welshbairn Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 The Highland League are clearly going to have to lube up for Donaster and co like the Lowland League if they're ever getting 8 spots in the Challenge Cup. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Orton Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 (edited) Well I must admit I don't have the words for this, absolutely disgusting but no surprise. Would love to know the working for this other than they used to be part of the league. Feel especially bad for Cumbernauld and Tranent who were effectively top four if you take out a B team. For CSS strollers and Linlithgow it's fantastic to see they have been rewarded for finishing above Albion Rovers, Cowdenbeath, Berwick Rangers and East Stirling by being ignored. Disappointing but nothing surprises me anymore in football. A meritocracy? Not here. Edited May 27 by Arthur Orton 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunfermline Don Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Ditch the B teams rather than the non Scottish teams. I know not everyone appreciates them being in it, but for some fans it may be their only chance to see their team playing a competitive game outside of Scotland. Then again why look forward to a match in Ireland or N Ireland when you could be playing the bigot weans away instead! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parsforlife Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Pretty poor just giving the spots away to ex members rather than doing it in league order. B teams will always be undesirable, who's not entering one BTW? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Tout P'ti FC Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 If they want to grant emeritus positions to the five former league teams, would it not be fairer to call it such, and then for the six remaining non league invitations to be issued equally to three teams from either fifth tier league? Would be more transparent at least. I think you could hold your nose and accept that approach, more so than two lowland and four highland teams qualifying unequally on merit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrif John Bunnell Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 21 minutes ago, parsforlife said: Pretty poor just giving the spots away to ex members rather than doing it in league order. B teams will always be undesirable, who's not entering one BTW? Ross County. They ditched their U20s a few years ago. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonS Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 1 hour ago, grazza said: The B teams thing they just copied the EFL trophy in England and implemented it at the same time in 2016. They will probably wait and see if they remove them before copying. If they ever consulted the fans and looked at attendances they would see B teams in Challenge cup are not wanted and degrade the competition. The SPFL don't run football for fans. They run it for clubs, with the richest clubs having the most power, and their customers are the broadcasters and sponsors. 1 hour ago, itzdrk said: 5 Highland League clubs from 2023/24 (Buckie Thistle, Brechin City, Fraserburgh, Banks o’Dee, and Formartine United) • 6 Lowland League clubs from 2023/24 (East Kilbride, Bo’ness United, Albion Rovers, Cowdenbeath, Berwick Rangers, and East Stirlingshire) I assumed this was a joke until I checked the SPFL website. We've seen some blatantly heinous bawbaggery from the SPFL but this might top the lot. Fans of the four ex-SPFL sides need to make it clear to their clubs that this isn't acceptable. East Stirling were relegated 7 years ago FFS. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dav nan Gael Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 More scumbaggery from the SPFL,what a cabal that organisation is ........... The HL clubs in on merit but the LL clubs are not....bar EK and the BUs ?????? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Dav nan Gael said: More scumbaggery from the SPFL,what a cabal that organisation is ........... The HL clubs in on merit but the LL clubs are not....bar EK and the BUs ?????? I would have been curious to see what would have happened if Brechin finished outside the top 5 in the Highland League. Edited May 27 by NorthernLights 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedLichtie86 Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Last season we seen Cowdenbeath get a place in the League Cup despite finishing 15th in the LL. That was pretty scandalous. But this decision is as blatant as they come. Does that mean if any of the original 42 get relegated that they will be helped out in some way for years to come? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dev Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 It's the inconsistent approach that under-mines, not just this competition, but the reputation of football. About time that the SFA took responsibility for what goes on as all leagues and their rules/regs need to be registered and approved by them - but they seem to just say "nothing to do with me". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Seems to me the SPFL and SFA think the pyramid was a terrible mistake, and the plan is to make it a closed shop again, with something like the Conference idea for SPFL 3, by invitation only and b-teams. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonS Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dav nan Gael said: More scumbaggery from the SPFL,what a cabal that organisation is ........... The HL clubs in on merit but the LL clubs are not....bar EK and the BUs ?????? EK and BU got the two remaining places once the ex-SPFL clubs got theirs. 54 minutes ago, NorthernLights said: I would have been curious to see what would have happened if Brechin finished outside the top 5 in the Highland League. They'd obviously have been included and someone that finished above them would have missed out. East Stirlingshire were relegated 7 years ago, finished 14th, and they've been included. Edited May 27 by GordonS 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedLichtie86 Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 5 minutes ago, welshbairn said: Seems to me the SPFL and SFA think the pyramid was a terrible mistake, and the plan is to make it a closed shop again, with something like the Conference idea for SPFL 3, by invitation only and b-teams. Might be the fact that other than Brechin, any team that has gone down has not come close to coming back up to the SPFL. Clubs are getting worried. With Bronze award minimum to be in the SPFL then that is just another hurdle in the way of HL/LL teams coming up. Another big change since the pyramid coming in was the huge influx of teams into the pyramid, when the East Juniors joined up leading to the West panicing and joining up too. The Lowland catchment (+160 teams) is so bloated with a huge bottleneck at the very top. SFA and SPFL seem very reluctant to come up with a solution to change things when even the LL keep voting down easier movement of teams to and from EoS/WoS/SoS 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19QOS19 Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Just when you think this shite tournament can't get any more farcical. Fair play to the authorities 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatchetman Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Why don't they save time and just form two top leagues consisting of big A and B teams. Everybody else can f*** off and play in the WOSFL. If Ross County don't have a B, stick in Celtic C. It's where your heading anyway. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only one David Marsh Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 (edited) Donald Findlay after Cowdenbeath get knocked out in round 1 out by the Staunch Colts Edited May 27 by Only one David Marsh 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Starko Rover Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Absolute disgrace to invite Shire, Cowdenbeath, Berwick and Albion over the teams who finished in the top 6. What happens if they get relegated to the EOSFL / WOSFL do we still invite them over Linlithgow and CCS etc? Should be done on merit also get the B teams into the sea and have more actual clubs from below the SPFL cracking to visit grounds like BoD and Linlithgow Rose last few years. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdinburghBlue Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Glad that the 'international' element has gone, but a pity the B teams (apart from the one that is too important to participate) are still there. Seems bizarre though that Albion Rovers, Cowdenbeath, Berwick Rangers and East Stirlingshire invited to participate rather than Cumbernauld, Tranent, Civil Service Strollers and Linlithgow. The clubs passed over may be very unhappy at the loss of a minimum £5k participation fee, when money is so tight in the Lowland. But I guess since participation for non-members is by invitation the SPFL will be immune to legal action. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Diamond For Me Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 (edited) On 27/05/2024 at 14:30, EdinburghBlue said: Glad that the 'international' element has gone, but a pity the B teams (apart from the one that is too important to participate) are still there. Seems bizarre though that Albion Rovers, Cowdenbeath, Berwick Rangers and East Stirlingshire invited to participate rather than Cumbernauld, Tranent, Civil Service Strollers and Linlithgow. The clubs passed over may be very unhappy at the loss of a minimum £5k participation fee, when money is so tight in the Lowland. But I guess since participation for non-members is by invitation the SPFL will be immune to legal action. If you mean Rangers then I think they're in it. They weren't in the Lowland League last season but they were in this cup. We had to reschedule our game against them because they had players off on international duty, without whom they couldn't possibly be expected to play Airdrie. It's also hilarious that the B teams are being kept apart in the draw, presumably because even as brass-necked an institution as the SPFL would feel just a wee twinge of embarrassment as 17 assorted mums, dads and bored younger brothers playing on their phones turn up for Motherwell Weans vs. Hibs Weans. Edited May 29 by A Diamond For Me 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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