Tranet were in control for the most part and the better side, I don't think they were incredible but they probably didn't need to be. I imagine the games against Gala and CSS in the next few days will be a better barometer. We looked better than the standard of performance from last season, which is a positive.

I haven't seen any of our pre-season friendlies but I reckon we'll just play one at a time. 4 is a bit much though, Ure is on the coaching staff but MacDonald has been on the books for a couple of seasons now and he's never played afaik, not sure what the deal is there. Not sure who the planned first choice is.

After a bit more business, our squad is now sitting at 21. Can't imagine there being many more additions from this point on. GK Neil Mitchell (in from Hillfield Swift FC) Jordan Pettigrew (in from Blantyre Victoria) Ruaridh MacDonald Iain Ure DEF Kyle Ewing Tony Coutts Shaun Brown Jamie Pyper (in from Berwick) Jamie Thompson (in from Stirling Uni) Ryan McLean (not sure who he signed from, possibly Cumnock if I'm looking at the right guy on soccerbase.com) MID Jack Hodge Gregor Fortheringham Jack Hodge Aaron McAlpine Ynyr Liddell (in from The Swifts) Owen Ronald (in from St Cadocs FC) Lewis Hynd (in from The Swifts) Jack Simpson (in from Camelon) FW Jamie Penker (on loan from Spartans) Dan Watt (in from Cowdenbeath) Euan McGill (in from Stirling Uni)

Decent video but calling Netherdale a 'monstrosity' is beyond the pale

Shire fixtures are out now. It's a Cowdenbeath Christmas!

Yeah, I did have a look to see how he got on at Bo'ness as it occurred to me he doesn't seem to have played regularly in a while, Spartans having had a pretty stacked attacking lineup - hopefully a full season gets him going again

Good signing - we needed more up top and Penker has scored a bunch at this level. Just got my season ticket earlier in the day, can't wait for the season proper to kick off.

Surely no one at EK is thick enough to go for this - even if they thought he was hard done by and ate up his pathetic sob story, he's been chased out of every club he's been at since Raith, and the LL clearly isn't low-key enough to get away with it given Tranet just had to bin someone off who's far less notorious than Goodwillie.

Quite a tricky opening, especially Tranet. Should give a decent idea of the quality of the team

The South Challenge Cup draw was tonight, and Shire have got a first round bye, and then a tie against either Sauchie or Crossgates Primrose. When I was looking at the potential opponents I thought Sauchie would be a decent one - I'd rather it was away, but whichever one of the two is more exciting than third game against a LL opponent.

According to the latest club update Sludden, Allan and Wilson have all left after only being offered pre-season training (to get regular football, so can't blame them given they weren't offered contracts). I also would've liked to see them given more a chance, but I'm guessing Scullion had little interest given they were long out on loan when he came in. Apparently McKay still isn't able to return to training yet. https://www.es-fc.co.uk/post/club-update

Unsurprisingly given we've got a new manager and backroom staff, there have been a few changes at the Shire. Our current squad looks like: GK Neil Mitchell (in from Hillfield Swift FC) Ruaridh MacDonald Iain Ure DEF Kyle Ewing Tony Coutts Shaun Brown Jamie Pyper (in from Berwick) Jamie Thompson (in from Stirling Uni) MID Jack Hodge Gregor Fortheringham Jack Hodge Aaron McAlpine Ynyr Liddell (in from The Swifts) Owen Ronald (in from St Cadocs FC) Lewis Hynd (in from The Swifts) FW Dan Watt (in from Cowdenbeath) Euan McGill (in from Stirling Uni) TBC (club have made contract offers/invited to pre-season training) Marc Sludden Kai Wilson Marc Allan David McKay Niyah Joseph Connelly (not re-signing), Greene (taking time out of football) and Watson (Bonnyrigg Rose) will all be loses for sure, but overall it feels like we've added a decent amount of experience to the squad which was something we were sorely lacking last season and contributed to our poor start. But I'm predicting an improvement on last season, comfortably mid-table but not troubling the top end much.

Paid in exposure. If true this is a shitty thing to do and hopefully the guys affected get their cash asap.

https://twitter.com/record_sport/status/1661983165404069888?s=46&t=3fXnHtfZqTOy3XYcNeLMrQ In the League for less than a week and already plotting an embarrassing name change. It's nice to see new members embracing the heritage of the LL.

That can work fine as long as he has other players around him to score. He's not massively prolific himself, but I wonder if Watt could form a good partnership with Dean Watson (if he re-signs)?