There was a coo

[1GregStewart]

30 minutes ago, Cowden316 said:

No idea. I am well and truly out of the loop sadly but obviously certain people have had sight of this?

 

Message the junction bar boys mate. I know who you are and that you know them well. 
Cowdenbeath 0-3 who posted above about reading the statement is 1 of their organisers. 

[Cowden316]

Just now, 1GregStewart said:

Message the junction bar boys mate. I know who you are and that you know them well. 
Cowdenbeath 0-3 who posted above about reading the statement is 1 of their organisers. 

Thank you 

[1GregStewart]

1 minute ago, onecowden said:

I think season ticket holders and maybe 100 members received it by email. It’s quite a lengthy statement and I don’t want to publish it on here. 

It hasn’t gone to 100 club members yet. Well I dont have it anyway. 

[Cowden316]

3 minutes ago, 1GregStewart said:

It hasn’t gone to 100 club members yet. Well I dont have it anyway. 

Same here I am a season ticket holder, 100 club member and member of other funding streams and appear to have received nothing sadly.

How to feel valued and included

Edited December 21, 2023 by Cowden316

[Cowden316]

41 minutes ago, Cowden316 said:

Same here I am a season ticket holder, 100 club member and member of other funding streams and appear to have received nothing sadly.

How to feel valued and included

Here's my heart on the sleeve and open transparency it was in my email spam folder

[Brazilianlex]

4 minutes ago, Cowden316 said:

Here's my heart on the sleeve and open transparency it was in my email spam folder

Oops

[Cowden316]

1 minute ago, Brazilianlex said:

Oops

Note to self check spam folder first before overreacting, I did say appear not to have it though

My sincere apologies to anyone concerned.

Everyone else who has mentioned they do not have it may want to check spam folder or check the club has your correct contact details.

Merry Christmas when it comes everyone

[Cowden316]

Really good transparent and very informative statement from our club.

Didn't know about the recent rule change and issue regarding bronze license.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Cowden316

[Only coo in the village]

Also found the statement in my email spam so thanks for the heads up regarding that. It is a very comprehensive and thorough overview of why the board felt forced to vote in the way it did and it also covers other pertinent issues. As mentioned the bronze licence requirement is a bit of a surprise.

I remain opposed to the inclusion of B teams in the Lowland League and feel that the expansion in club membership,which was blocked by the SFA, would be the best way ahead.  

[Brazilianlex]

20 minutes ago, The Minertaur said:

  Hide contents

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Firstly – a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from the Cowdenbeath FC Board. We are sure you will agree that the team’s performances this season have been vastly improved from those of the last couple of seasons.  

 

We write primarily to give you a Lowland League update – including the vote by member clubs on B Teams which took place on Monday evening (18th Dec). This as ever proved somewhat contentious albeit social media debate on the matter is pretty one-dimensional. Our policy is always to be completely transparent in such matters with our fans. The Lowland League essentially held a vote whether to allow B Teams to continue to participate for another 2 seasons and this was carried by a majority vote by the member clubs. The Cowdenbeath FC Board carefully considered the matter in the round and on this further occasion on balance decided to allow the status quo to persist. It was not an easy decision.  

 

To recap, we have never supported B teams coming into the pyramid. We declined to support their admission to the SPFL on more than one occasion and opposed them continuing in the Lowland League when we first joined its ranks at the start of last season. The majority of clubs though voted for them to continue in membership. Thus, the genie had been well and truly let out the bottle by the original admission to the Lowland League in 2021/22. At the tail end of last season, we firmly opposed the Conference League proposal which CFC believed was a deeply flawed project but elected to agree to let B teams continue in membership for 2023/24 for the reasons we outlined at the time to our supporters.  

 

Following that end of season scenario, CFC were then prominently involved in the Lowland League Board putting forward a proposal to remove the membership cap of 16 clubs that applies to the LL. A league with 18/20 member clubs in CFC’s view would then readily allow for more promotion from the Tier 6 leagues and kick-start ventilation by bringing in some strong clubs straight away. It also would maintain what we believe would constitute a suitable League match programme for a full season. The SFA though advised it was unwilling to allow the Lowland League to have any more than 16 member clubs and the LL’s rule change was vetoed.  

