Marten

Merging the South Challenge Cup & Junior cup, inviting clubs in the Highland League & North Caledonian League (up to them whether or not they will take it but can at least offer them) & re-name it SFA Challenge Trophy or so, with the SFA running it, showpiece final at Hampden & a decent payment for travel costs would be great & doable. But the old divide is an issue, not to mention the fact that the SFA doesn't give a f*ck about this level of football...

Scotland could reach the semi-finals at the Euros and Maxwell would claim that with B-teams Scotland would have won it...

If in the second round of the Scottish Cup you end up drawing Hawick at home or so, even I'll start believing this stuff.

From a travel perspective, yes we travel more in the HL. But I think the points @parsforlife makes are also valid. Also to be honest, from a travelling fan's perspective, I don't mind that we are in the Highland part of the pyramid. The Lowland League has quite few downsides, like B-teams, joke clubs like Broomhill (or whatever they're called today) & Cumbernauld Colts, lots of very boring grounds. The Highland League has quite a few lovely grounds & nice towns to go to. And with the pyramid now as it is, it will only be a matter of time before more clubs in our area join.

Good finisher, definitely a player who I think can do well a bit higher up.

The players are very much aware of these aims. Some long trips, but most are doable travel wise, with Brechin as our local game (assuming they don't go up). But let's first get there!

Here is hoping

Yes and yes, we got licensed last year and have spoken out that our ambition is to get to the Highland League. With signing Bobby (and more players still to be announced) we're seriously working on our squad to hopefully make that reality.

There were some formalities to go through to make it all official. I knew it for a few weeks already but the club wanted to wait with the announcement until the deal was completely done.

A brilliant signing for us, excellent stuff.

"I kept trying to make the point just because Rangers, Celtic, Hearts or Aberdeen can afford to do", interesting to include Aberdeen who made clear they wouldn't join this conference league. And obviously he still claims that it was rejected because of the ugly sisters. He completely ignores the fact that it was a shite plan. A 10 team league in which 4 teams can't be promoted or relegated is obviously a very unattractive league, 200+ teams being relegated is also unacceptable. Even if you would agree B-teams are the way to go, this would be pretty much the worst way possible to include them.

Another one at East End Park yesterday. I was desperate to go to football again and Dunfermline isn't too far, so when a friend of mine invited me I couldn't resist. I also agree that the Pars gave a good account of themselves against strong opposition. Just 2 rows in front of me some Celtic fans unfurled a Celtic/St. Pauli "friendship" banner late in the second half. To say that the Pars fans around me didn't appreciate it, would be an understatement.

I've been to St. Pauli twice, quite a few clubs claim an affiliation with them but I can't recall seeing anything Celtic-related except for the odd scarf in a pub that was probably just left by a visiting Celtic fans (they have tons of football scarves in that pub as it's a real football pub).

Yeah, the plan is to play as many of those games in cup weekends. If a licensed side has a good chance of winning the league, there will be some midweek games early 2024.

Yeah, and more games early on will help finishing the league on time. There are 11 rounds planned before the end of August.

Then the remaining spot would be filled by application, which could just be the next best licensed side that missed out on promotion, but they could pick any side they want.

Fixtures have been released. https://www.scottishjuniorfa.com/east-region/fixtures/?fbclid=IwAR2ZQZmiKYQhiR0728hlu9KJXPSIzXD2kyy2Z9sBvRipbN9qPoua6VnwfF8

Looking at that group and upcoming fixtures it's not impossible that Luxembourg will actually qualify.

Our first signing has been confirmed. Happy with him, he looked good against us.

Just come to think of it, don't we have to wait until the SPFL release their fixtures due to Roselea's ground share at Links Park?

Fixtures should be released today, but I assume it's the last weekend of July.

To be fair, they have been doing so for a while.

One down, hopefully 2 more to follow. Great news!

They've done really well for a few years now to be fair, despite very limited funds. But they keep just falling short. Who knows, maybe just like with Almere now luck will be on their side within the next few years.

Yep, spot on. That's why using either the Dutch or Croatian example actually harms their argument like explained for both above. Also, Feyenoord won the Dutch league this season with a team full of homegrown talent, they finished well ahead of both PSV & Ajax, reached the EL QF & ECL final the previous season. They don't have a B-team, but instead prefer a system of loans & reserve football. Didn't exactly harm them!