Marten

No it doesn't. "Berg" means mountain and kamp means "camp", so the literal translation of his name is "Mountain camp".

Correct on both indeed. It seems a pretty bizarre setup yes. With 8 clubs in the promotion play-offs in what is effectively a 16 team league (as colt teams are not eligible for promotion), that means that at the end of the season half of the teams are in the play-offs. And the champions (or best eligible team get promoted automatically on top of that.

And just to add: because of the colt teams in the Dutch 2nd tier (and lower), fewer players are now being loaned out or let go to smaller clubs. That results in smaller clubs struggling more to fill their squads and their standards going down.

Interesting quote in that article: "And it is now likely that they will rejoin the East of Scotland Conference C next season if the revival plan is successful.". Whoever has written that article clearly doesn't know anything about what's going on in the EOS at the moment...

At least the PWG have negotiations that have a slight chance of a universally agreed deal any time soon.

I did, thank you. I do enjoy trips like this one and seeing different parts off the country. I haven't yet seen much of D&G so this trip gave a nice impression.

Rangers 7-1 Motherwell I was in the away end where I joined a friend of mine who supports Motherwell. Before the game I told him that they couldn't do as bad as my (Dutch) team Excelsior Rotterdam, who lost 7-1 to Ajax today... ...safe to say I'm not expecting another invitation from him any time soon!

Annan Athletic 0-2 Cowdenbeath yesterday. First time I've seen Cowdenbeath this season, they look a lot better than last season. Still a surprising result though. A few Cowdenbeath die hards (or nutters? ) stood in the pouring rain all game. One of them had a Cowden top on and no coat.

The first round has only just started and I'm already getting annoyed of the patronising way the commentators talk about non-league sides. Yes, these guys are part time and have another job, we get it!

Brilliant stadium indeed. I've been there once, for the 2011 play-off Conference final between AFC Wimbledon and Luton Town (couldn't be played at Wembley due to the CL final taking place there). Despite the attendance only being 18,000, it was a brilliant venue to play it at.

Here are all the prices, Shire are the most expensive, Edusport & Dalbeattie the cheapest.

Saying that the EoS went for quantity over quality is unfair. The point is that the pyramid is for clubs at all levels. The likes of Eyemouth and Tweedmouth have just as much right to be in there at their place than the likes of Hearts and Hibs. Having clubs moving over en masse was always going to cause issues. An argument could be made for only accepting stronger clubs first and then let weaker juniors join at the bottom a season later. However, it's in my opinion far better to have 1 messy season and then move to a proper tiered structure in which all clubs play at the right level for them. For clubs like Linlithgow, it will only be one year playing against some of the weaker clubs, they will be EOS Premier (or LL) next season. And saying the pyramid is about reaching the top is wide off the mark. The pyramid is about playing football at your level. If it's only about reaching the top level than really only the 20 or so full-time SPFL sides have a reason of being in the pyramid as they are the only sides realistically capable of playing in the Premiership.

Considering abandoned matches in the Dutch league (just like nearly anywhere outside of the British Isles) are generally finished at a later moment from the moment of abandonment and not replayed, they will only have to come back for 89 minutes and 25 seconds.

Some shocks in the Dutch Cup last 32 this week. PSV lost 2-3 at home to RKC Waalwijk, who are struggling in the 2nd tier. Third tier AFC & Kozakken Boys beat 2nd tier opposition (TOP Oss & Almere City) and 4th tier ODIN '59 won 1-3 away at top flight FC Emmen. In total, 9 Eredivisie teams, 4 2nd tier, 2 3rd tier and 1 4h tier made the last 16. Draw for the round of 16 (level of the club between brackets): Willem II (1) v AFC (3) ODIN '59 (4) v SC Heerenveen (1) FC Twente (2) v RKC Waalwijk (2) Feyenoord (1) v FC Utrecht (1) AZ (1) v PEC Zwolle (1) Roda JC (2) v Ajax (1) Fortuna Sittard (1) v SC Cambuur (2) Kozakken Boys (3) v Vitesse (1)

When I lived in England I always enjoyed going to non-league games. Seen many lovely grounds, especially in the north of England. I'm planning a weekend south of the border again early February, hopefully I can go to some nice games then.

Peterhead 2-1 Albion Rovers A typical game of 2 halves. Peterhead took the lead within minutes and then scored a second just over 10 minutes later. Albion Rovers were very poor and lucky to only be 2-0 down at half time, it could easily have been 5. Second half was much closer. Rovers scored one and even had chances of an equaliser. Deserved win for the hosts though.

Hopefully it's just a one-off incident like with Tweedmouth earlier on.

Ah, thanks for that, I wasn't expecting that!

Maybe we can help the Qatari out? Just play some games at Murrayfield/Hampden/Ibrox/Parkhead. All that's needed is giving Scotland an automatic qualifying spot. After all, in Scotland we're used to clusterfuck organisations. (that and it's the only possible way I can see us getting to that World Cup)

Yes, the SFA would need to shell out, but for them it would only be a tiny percentage of their annual costs, that really shouldn't be a big issue. If the SRU can do it, who have much less money, than there is no reason the SFA can't. And in reality I can't see many clubs needing this, unlikely to be more than one each in Orkney/Western Isles and maybe some cup ties for a Shetland team (even with subsidies I can't see a Shetland team joining the pyramid and needing players to go on an overnight ferry or flight every other week).

Are there any subsidies in Spain for island clubs, especially in lower tiers, when they have to go to the mainland?

Travel can be an issue underneath the HL, especially considering in the more remote areas the road network is not exactly the greatest, and the islands are an issue too obviously. But underneath the LL it can't really be a problem. On a sidenote, I wouldn't be against a system to subsidise travel for the real outliers, like Orkney if they were to progress into (for example) the Highland League. In some other countries (like France) and sports (like Rugby) this already happens. The same can go for opponents traveling there. Alternatively, subsidies can be provided for outliers to take part in the Scottish Cup to make it truly national so Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles can provide a team each.

Livingston 0-1 St. Johnstone yesterday. Deserved win for the Saints.

Pretty much the only friends that Qatar have left who have grounds capable of hosting matches are Iran & Turkey. Having a Qatar/Iran World Cup would get messy, although I guess it could be doable.

It's just like with the Northern League south of the border. When the English pyramid took off with the formation of the Conference underneath the Football League, they could have been right underneath the Conference at tier 6. They didn't want to take part and now they are tier 9. All down to their own refusal to co-operate at first...