 

From a CFC perspective, without additional teams being promoted into the League to swell its numbers and in the absence of B teams, we would only have a guaranteed 33 competitive matches next season compared to 42 in our SPFL days – that was not an appetising prospect – we played more games than that in the truncated Covid season which ended in early March. More cup competitions cannot suitably fill the void – indeed, this season we have a Lowland League Cup draw which ensures we will receive no gate money at all even if we get through all the rounds and make the final whilst in the South Region Challenge Cup, because we are VAT registered, at our home games the visiting club gets a better share of the gate than we do! A suitable regular league match programme laid out at the start of the season is the bread and butter of professional football. B teams to us are sub-optimal (and no offence to the personnel at the clubs involved who have been a pleasure to deal with) but are not some sort of footballing Armageddon as some seem keen to portray.  

 

Touching on the subject of ventilation, we raised the matter re opening up promotion to the Lowland League when we joined but were advised the member clubs’ overall view was that this was contingent on automatic promotion being granted by the SPFL. We believed this to be flawed reasoning and also knew that the SPFL would not agree to this in any event. There is no constituency among the SPFL members, as far as we are aware, which actively desires to see automatic relegation from SPFL 2 introduced – and we can’t see why that would

2 / 3

change. We wouldn’t have supported that when we were in the SPFL after already having conceded a play-off route to promotion which did not previously exist. Why would they accept auto-relegation when nothing is offered in return? As regards ventilation from Tier 6, this is a subject we are happy to consider further with our fellow member clubs.  

 

There are though many pressing issues for the Lowland League. The Lowland League is a recent creation, it has not built-up sizeable reserves through a long existence. It meets a number of costs incurred on behalf of its member clubs and provides a range of services to them. It would greatly benefit by building a stronger financial base for the future.  

 

It should also be fully understood that the SPFL recently changed its rules. Any club going into the Pyramid play-off games from the Highland and Lowland Leagues will need to have an SFA bronze license. That applies at the end of this season. The only way a Highland or Lowland League club can compete in the end of season play offs in May 2024 is for it to be Bronze licensed. Just one team out of the 34 clubs in the Lowland and Highland Leagues currently has a Bronze licence (Cumbernauld Colts). The Lowland League board is now looking to see how best it can raise standards in this area over time so that LL clubs can look to meet the higher level of requirements. This will likely include looking for engagement to seek assistance from the SFA for its members – the SFA recently made clear to us that rather than general additional cash distributions at end of year to all its licensed clubs the focus would henceforth be on directing funds to improve infrastructure of clubs in Scottish football.  

 

The SFA is working again on devising a development system for the elite 18 – 21 age group. We believe the ultimate answer to this issue lies outwith the pyramid system but accept that it will take time to come up with a solution. The raison d’etre of B teams is markedly different to that of the other clubs in the pyramid structure. They each have a very separate place in the game. Playing in the Lowland League does aid these young players to develop, the question as to whether it succeeds in producing much increased numbers of regular 1st team and even international quality players for those clubs can only be answered in time – we doubt it but await the evidence in due course having allowed ample time for a proper conclusion to be drawn as the B teams head towards their exit. The Club previously assisted the SFA in participating in Project Brave in terms of youth development which ultimately left the participating Clubs including Cowdenbeath high and dry and abandoned - it is vital that this whole issue is now properly addressed on a robust basis. We believe too that the restriction on the Lowland League member club numbers should also be revisited in the period ahead.  

 

Finally, the Board of the Lowland League has a voting membership of six drawn from its member clubs. There were only two club reps prepared to serve when we joined the LL in 2022. We along with East Kilbride then volunteered to put forward a club rep to be on the Board – a very active role that requires much time, commitment and a great deal of work. In the current season the Board still does not have a full complement. CFC finds this most disappointing.  

