Marten

Even though I agree the punishment on Hearts was very lenient, there are 2 major differences here. The SPFL organise the League Cup, while the EoSFL run the Alex Jack. Also, Hearts did this in a group game. Had they done it in a knockout game, the SPFL would have had to kick them out.

Don't worry, I don't support them. Just trying to finish the 42 and Ibrox is one of the 12 I haven't been yet. So with Motherwell in the away end will do.

As of last night, the licensing embargo has been lifted. It will be interesting to see how many ex-juniors will be licensed in the near future.

I usually go for the home end, unless I'm with someone who supports the away team and then I'll sit with them. That will be the case when I go to Rangers v Motherwell as I'm going with a Motherwell fan I know (and I previously tried and failed getting tickets for the home end at Ibrox so this is an easier way to tick the ground off as I've never been there yet).

Any idea what the current record is? I'll be going, more or less as a neutral (although in the Hearts end). Looking forward to it.

Very good news! Any change to the requirements? If not, applications will probably start flooding in very soon.

I lived down in/near Derby for 8 years (moved up to Dundee mid-2017). The Derby collapse is pretty much traditional by now. I know a fair number of their fans who just joke about it by now. However, Lampard seems to be doing a cracking job there. I wonder if they might not have their annual collapse this time...

Nice football weekend ahead of me: Ross County v Greenock Morton on Saturday followed by a trip to Murrayfield for Hearts v Celtic. Looking forward to it.

Not in Europe maybe, but definitely in China and the Arabian peninsula, and it's their money this is surely designed to tap. It seems that this new tournament is basically going to be like the champions league, but in tournament format in a host country: mainly the big European teams, complemented by some teams from other continents. The only difference in teams taking part will probably be that this time the "whipping boys" won't be the champions from the "lesser" European countries, but instead the teams from the other continents. If you add a team from places like China, the Arabian Gulf, USA and so on, you are creating a massive TV market and even more interest in those countries, even if these teams are just whipping boys.

I think one of the people doing the draw, can't remember exactly.

Haringey v Wimbledon has already been named the "tie of the round", big chance for that one to be live on TV. Nice bit of trivia as well: Wimbledon play in the same calendar year away against Spurs and at White Hart Lane in the FA Cup, without actually playing Spurs at WHL.

In this article it's mentioned that FIFA are planning an annual Club World Cup, probably of 16, 24 or even more clubs, involving various bigger European teams. The following bit is interesting: "Individual clubs, including Real Madrid and Barcelona, as well as those from the Premier League, emerged from Fifa presentations supporting the idea of a new Club World Cup every four years, which promised an average of more than £100m to each participating club." So basically, it's becoming a new tournament with lots of cash involved. It could potentially be a rival to the Champions League, so it will be interesting to see what happens. UEFA win the "most hypocritical comment of the year" award though:

Cardiff Colts v Connah's Quay would be the saviour of the WPL.

This is regularly being proposed, yet it never even resulted in a serious proposal. Time will tell, but I'm sceptical.

Berwick 3-1 Gretna Great day out, very friendly locals, decent game. Quite enjoyed myself.

Well, that was a good trip out yesterday. As some people might know, I moved to Scotland in the summer of 2017 and don't have a particular favourite team. Instead, I decided to do "the 42" and go to various non-league grounds, which is imo a great way to see Scotland (and Berwick). Berwick is a lovely town, enjoyed walking around/sightseeing before and after the game and I had some good chats with locals in some pubs before the game. The bars at the ground were good as well and had more chats with friendly locals. It was a decent game for a neutral with a well deserved victory for Berwick. I enjoyed Shielfield Park and I really enjoyed the friendliness of the people in Berwick. This was definitely one of my better trips since I started this "groundhopping". Good luck for the rest of the season.

