NE63 exile

The door is well and truly shut on going back to England now. Once the club moved back into Scotland they signed their membership of the English FA away for good just as the Welsh clubs did who opted for the League of Wales back in the early 1990s. I was a regular visitor over there during their Northern League and Northern Premier League days and as Cowdenbeath says they were a very well ran and respected club. Never heard anyone have a bad word to say about them in all the years I travelled across there. Always looked after you and offered the hand of friendship. It was a totally different atmosphere the last few times I was there during the season when they won the second division in 2005/6.

Was at the game myself. Pretty much how I called it.

I wondered whether Darvel’s form may take a wee drop after they exited the Scottish Cup. Especially after all the hype of the Aberdeen win and the Falkirk build-up. Sometimes it can be hard to pick things up again once all the media attention his died down. Big game on Saturday now with all to play for.

Neilston management team went after the game I heard.

Some interesting points made by Newky Broon and Back Post Willie. In response to Newky's point about the problems faced at Berwick because of Bonnyrigg's emergence, I think you could go back a little further to when Edinburgh City got promoted when the Berwick manager's gig became that little bit harder because there was a team in the Capital who could offer the Lothian-based players league football on their doorstep without having to make a 100-mile trip down the A1 for home games. The training base in Haddington I'm told could always be a problem when trying to attract players from Edinburgh & the Central Belt when the City clubs were training on the doorstep. I think the club had looked at facilities in Edinburgh but it came down to cost and it was a lot more expensive than what the place in Haddington cost. As regards bringing-in North East based players as Back Post Willie suggested you'll need to pay top dollar to get the mercenaries from the Toon to commit to making the journey up the A1. The likes of Blyth Spartans, Morpeth Town, North Shields and Ashington are all throwing serious money around down there and to temp the guys to have to go a further 50-60 miles north for home games plus the travelling for the away games is going to cost some big bucks.

The weather been good up in the Bonar Bridge area this week so their pitch should be ok as it was bit heavy after last week’s game with Invergordon.

Gone down to one division for now as Duncanrig have pulled out and Claremont are taking a season out to regroup with a view to rejoining for season 2023/24.

As far as I’m aware Threave tend to rely on signing local based players from down in the South West.

Have to agree with the other posters a cracking appointment for Beith. Can’t say I wasn’t surprised at the announcement what with him being available and the post vacant.

According to Bet365 stats tonight not one shot on or off target. How long can Ferguson survive.

One of my best mates and truly still stunned by the news. He not only loved his hometown club but he had a passion for the game at this level. Feel for his colleagues at Stranraer who were truly choked when they told me today. He’ll be a massive miss to everyone who knew him.

Stevie Aitken would be a good appointment in my opinion. Safe pair of hands. Did a great job with Stranraer and did reasonably well with Dumbarton until it seemed to go pear-shaped towards the end of reign.

All the big hitters from the Southern League joined but a couple from the Northern Premier League didn’t. Can’t remember if Mossley didn’t get a ground grading or just knocked it back. They were Trophy finalists the season of the APL was formed. Southport knocked their invitation too on financial grounds. Blyth Spartans were offered the chance but didn’t want to move and the Isthmian League were not part of the pyramid like the Northern League at the time so it was a couple of seasons later until the likes of Enfield and Dagenham got the nod. Promotion was not compulsory until a few years ago. You had to put your name forward by a certain date if you didn’t that was it you couldn’t be considered for it.

Even after promotion/relegation was brought in a couple of clubs have been denied promotion as their grounds were deemed not suitable for a ground grading and were not gave time to get the work done.

Sorry to see you guys go (from a Berwick fan who has suffered the same fate). I’ve had some good afternoon’s out at the Glebe and it was always a pleasant ground to visit. Realistically anyone in that bottom division is one poor season from suffering the same fate now. There is no margin for error now. What now for City? Am I right in saying your manager is contracted for a further two seasons and I wouldn’t have thought many players from the central belt will fancy the Highland League. Would it be not more viable at looking at getting in a manager who knows the Highland League scene and the players in the catchment area?

That would be Seedhill 3G and there is also Ralston Sports Centre. I know when I was briefly involved in the Amateur game these parks were always hard to get a booking because they were always in demand. Plus you have all the local youth teams clambering for a slot. I’m not sure if the WoSL has the same rule but I was told the Lowland League have a ruling where clubs who hire their facility out or share one, no one can use for at least an hour before the schedule kick-off.

Gleniffer have their own facility out by the airport but the last time I was there which was about three or four seasons ago it was pretty basic.

Richmond was the one that escaped me. The Wearside League may restart too but I’m pretty sure they were not keen to play BCD

Northern Alliance League which feeds into the Northern League might get going though. Most of these clubs don’t pay their players and don’t have the financial overheads the Northern League have. It wouldn’t surprise me if they squeezed a cup competition or two in just to keep the clubs ticking over till next season/

Pretty much so. This announcement down South yesterday I don’t think will make much difference to most of the league’s below the National League. The North and South league have gone null and void again so no one goes up or down from there so expect the rest to follow suit very soon. They haven’t played since early November so there is little chance of finishing domestic league season and it’s a pointless exercise anyway with no promotion or relegation further up the pyramid. I’m told my local league the Northern League were hoping to play their two cup competitions but some clubs I believe have said it’s not worth playing unless spectators are allowed and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I’d imagine they might try and get last season’s FA Vase Final played and maybe complete this season’s competition.

Yeah your right they were cracking quality. Good material and very comfortable. They manufactured the referee kit we had to use in the Northern Premier League back in the late 90s and most of the clubs in that league were wearing ICIS kits too.

ICIS were an English company who mainly manufactured a lot of English non-league teams kits back in the mid-90s early 2000s. They sponsored the Isthmian League for a while and were the Official team wear supplier for the likes of the Northern & Southern Premier League’s. Quality kits in the day. Stranraer were the only Scottish League club they supplied.

Nothing been played in England during this current lockdown below the National League North or South. All levels of football were operating prior to that although restrictions were in place where games were played to restricted crowd levels in Northumberland & Durham in Northern League games while games in the Northern Alliance and Wearside League’s were behind closed doors.

Managed to go around a dozen non-league games over the border this season so far in the EvoStik Northern Premier, Northern and North West Counties League. Most have attendance caps put on them around 300 which is roughly about what these clubs regularly attract. Yes the clubs have had to put themselves out with the social distancing issues but nothing major, just taping off areas so you distance yourself off in the queue for the pie hut, seated and standing areas and they make sure you sign the track and trace register or scan the app. No players getting in cars down there either. A bit of thought and preparation has gone into it and fans have it made it work. No reason why it couldn’t be done up here.

An absolutely brilliant listen. Some controversial views which I am surprised hasn’t been debated on here but he comes up with many great points.