 

The LL Board has faced a myriad of challenges whilst operating without a full complement of members – e.g. dealing with major matters involving powerful organisations such as the SPFL and SFA who have large resources at their disposal, tackling the future of the Development League, discussions are now being facilitated with SPFL 2 clubs to seek a better mutual understanding and common ground – building relationships needs constructive dialogue, now introducing Financial Fair Play rules to the League in line with those that

3 / 3

apply in Tiers 1 to 4 of the Scottish game, and potentially the possible issue re a Regulator for Scottish football as being implemented in England and mooted by the Scottish Parliament, as well as meeting the running costs of the League. B team funding in the absence of any other major income stream in the short term does help bolster the League’s resources to potentially help it evolve and strengthen its standing (e.g. to focus further on areas such as sponsorship, media, strategy, membership standards, prize money, building alliances, etc). Tier 5 is part of the professional side of Scottish football as members of the Professional Game Board, and we believe a progressive upwards focus is needed to further enhance the Lowland League brand and standing. If the LL is to be a vibrant, successful league it needs the full range of its membership to be involved in driving it forward. We note just this week various statements by Clubs on the B Team issue which shows that they have strong views, so it is surely incumbent upon them to play a full part in taking the League forward in a progressive manner and work to improve the pyramid.    

Statement above in the spoiler. Very clear to me.

The statement is for Cowden fans only, some will agree, some not and that’s fine.

Others can feck off as comments not valid.

[The Minertaur]

22 minutes ago, Brazilianlex said:

The statement is for Cowden fans only, some will agree, some not and that’s fine.

Others can feck off as comments not valid.

I think it's an excellent statement and see no reason to hide it away. Has highlighted a few things that most people weren't aware of and will maybe help stop away fans from boycotting matches at Central Park. Maybe.

[The_Pit_Owns]

Just now, The Minertaur said:

I think it's an excellent statement and see no reason to hide it away. Has highlighted a few things that most people weren't aware of and will maybe help stop away fans from boycotting matches at Central Park. Maybe.

I'm sure if the board wanted it out in the public domain, they would have published it on the website and/or social media.

[The Minertaur]

3 minutes ago, The_Pit_Owns said:

I'm sure if the board wanted it out in the public domain, they would have published it on the website and/or social media.

Fair enough. I've deleted my post. @brazilianlex will need to delete his post as well that quotes mine.

Edited December 22, 2023 by The Minertaur

[Cowdenleith]

I would be interested in reading the statement. I’m not a season ticket holder but am in the CISS and haven’t had any email.

Appreciate that most members of the supporters trust are likely season ticket holders as well, so will have had an email, I’m maybe the exception.

If not, it’s no big deal, I expect it will be in the next programme so can read it there.

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

16 minutes ago, Cowdenleith said:

I would be interested in reading the statement. I’m not a season ticket holder but am in the CISS and haven’t had any email.

Appreciate that most members of the supporters trust are likely season ticket holders as well, so will have had an email, I’m maybe the exception.

If not, it’s no big deal, I expect it will be in the next programme so can read it there.

Apologies about the layout. See below.

7 hours ago, Brazilianlex said:

The statement is for Cowden fans only, some will agree, some not and that’s fine.

Others can feck off as comments not valid.

What a view? There's plenty on here (including myself) who follow vast amounts of Scottish football at all levels, and have an interest in the pyramid and developments in the game. Not wanting other fans to comment on a decision your club's made because you KNOW it's deemed unfashionable by the greater majority of league clubs. Personally, I've been pretty quiet on the whole affair, I have my thoughts but it's only that, thoughts.  I think for transparency and for anyone having an interest in this, clubs should have the courage of their convictions and at least not be trying to hide behind secret emails to only members. Just imo though.

7 hours ago, The Minertaur said:

I think it's an excellent statement and see no reason to hide it away. Has highlighted a few things that most people weren't aware of and will maybe help stop away fans from boycotting matches at Central Park. Maybe.

A sensible outlook.

Firstly – a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from the Cowdenbeath FC Board. We are sure you will agree that the team’s performances this season have been vastly improved from those of the last couple of seasons.  

