Marten

PSV put up a much better display than in last week's draw against Heerenveen. They won 1-2 at AZ and secured 2nd & CL football. Ajax lost 3-1 to Twente but it didn't cost them the EL place due to AZ's loss.

Pretty much exactly the same as a friend of mine who supports Groningen said. They've really become a mess.

Small correction, they made the 2-1 shortly after the 2-0, then equalised in 90+3 and scoring the winner in 90+9.

Celtic Women 2-0 Rangers Women Two derbies in 2 days for me. The second one was the Scottish Women's Cup Final at Hampden. The first half was quite close and not the most interesting. Far more happened in the second half, Celtic got stronger as the game went on. Two excellent corner kicks decided the game for them and got them their second successive Scottish Women's Cup. In my opinion, the better team won. The difference in terms of crowds with men's football was massive. There was very little police, no trouble at all as far as I know.

Hearts 1-1 Hibs Early in the season I attended an Edinburgh Derby at Easter Road. After that game I decided that I wanted to go to one at Tynecastle too. It was another excellent experience. Both games finished in a 1-1 draw. Where the last time Hibs were definitely the happier side with the draw due to a stoppage time equaliser, this time Hearts were the happier side. They played with 10 men after a red card around 28 minutes in, followed by Hibs equalising with the resulting free kick. In the second half Hearts defended very well. Hibs didn't do enough with the man advantage, resulting in Hearts getting the draw they needed (and deserved imo) to finish 4th. After the game we were treated to a proper brawl, resulting in 4 red cards, one staff member and one substitute on each side.

No particular reason, I was actually planning a visit there late 2021, but my trip to London didn't happen due to Covid. It's still on my list of grounds I want to visit, fixtures just never worked out whenever I've been in the area.

Updated list for me: Scotland (181) Complete leagues: Premiership - 10 Championship - 10 League One - 10 League Two - 10 Lowland League - 16 Midlands League - 19 East of Scotland Premier Division - 16 East of Scotland First Division - 16 East of Scotland Second Division - 17 East of Scotland Third Division - 10 Forth and Endrick League - 11 (including Thornhill who are in abeyance)~ SWPL 1 - 12 SWPL 2 - 8 Highland League (3/17) Brechin City Brora Rangers Wick Academy North Caledonian League (2/14) Fort William St. Duthus North Premier League (5/14) Bridge of Don Thistle Culter Hermes Montrose Roselea Stonehaven West of Scotland Premier Division (10/16) Arthurlie Auchinleck Talbot Cambuslang Rangers Clydebank Cumnock Irvine Meadow Kilwinning Rangers Petershill Pollok Troon West of Scotland Division 1 (7/16) Benburb Cumbernauld United Gartcairn Neilston Shotts Bon Accord St. Roch's Thorniewood United West of Scotland Division 2 (1/16) Kilsyth Rangers West of Scotland Division 3 (2/19) Larkhall Thistle Vale of Leven Amateurs Sleat and Strath (Skye & Lochalsh AFA) Breadalbane (Pertshire AFA) Barra (Uist & Barra AFA) Keiss (Caithness AFA) John O'Groats (Caithness AFA) Vale of Earn (Perthshire AFA) Invergowrie (Perthshire AFA) Doune Castle (Stirling AFA) Falkland (Fife AFA) Others Ballast Bank (old ground Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts) Broomfield Park (old ground Montrose Roselea) Caird Park (old ground Dundee United Women) Hampden Park Murrayfield Peffermill 3G (old ground Leith Athletic) Rangers Training Centre (old ground Rangers Women) England (80) Premier League (13/20) AFC Bournemouth Arsenal Aston Villa Brentford Everton Leeds United Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Southampton Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Championship (9/24) Bristol City Hull City Luton Town Middlesbrough Reading Rotherham United Sheffield United Sunderland (+ Cardiff in Wales) League One (12/24) Accrington Stanley Barnsley Bolton Wanderers Burton Albion Cambridge United Charlton Athletic Derby County Milton Keynes Plymouth Argyle Port Vale Portsmouth Shrewsbury Town League Two (10/24) AFC Wimbledon Bradford City Carlisle United Doncaster Rovers Hartlepool United Mansfield Town Northampton Town Rochdale Stevenage Sutton United National League (7/24) Bromley Chesterfield Dagenham & Redbridge Gateshead Notts County Scunthorpe United Southend United National League North (4/22) Alfreton Town Curzon Ashton Kidderminster Harriers Southport York City National League South (2/22) Dulwich Hamlet Eastbourne Borough Tier 7 leagues Tamworth Chesham United Tier 8 leagues Uxbridge Long Eaton United Shildon Tier 9 leagues Woodford Town Tier 10 leagues Bedlington Terriers Chessington & Hook United Croydon AFC Tier 11 leagues Holbrook Sports Others Wembley Berwick Rangers Tweedmouth Rangers Chelsea Women (Kingsmeadow) Staines Town (disbanded) Don Valley (for Rotherham United) Saltergate (for Chesterfield) Durham City (original ground, they are now groundsharing) Netherlands (74) Eredivisie (18/18) Eerste Divisie (19/20) ADO Den Haag Almere City FC Den Bosch FC Dordrecht FC Eindhoven De Graafschap Helmond Sport Heracles Almelo MVV Maastricht NAC Breda PEC Zwolle Roda JC Telstar TOP Oss VVV Venlo Willem II Ajax B (for a game of Ajax Women) AZ B (for a youth game) PSV B (for a game of PSV Women) Tweede Divisie (5/18) Excelsior Maassluis Quick Boys Katwijk Spakenburg IJsselmeervogels Derde Divisie (4/36) ASWH Barendrecht Quick Den Haag TOGB Tier 5 leagues Capelle FC 's-Gravenzande SC Feijenoord Westlandia Tier 6 leagues Heerjansdam Tier 7 leagues AGOVV Veendam 1894 RBC Roosendaal Schijndel NEC amateurs Lower tiers FSV Oldenzaal DVV'09 SV Polanen Naaldwijk Lyra DFS Terwolde DVO'32 Others Amsterdam Olympic Stadium AZ (old) PEC Zwolle (old) ADO Den Haag (old) Haarlem (bust) Vinkenslag (bust) Belgium Westerlo Union Saint Gilloise Antwerp Woluwe Hasselt Germany St. Pauli RB Leipzig Schalke '04 Werder Bremen Northern Ireland Carrick Rangers Cliftonville Linfield Isle of Man Ramsey Luxembourg National Stadium Norway National Stadium San Marino National Stadium Wales Cardiff City Total: 352

