There was a coo

[UpInTheStand]

[An Absolute Imposter]

2 hours ago, VodkaTap said:

You deserve a detailed response !!

p.s. been impressed with the improvement onfield at Gretna this season. Been to a couple u20 games too, hopefully the senior team will benefit from these lads being in competitive games weekly. 

The u20's at both Lochar and Threave have been a success no reason same won't happen at Raydale. A big pat on the back to the club for showing the foresight to get involved with the WOSDFL. It is a great setup for these young lads.

[Cowdenleith]

16 minutes ago, An Absolute Imposter said:

 

I would imagine the running costs of Beath, Berwick, Albion, Brechin would be a good deal greater than say Rose, Tranent, BU and Banks Dee; wrt the amount of staff employed against volunteers, directors as opposed to committee members, the day to day running costs of their grounds compared to clubs moving up from EOS and North Juniors, there may be other costs I am unaware of. 

Yes any business downsizing has to adjust, but a massive drop in revenue almost overnight is not an adjustment; it can only mean cuts across the board.

Could be talking oot ma erse of course, more than happy to be educated.

 

Someone can correct me if wrong, but am fairly certain that most or all non-football roles at Cowdenbeath that would have been a salaried position are now carried out by directors or other volunteers.

For example, there used to be a lady in the office who ran that, but there was no longer the funds to pay her after relegation so the admin and the dozens of jobs that entails are dealt with by one or more of the directors.

I believe even things like cleaning the dressing rooms and other tasks like that are also done by volunteers, when before someone was paid to help out part time.  Same with working the lounge and doing the hospitality before the match.

So there was massive adjustments that had to be made by the club, and I’m sure it was hugely challenging and still is.

For reasons like this I’m loathe to be critical at the people running the club when things are not going as well as we may like, as without the massive amount of time they give up, the club simply would not exist (and that probably goes for many other clubs as well).

[An Absolute Imposter]

43 minutes ago, Cowdenleith said:

Someone can correct me if wrong, but am fairly certain that most or all non-football roles at Cowdenbeath that would have been a salaried position are now carried out by directors or other volunteers.

For example, there used to be a lady in the office who ran that, but there was no longer the funds to pay her after relegation so the admin and the dozens of jobs that entails are dealt with by one or more of the directors.

I believe even things like cleaning the dressing rooms and other tasks like that are also done by volunteers, when before someone was paid to help out part time.  Same with working the lounge and doing the hospitality before the match.

So there was massive adjustments that had to be made by the club, and I’m sure it was hugely challenging and still is.

For reasons like this I’m loathe to be critical at the people running the club when things are not going as well as we may like, as without the massive amount of time they give up, the club simply would not exist (and that probably goes for many other clubs as well).

That's my point about this badly thought out pyramid. The relegation leads to redundancies taking place as in other areas of employment. Folk don't think about the impact it can have on normal people.

All the best to all the demoted clubs and to their continuation in the game.

[VodkaTap]

17 hours ago, Cowdenleith said:

Someone can correct me if wrong, but am fairly certain that most or all non-football roles at Cowdenbeath that would have been a salaried position are now carried out by directors or other volunteers.

For example, there used to be a lady in the office who ran that, but there was no longer the funds to pay her after relegation so the admin and the dozens of jobs that entails are dealt with by one or more of the directors.

I believe even things like cleaning the dressing rooms and other tasks like that are also done by volunteers, when before someone was paid to help out part time.  Same with working the lounge and doing the hospitality before the match.

So there was massive adjustments that had to be made by the club, and I’m sure it was hugely challenging and still is.

For reasons like this I’m loathe to be critical at the people running the club when things are not going as well as we may like, as without the massive amount of time they give up, the club simply would not exist (and that probably goes for many other clubs as well).

 

17 hours ago, An Absolute Imposter said:

That's my point about this badly thought out pyramid. The relegation leads to redundancies taking place as in other areas of employment. Folk don't think about the impact it can have on normal people.

All the best to all the demoted clubs and to their continuation in the game.

The most relevant comment  I made in response to this was that

As clubs drop down the leagues surely they they adjust their spending accordingly.

Clubs in the premier division will have an army of paid employee's - in comparison to the LL

And so it goes on as clubs drop down the division they will have less paid employees and rely much more on volunteers.

When Cowdenbeath were in the championship I would imagine they would have more paid employees than they had before relegation to the LL.

Since the first relegation from League 2 into the LL - the fact that the relegated club did not immediately dominate the LL should surely have been a warning to all other clubs that relegation will not be a walk in the park for them.

Maybe they thought that if relegation happened to them - they would be different, but so far that has not been the case.

A relegated club drops into a fifth tier league where clubs  exist through volunteers.                                                                      Paid employees are a luxury clubs can't afford

To claim that the pyramid was badly thought out since it would lead to redundancies is frankly bonkers !!

[cowdenbeath]

22 hours ago, An Absolute Imposter said:

A lot of what I have read about the introduction of the pyramid suggests it was done without a plan of action put in place, to address issues for any club that is involved with upwards or downwards movement between Tiers 4 & 5. 

Just look at the ground improvements, particularly at NDP, that an upward club has to introduce to stay in the SPFL, that won't be cheap. Did Bonnyrigg get any assistance implementing  that from the powers that be?