 

We write primarily to give you a Lowland League update – including the vote by member clubs on B Teams which took place on Monday evening (18th Dec). This as ever proved somewhat contentious albeit social media debate on the matter is pretty one-dimensional. Our policy is always to be completely transparent in such matters with our fans. The Lowland League essentially held a vote whether to allow B Teams to continue to participate for another 2 seasons and this was carried by a majority vote by the member clubs. The Cowdenbeath FC Board carefully considered the matter in the round and on this further occasion on balance decided to allow the status quo to persist. It was not an easy decision.  

 

To recap, we have never supported B teams coming into the pyramid. We declined to support their admission to the SPFL on more than one occasion and opposed them continuing in the Lowland League when we first joined its ranks at the start of last season. The majority of clubs though voted for them to continue in membership. Thus, the genie had been well and truly let out the bottle by the original admission to the Lowland League in 2021/22. At the tail end of last season, we firmly opposed the Conference League proposal which CFC believed was a deeply flawed project but elected to agree to let B teams continue in membership for 2023/24 for the reasons we outlined at the time to our supporters.  

 

Following that end of season scenario, CFC were then prominently involved in the Lowland League Board putting forward a proposal to remove the membership cap of 16 clubs that applies to the LL. A league with 18/20 member clubs in CFC’s view would then readily allow for more promotion from the Tier 6 leagues and kick-start ventilation by bringing in some strong clubs straight away. It also would maintain what we believe would constitute a suitable League match programme for a full season. The SFA though advised it was unwilling to allow the Lowland League to have any more than 16 member clubs and the LL’s rule change was vetoed.  

 

From a CFC perspective, without additional teams being promoted into the League to swell its numbers and in the absence of B teams, we would only have a guaranteed 33 competitive matches next season compared to 42 in our SPFL days – that was not an appetising prospect – we played more games than that in the truncated Covid season which ended in early March. More cup competitions cannot suitably fill the void – indeed, this season we have a Lowland League Cup draw which ensures we will receive no gate money at all even if we get through all the rounds and make the final whilst in the South Region Challenge Cup, because we are VAT registered, at our home games the visiting club gets a better share of the gate than we do! A suitable regular league match programme laid out at the start of the season is the bread and butter of professional football. B teams to us are sub-optimal (and no offence to the personnel at the clubs involved who have been a pleasure to deal with) but are not some sort of footballing Armageddon as some seem keen to portray.  

 

Touching on the subject of ventilation, we raised the matter re opening up promotion to the Lowland League when we joined but were advised the member clubs’ overall view was that this was contingent on automatic promotion being granted by the SPFL. We believed this to be flawed reasoning and also knew that the SPFL would not agree to this in any event. There is no constituency among the SPFL members, as far as we are aware, which actively desires to see automatic relegation from SPFL 2 introduced – and we can’t see why that would

2 / 3

change. We wouldn’t have supported that when we were in the SPFL after already having conceded a play-off route to promotion which did not previously exist. Why would they accept auto-relegation when nothing is offered in return? As regards ventilation from Tier 6, this is a subject we are happy to consider further with our fellow member clubs.  

 

There are though many pressing issues for the Lowland League. The Lowland League is a recent creation, it has not built-up sizeable reserves through a long existence. It meets a number of costs incurred on behalf of its member clubs and provides a range of services to them. It would greatly benefit by building a stronger financial base for the future.  

 

It should also be fully understood that the SPFL recently changed its rules. Any club going into the Pyramid play-off games from the Highland and Lowland Leagues will need to have an SFA bronze license. That applies at the end of this season. The only way a Highland or Lowland League club can compete in the end of season play offs in May 2024 is for it to be Bronze licensed. Just one team out of the 34 clubs in the Lowland and Highland Leagues currently has a Bronze licence (Cumbernauld Colts). The Lowland League board is now looking to see how best it can raise standards in this area over time so that LL clubs can look to meet the higher level of requirements. This will likely include looking for engagement to seek assistance from the SFA for its members – the SFA recently made clear to us that rather than general additional cash distributions at end of year to all its licensed clubs the focus would henceforth be on directing funds to improve infrastructure of clubs in Scottish football.  