Ultimately, BSC took a chance that was there because the lack of participation in the pyramid. If the pyramid had included all of non-league from the start, including the juniors, BSC either might never have made it to the Lowland League, or would have faced a long journey to get there. With the ex-juniors coming through now, the route to the LL is going to be much harder. Yet BSC have established themselves in the division and if they get a ground in their own community soon, they could even be knocking on the door of the SPFL. It's absolutely fair enough if some people are uneasy about the route they've taken, it's not the most regular one, but fair play on them that they grabbed their chance and are doing it in their way. And let's not forget that it's down to the likes of BSC, EK, Cumbernauld and so on that the pyramid isn't dead in the water now.

I think the MK Dons comparison is a bit off the mark tbh. They moved permanently to a different community and now serve that, without any intention to ever move back (obviously there is AFC Wimbledon now, but the intention was never there in the original plan), cutting all their ties with the area of Wimbledon. BSC Glasgow still serve their local community. All other teams of the club are based there and the club is active in their "home" community whilst looking to return their first team home. I don't know enough about Glasgow Uni, but Edusport is an entirely different situation. They never served a local community. They still played it by the rules, so you can't blame them, but I would more understand criticism aimed at the SFA for that situation.

I've chosen a nice time for my first visit to Shielfield tomorrow I see. Are there any decent pubs near the ground where fans drink before the game? Thanks in advance!

Derbys usually have become big over time. If Linlithgow go up to the LL and play Shire on a regular basis for many years to come, there is always a chance that they might end up seeing each other as rivals and their games as derbies. You can't expect that to immediately be the case in their first meeting after Linlithgow Rose went senior.

I think it's generally a problem with universities that have sports teams. When I lived down in Derby I went to a cricket game between Loughborough University and Derbyshire (I also like cricket and support Derbyshire in England due to the time I spent there). I kinda expected a decent crowd as Loughborough is the number 1 sports university in the UK AND generally the main place where English cricket talents go to combine study & sports as there are high quality facilities for them. Yet there was only a crowd of about 100 with at least 3/4 being away fans.

Having grown up there - I can confirm that! Agreed, I think there should be a provision for playing evening games, whether that's in their own ground or on a lighted training pitch. For a few midweek games with crowds that don't exceed double figures I don't see a big issue when they play that on a nearby training pitch. It's not like the crazy situation in The Netherlands where there are clubs which average 4 figure crowds on that level! IMO, we also need to be realistic about how big Scotland is. If you compare it to England, they are 10 times the size in terms of population. The 15th club in the Lowland League is the 71st club overall in Scotland (treating the HL as being on par with the LL). That should roughly equate with the 710th club in England, which would take you all the way down to tier 10! The Netherlands has roughly 3 times the population, so the 15th club in the LL should roughly equate to their 213th club, who are in the 6th tier. Neither the English tier 10, nor the Dutch tier 6 have compulsory lighting.

In England it's a requirement until quite low down (I think as far down as tier 9), but there are plenty of countries where it's no requirement lower down. In The Netherlands it's not a requirement at all in tier 5 (the highest regionalised tier) and below. And even in tiers 3 and 4 clubs have the possibility to play midweek games on a training pitch nearby as long as it has lighting. Which is quite crazy as some clubs in tier 3 regularly get 4 figure crowds and bring large numbers of away fans!

It will be up to the clubs in the SoSFL obviously, but I could imagine they'd rather feed into a west league at tier 6 rather than the LL. If the WoSFL (or whatever it will be called) will end up at the same level as the South league the South champions will likely be battered every single promotion play-off, meaning they'll only have a theoretical route into the LL rather than one that would work in practise. However, if they feed into a west league, a club can get promoted into there and then get ready for the next step up if they are ambitious.

I highly doubt that as I've read my information elsewhere. But the rest of my post still stands anyway, B-teams have not proven to benefit player development and the really talented players more often than not go straight into the first team or go on loan. Introducing them in Scotland would be absolutely stupid and would have a vastly negative effect on the Scottish lower divisions. You can support lower league football or you can support the introduction of B-teams. It's absolutely impossible to support both.