I would imagine the running costs of Beath, Berwick, Albion, Brechin would be a good deal greater than say Rose, Tranent, BU and Banks Dee; wrt the amount of staff employed against volunteers, directors as opposed to committee members, the day to day running costs of their grounds compared to clubs moving up from EOS and North Juniors, there may be other costs I am unaware of. 

Yes any business downsizing has to adjust, but a massive drop in revenue almost overnight is not an adjustment; it can only mean cuts across the board.

Could be talking oot ma erse of course, more than happy to be educated.

 

Don't know about the others but almost everything at Cowden is done by volunteers, including directors all working for nothing/

[PELE]

St Andrews away in South Challenge Cup draw tonight please.

[welshbairn]

23 hours ago, An Absolute Imposter said:

I would imagine the running costs of Beath, Berwick, Albion, Brechin would be a good deal greater than say Rose, Tranent, BU and Banks Dee; wrt the amount of staff employed against volunteers, directors as opposed to committee members, the day to day running costs of their grounds compared to clubs moving up from EOS and North Juniors, there may be other costs I am unaware of. 

I got a bit of culture shock on my first visit to Glebe Park when Brechin got demoted to the Highland League, things like paid and uniformed security and bag checks that I've never seen anywhere else in the League. I think they were so determined to bounce straight back up it would be petty to cancel ongoing contracts and lay off employees when it was just for a brief season. Their fans were astonished when they found out the prize for winning the league was around £4k, which some claim has never been paid. There's a cliff edge when the trickle down money from the SPFL is cut off at tier 5.

Edited 4 hours ago by welshbairn

[An Absolute Imposter]

35 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I got a bit of culture shock on my first visit to Glebe Park when Brechin got demoted to the Highland League, things like paid and uniformed security and bag checks that I've never seen anywhere else in the League. I think they were so determined to bounce straight back up it would be petty to cancel ongoing contracts and lay off employees when it was just for a brief season. Their fans were astonished when they found out the prize for winning the league was around £4k, which some claim has never been paid. There's a cliff edge when the trickle down money from the SPFL is cut off at tier 5.

That's the problem; it should not be a cliff, that could jeopardise the very existence of a club. 

I don't have a magical solution to make the drop down smoother, but at the very least there needs to be some assistance from the SFA and I don't mean financial. I mean administrative to assist a club with the transition.

Obviously long-term it would be better if there is prize money available below Tier 4, which would be of benefit to all clubs in the Tier 5 leagues. Is there a requirement for a Non-League FA in Scotland as opposed to the stand alone leagues we have below Tier 4.

Brechin aside the clubs moving up from Tier 6 look to be fairing better than the clubs that have come down from Tier 4. Does this tell us the transition up is less severe than the transition down.

[cowdenbeath0-3]

St Cadocs away in the cup

[tamthebam]

1 hour ago, PELE said:

St Andrews away in South Challenge Cup draw tonight please.

Someone spelled Andrews as C-A-D-O-C-S!

They play at New Tinto Park, sharing with Benburb. It's along the road from Ibrox near the ASDA for those of you who know that part of Glasgow. I don't remember it having cover although it does have uncovered seats. 

Might be a challenge for the Blue Brazil- St Cadoc's are going well in the West of Scotland League. 

[clansman]

6 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Someone spelled Andrews as C-A-D-O-C-S!

They play at New Tinto Park, sharing with Benburb. It's along the road from Ibrox near the ASDA for those of you who know that part of Glasgow. I don't remember it having cover although it does have uncovered seats. 

Might be a challenge for the Blue Brazil- St Cadoc's are going well in the West of Scotland League. 

It has a small unstepped covered area but the seats went to Kilwinning a few years ago.

One of the biggest spenders in the west.

If you have any away support at all you will outnumber them, they have no fans.

Edited 3 hours ago by clansman

[cowdenbeath0-3]

12 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Someone spelled Andrews as C-A-D-O-C-S!

They play at New Tinto Park, sharing with Benburb. It's along the road from Ibrox near the ASDA for those of you who know that part of Glasgow. I don't remember it having cover although it does have uncovered seats. 

Might be a challenge for the Blue Brazil- St Cadoc's are going well in the West of Scotland League. 

I must be looking at the wrong league table then cause they’re certainly not going well

[An Absolute Imposter]

12 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Someone spelled Andrews as C-A-D-O-C-S!

They play at New Tinto Park, sharing with Benburb. It's along the road from Ibrox near the ASDA for those of you who know that part of Glasgow. I don't remember it having cover although it does have uncovered seats. 

Might be a challenge for the Blue Brazil- St Cadoc's are going well in the West of Scotland League. 

Lodging, not sharing. St Cadocs hail from Newton Mearns about 8 miles away from Drymoyne. Another Broomhill.

[PELE]

15 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Someone spelled Andrews as C-A-D-O-C-S!

They play at New Tinto Park, sharing with Benburb. It's along the road from Ibrox near the ASDA for those of you who know that part of Glasgow. I don't remember it having cover although it does have uncovered seats. 

Might be a challenge for the Blue Brazil- St Cadoc's are going well in the West of Scotland League. 

Listening to the draw, fifty five came out at home (St Andrews) and then the guy said "thi..." and I thought it was on, but it was thirty four I think, instead of thirteen

St Cadocs will be a tough match.