 

The SFA is working again on devising a development system for the elite 18 – 21 age group. We believe the ultimate answer to this issue lies outwith the pyramid system but accept that it will take time to come up with a solution. The raison d’etre of B teams is markedly different to that of the other clubs in the pyramid structure. They each have a very separate place in the game. Playing in the Lowland League does aid these young players to develop, the question as to whether it succeeds in producing much increased numbers of regular 1st team and even international quality players for those clubs can only be answered in time – we doubt it but await the evidence in due course having allowed ample time for a proper conclusion to be drawn as the B teams head towards their exit. The Club previously assisted the SFA in participating in Project Brave in terms of youth development which ultimately left the participating Clubs including Cowdenbeath high and dry and abandoned - it is vital that this whole issue is now properly addressed on a robust basis. We believe too that the restriction on the Lowland League member club numbers should also be revisited in the period ahead.  

 

Finally, the Board of the Lowland League has a voting membership of six drawn from its member clubs. There were only two club reps prepared to serve when we joined the LL in 2022. We along with East Kilbride then volunteered to put forward a club rep to be on the Board – a very active role that requires much time, commitment and a great deal of work. In the current season the Board still does not have a full complement. CFC finds this most disappointing.  

 

The LL Board has faced a myriad of challenges whilst operating without a full complement of members – e.g. dealing with major matters involving powerful organisations such as the SPFL and SFA who have large resources at their disposal, tackling the future of the Development League, discussions are now being facilitated with SPFL 2 clubs to seek a better mutual understanding and common ground – building relationships needs constructive dialogue, now introducing Financial Fair Play rules to the League in line with those that

3 / 3

apply in Tiers 1 to 4 of the Scottish game, and potentially the possible issue re a Regulator for Scottish football as being implemented in England and mooted by the Scottish Parliament, as well as meeting the running costs of the League. B team funding in the absence of any other major income stream in the short term does help bolster the League’s resources to potentially help it evolve and strengthen its standing (e.g. to focus further on areas such as sponsorship, media, strategy, membership standards, prize money, building alliances, etc). Tier 5 is part of the professional side of Scottish football as members of the Professional Game Board, and we believe a progressive upwards focus is needed to further enhance the Lowland League brand and standing. If the LL is to be a vibrant, successful league it needs the full range of its membership to be involved in driving it forward. We note just this week various statements by Clubs on the B Team issue which shows that they have strong views, so it is surely incumbent upon them to play a full part in taking the League forward in a progressive manner and work to improve the pyramid.    

 

[Left Back]

If that statement is correct that means unless East Kilbride get a bronze license between now and the end of the season they aren't getting promoted so it would have to be Cumbernauld Colts into the play off by default?

As funny as it would be to see methadone Mick have a complete heads gone it still doesn't seem right.

[Sergeant Wilson]

4 minutes ago, Left Back said:

If that statement is correct that means unless East Kilbride get a bronze license between now and the end of the season they aren't getting promoted so it would have to be Cumbernauld Colts into the play off by default?

As funny as it would be to see methadone Mick have a complete heads gone it still doesn't seem right.

Scottish football needs a club playing out of Broadwood.

[Brazilianlex]

9 hours ago, The Minertaur said:

Fair enough. I've deleted my post. @brazilianlex will need to delete his post as well that quotes mine.

No need to delete, the statement was always going to find its way onto social media. Think the Club did it right as if had gone directly thru social media, the message would have been lost amongst the unhinged comments by the serial Cowden haters.

[Brazilianlex]

25 minutes ago, Left Back said:

If that statement is correct that means unless East Kilbride get a bronze license between now and the end of the season they aren't getting promoted so it would have to be Cumbernauld Colts into the play off by default?

As funny as it would be to see methadone Mick have a complete heads gone it still doesn't seem right.

No, just means there is no Lowland League team going forward to a play off.

Im sure EK will find the readies from somewhere to get a bronze licence.

[Left Back]

1 minute ago, Brazilianlex said:

No, just means there is no Lowland League team going forward to a play off.

Im sure EK will find the readies from somewhere to get a bronze licence.

If no-one in HL is licensed as was stated no play-off at all then?

I can't remember the details (and I could be completely wrong) but I'm sure I've read somewhere that the SFA aren't allowing licensing applications currently.