NL Observer

Not at all. I`m pretty sure you get my point however continue to pick holes in what i am trying to put across. Expectations from committees/ boards/ supporters are set at the start of the season and in my opinion are primarily based on budgets available to the manager. You cant expect Hearts and Hibs to go toe to toe with the Old Firm as they simply cant compete financially. I personally feel it would be unreasonable to have that expectation. Not one person would have expected Newtongrange to win the league this year. The reason being they simply wouldn't have the budget for it, not because of the management team they had. Surely the seasons goal for Newtongrange would be survival, and if they exceed that they could compete within the mid-top end of the table. With all this in mind Newtongrange are effectively on par with where they should have been expected to be.

"Big budgets not always the winners" I think you will find 9 times out of 10 they are! Just look at the leagues your club has played in over the past 10 years and think how many league winners have came from teams who don't invest the most in their playing squad?

Everyone seems to be slightly touchy and picking me up wrongly.......... I am not trying to be negative towards anyone. I am perfectly aware of how well HOB done last season and are doing this season, tremendous credit to their previous management team and for the new management team who seem to have kept the form going. The purpose of my post was to defend Darren Smith and Kenny Rafferty's record as the management team of Newtongrange. They have one of the lowest budgets in the league therefore you would expect them to finish near the bottom of the table? HOB are similar and likely have one of the lower budgets however they are over achieving based on this, therefore they deserve enormous credit in my opinion. I also don't claim to know the Boness budget. I do think it will be within the top 4 in the league therefore its no surprise to see them up the top end of the league. They are doing superbly and look in a good place to win the league. Fair play to them.

I mentioned HOB as a compliment to them. They are an excellent side, i have watched them a few times this season. I gave my opinion on how success should be measured in order to defend the outgoing Newtongrange Management Team. Going by my rational on this they (HOB) are exceeding expectations. if there was a budget league table they would likely sit mid table at best therefore only in my opinion they are performing above what anyone should expect from them. Is that fair?

I’m sure there will be other opportunities in management for both. Yes they have resigned 3 times, surely they can justify all 3 to any prospective new club! The switch from Dalkeith to Nitten would have been viewed as an upwards step on their managerial pathway which no one can grudge? In hindsight you may argue that the move wasn’t wise. I think the spells at Tranent and Dalkeith can be viewed as relatively successful. The cup wins at Tranent were a huge achievement albeit on a decent budget. They took over Dalkeith and were unlucky to not finish in the top 5 on a smidgen of the budget other teams had within their conference. Newongrange hasn’t worked out for one reason or another, could anyone else have done any better? Time will tell. On the face of it they had assembled a decent squad given the budget available was rumoured to be as low as any club in the table? In my opinion success should be measured against expectations – Newtongrange are sitting 13th just now and only one win away from 10th. with the table being so congested. That tells me they aren’t too far away from where they should be? On the other hand Boness are leading the table and rightly so given the fact they have probable spent as much as anyone in the league. The team who is out performing expectations has to be HOB.

Fridays comeback wont shock anyone, it just illustrates once again what team spirit the Bonnyrigg Rose players have. They have done this for years now. Certainly wont surprise me if they continue this run and end up as League Champions.

Cant see much change at the bottom of the table between now and the end of the season. The bottom 3 look to be nailed on. So much quality in the top half of the East of Scotland League that would compliment the Lowland League. Its a shame it will take a number of years to get the top East of Scotland teams in to replace the poorer Lowland League sides.

Tasty draw - I predict a semi final consisting of Bonnyrigg, HOB, Kelty and Tranent. Shaping up nicely