If they'd move to the Western Isles, Lewis would be a more likely destination...

Congratulations with the survival, Craig!

Pretty much. I don't think Dutch fans are necessarily worse than German or English fans for example, but the Dutch (football) authorities handle it so much worse than their German/English counterparts that they make it worse.

There is no promotion, no clubs can/want to fulfil the (excessive) requirements for promotion. It's effectively a closed system, promotion is only possible in theory.

No, there never has been a blanket ban. There have been, and still are, bans on away fans for certain fixtures (like Ajax v Feyenoord). However, the rules regarding visiting away games have become more and more restrictive. It does nothing to address the actual problem though, really just makes it worse as away fans find their ways into home ends. And the ones looking for trouble are often good in evading restrictive rules... Obviously I want my club to do well and I'm happy Excelsior just secured safety in the Eredivisie. But for fans who like to go to away games, the second tier is much more enjoyable (except for the odd game, including those against B-teams).

Brilliant finish to the league. Congratulations to City. Celtic second and in the Champions League, I think that's the first time for them?

A stoppage time goal for City. Good on them!

Excelsior Rotterdam are definitely safe! We beat Fortuna Sittard 3-0 today, while Feyenoord didn't relax after winning the title last week and won 1-3 at Emmen. Now we're 4 points ahead with one game left. This means that Emmen will play promotion/relegation play-offs. Cambuur and Groningen already got relegated last week. At the other end of the table, Feyenoord won the title last week. PSV failed to secure second place (which means CL qualifiers), they came back to draw 3-3 at home against Heerenveen after being 1-3 down. They are 3 points ahead of Ajax, who beat Utrecht 3-1. AZ remain 2 points behind Ajax after beating NEC away 0-3. Next week 2nd and 3rd will be decided in 2 big games: AZ v PSV and Twente v Ajax. If AZ win, Ajax would be second with a win, third (EL play-offs) with a draw and fourth (ECL qualifiers) with a loss. So that's going to be very interesting.

Absolutely embarrassing, also shocked me as AZ aren't exactly known as a violent club, quite the opposite really. But with the shambolic way the Dutch (football) authorities approach this problem, this will keep going on. They often punish whole clubs & fanbases, but the ones actually causing the problems aren't really facing the consequences for their actions. Banning orders are a laughing stock & easy to evade. That PSV "fan" who attacked the Seville goalkeeper in their Europa League match was already banned several times but he managed to get to games easily anyway. My club (Excelsior) thankfully aren't known for causing trouble at all. But I don't really miss going to away games with Excelsior now I'm living here...

In fairness, East Kilbride is the biggest town in Scotland never to have had a team in the top flight. There is definitely potential, although the question is if they are able to realise that potential.

Commiserations and good luck in the Lowland League. I believe in automatic relegation but I have nothing against Albion Rovers and was received very well when I visited. So I hope you will do well in the LL.

Absolutely awful. This mindless vandalism can make me so angry.

Congratulations Spartans and good luck in League 2.

There has to be on paper a way to get promoted from bottom to top. However, a few countries (including The Netherlands unfortunately) set conditions that are so excessive, that it's effectively a closed system unless clubs have sugar daddies.

I agree with you, no doubt about that. All I meant was that of all bad plans they could have come up with, this conference league idea is really the worst, worse than any other ideas that floated around and that's quite an achievement for the SFA as they have come up with plenty of other clusterf*ck ideas.

We all know you're just a troll who doesn't care about lower league football in Scotland, no need to repeat that.

Definitely option 2, rather no B-teams at all, but I'd find it considerably more palatable if they join at the bottom and just get promoted like any other team. A much better option than a league of 10 in which 4 can't be promoted or relegated.

I watched my local women's team Dryburgh Athletic in a league cup semi final at Airdrie earlier this season with 200ish in attendance. If they can afford playing that one in Airdrie, the LL Cup final shouldn't be an issue you'd think.