LongTimeLurker Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 On 26/05/2018 at 16:44, Cowden Cowboy said: Surely the future of all this is that the juniors effectively all become senior in a pyramid system and then the Scottish Junior Cup is used for national Cup competition for all non-SPFL clubs That's way too much like common sense for Scottish football. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 On 19/05/2018 at 09:32, Jimmy Shaker said: We really don’t got the time for this. 49 clubs in the northern pyramid are part of the SJFA. 28 clubs once the two NCL reserve teams and BoD are factored out are not. Where am I going with that? Let's bear in mind that the majority of the north pyramid especially at tier 6 have always had a national cup as part of their season so it isn't some alien imposition from the central belt. Even in the HL it's worth bearing in mind that Strathspey Thistle, Inverurie Locos, Turriff United and Formartine United used to be junior clubs in reasonably recent times in addition to BoD. Think there's a case to be made that a national cup should be for tier 6 down given the HL and LL are at the professional game board level and potentially have Challenge Cup and League Cup involvements as well as direct first round entry in the main Scottish Cup. At that point it's only the NCL that need to be persuaded possibly through regionalised early rounds and having travel expenses covered after that. Getting this all sorted shouldn't be mission impossible. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 The junior cup should be merged into a single non-league Scottish cup equivalent to the FA trophy down south. In general I’d like to see fewer league games across the board in Scotland but more cups 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted November 3, 2022 Author Share Posted November 3, 2022 48 minutes ago, Donathan said: The junior cup should be merged into a single non-league Scottish cup equivalent to the FA trophy down south. In general I’d like to see fewer league games across the board in Scotland but more cups Definitely not getting fewer league games anytime soon. Highland's at 34, North Premiership will go to 30 next season, Midlands look stuck at 36 unless their membership changes. All targeting a mid/late April finish. NCL is pretty busy by its standards as well since it can often not start until the end of August. FA Trophy also benefits from being the "FA" Trophy and all the funding that comes with it. The SFA won't touch a non-league trophy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcastle broon Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 15 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said: FA Trophy also benefits from being the "FA" Trophy and all the funding that comes with it. The SFA won't touch a non-league trophy. Really wish folk would stop comparing the Scottish non league system to the English one. Financial differences are huge. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 33 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said: Definitely not getting fewer league games anytime soon. Highland's at 34, North Premiership will go to 30 next season, Midlands look stuck at 36 unless their membership changes. All targeting a mid/late April finish. NCL is pretty busy by its standards as well since it can often not start until the end of August. FA Trophy also benefits from being the "FA" Trophy and all the funding that comes with it. The SFA won't touch a non-league trophy. That’s the problem. The leagues across Scotland are inappropriately sized. The SPFL leagues are too small and the non-leagues are massive. If you keep the SPFL at 42 (IMO it should be cut to 2x16, but would accept 3x14) and merge the SJFA would senior non-leagues, you’d have a North region of 80 clubs, an East region of 73 clubs and a West region of 92 clubs. You could then have 5-6 tiers within each region, all leagues containing 14-16 clubs. You’re then playing 26-30 league games rather than the ridiculous number we have at the moment. Replace the league games with more cups. In the first half of the season, the non-league clubs play a massive qualifying tournament for 24 places in the Scottish cup first round proper, which should be a 64 team affair starting in January. The league cup should be a full blown champions league style affair with 4 team H+A group stages. There should also be a full blown non-league cup and full blown regional tournaments. -2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampden Diehard Posted December 9, 2022 Share Posted December 9, 2022 On 03/11/2022 at 09:42, Donathan said: That’s the problem. The leagues across Scotland are inappropriately sized. The SPFL leagues are too small and the non-leagues are massive. If you keep the SPFL at 42 (IMO it should be cut to 2x16, but would accept 3x14) and merge the SJFA would senior non-leagues, you’d have a North region of 80 clubs, an East region of 73 clubs and a West region of 92 clubs. You could then have 5-6 tiers within each region, all leagues containing 14-16 clubs. You’re then playing 26-30 league games rather than the ridiculous number we have at the moment. Replace the league games with more cups. In the first half of the season, the non-league clubs play a massive qualifying tournament for 24 places in the Scottish cup first round proper, which should be a 64 team affair starting in January. The league cup should be a full blown champions league style affair with 4 team H+A group stages. There should also be a full blown non-league cup and full blown regional tournaments. Clubs get most of their cash from Saturday league games, a set number guaranteed to be at home. You could be in 5 cups and get five away ties, with the later rounds forcing Saturday games to be played midweek. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.