The lesser known Scottish Invincibles - potentially

[Offside Inzaghi]

Those that are rubbishing the Wigtown players and committee seem to have forgotten one important point. They are in the same boat next season. IMO they just lost out to the better team over the season.Did well to lose only two games.

[Bigstuff]

Not just them offside what about the rest of the so called member clubs with  licences ,what do they say to players when signing we will try and win the league but if it looks like we will get promotion we will run out of steam what a shocking state of affairs

[neily1690]

Same players that failed to turn up to big games leaving the team with 9 players.
Don't think it has anything to do with the committee or management. Both were let down by boys choosing to do other things with their Saturday.

Wat game was this?

[neily1690]

Ps boys dont get paid so if wkend away could be missing 5 or 6 ,

[neily1690]

Not just them offside what about the rest of the so called member clubs with  licences ,what do they say to players when signing we will try and win the league but if it looks like we will get promotion we will run out of steam what a shocking state of affairs

Have to say if they fancy playn mid table?

[info]

It is not the majority of the clubs and players that are wrong , It is the system . If you took a poll of current players I bet you would have a big majority who would not be able or willing for various reasons to play in the Lowland..Dreams are nice but reality is a fact that has to be faced and very soon.

[Aguerooooo]

Ps boys dont get paid so if wkend away could be missing 5 or 6 ,

Ha ha ha don't get paid. Come on Neilly. Some of the clubs make us laugh?
Wigtown St Cuthburts and now Threave are throwing money at players every season which is up to them it's their cash.
Wigtown get SFA money as member club each season how much was it this season 10k?? What have they done with it. Surely save it for preparation for Lowland League?
That's 2 seasons in a row South teams have ballsed up promotion to Lowland. Saints now Wigtown. Poor show.

[Baxter's Nutmeg]

3 hours ago, info said:

It is not the majority of the clubs and players that are wrong , It is the system . If you took a poll of current players I bet you would have a big majority who would not be able or willing for various reasons to play in the Lowland..Dreams are nice but reality is a fact that has to be faced and very soon.

If you don't want to be part of the system then don't apply for the license.

[info]

Wigtown Newton Stewart and Saints have been SFA member clubs for over 100 years and needed a licence to keep this membership and keep playing in the Scottish Cup. No problem (tho it costs a lot of money) with that. As I said before the problem is a location thing and  until the road infrastructure is vastly improved  will remain that way.

The only solution the way things stand for these clubs to fulfil the pyramid criteria is for them to become nomads and abandon their South of Scotland traditions and bases.;

This would not be a good thing for this area.

[neily1690]

Can confirm wigtown players just get fuel money only

[theProdigy]

Ha ha ha don't get paid. Come on Neilly. Some of the clubs make us laugh?
Wigtown St Cuthburts and now Threave are throwing money at players every season which is up to them it's their cash.
Wigtown get SFA money as member club each season how much was it this season 10k?? What have they done with it. Surely save it for preparation for Lowland League?
That's 2 seasons in a row South teams have ballsed up promotion to Lowland. Saints now Wigtown. Poor show.

As a committee member from Wigtown, I can officially tell you that the only funds that any player earns from Wigtown is travel expenses! And in all fairness, some players done even take them! No player at Wigtown earns a wage!

But since you are so certain that we do pay, and it's clear that your delusional enough to be believing this or thinking this... Then please provide me proof of your beliefs? Cause I'd like to see it as there is none!

[Offside Inzaghi]

I bet most of the posters on here who said Wigtown "chucked it"","bottled it"" whatever you want to call it never played for teams fighting for league titles or cups. I don't believe any players who have a chance of winning a league title, which a lot of the Wigtown players were doing for the first time, would throw games so they didn't win the title. Surely you would win the title and let the Wigtown committee sort the problem out. If you didn't want to play in the LL you could always find another team. Don't know any of the. Wigtown players personally but saw one of their players who was unable to play one Saturday due to other commitments and he was constantly on his mobile getting updates on how they were getting on. He certainly didn't remind me of someone who was "chucking it".

[goalmachine]

Having played against both Wigtown and Edusport this season, I thought Wigtown were just the better team. It's very difficult to keep a run like that going, especially against a full time team which is what Edusport are. I'm sure the majority of teams will be glad to be shot of them

[Bigstuff]

The prodigy

Don't think that is a very smart statement to make that you are a committee member of the club, is info your father you seem to stick together like shite to a blanket, so the so called member clubs have been sfa member clubs for a hundred years they have also wanted to be part of the pyramid system since its conception or is that only until you receive your monetary payout and then you don't want to play ball, you can't have your cake and eat it, what a laughing stock the south league appears to be now with no member club ie threave, saints and now Wigtown apparently wanting nothing to do with the pyramid system apart from taking the coin ....reap what you sow

[info]

Member clubs have had the ill though out pyramid system thrust upon them by the SFA. Can,t see anything to be ashamed off in keeping your club going for over 100 years andwanting it to keep going.

PS If the Prodigy was my son I would have had him adopted!

[stanley]

Unlike the Lowland League clubs, the South of Scotland clubs didn't sign up to join a new league as part of the pyramid.  They just happened to be in a senior league which became tier 6 by default.  These clubs have played in the Scottish Cup for years and they obviously wanted that to continue so did some work on their grounds to get them up to the required level and maintain their Scottish Cup participation.  I highly doubt any of those clubs would go "Actually, we're not keen on promotion to the Lowland League so we'll not bother with a licence and we'll lose our entry to the Scottish Cup".  The league had no prospect of promotion until very recently and is only sitting one level below the Lowland League (alongside the East of Scotland League) because there are no other leagues.  Everything else is junior or amateur.  A league consisting purely of Dumfries & Galloway clubs is never going to work properly as a feeder to the Lowland League which covers the entire bottom half of Scotland.

Most of the problems that are arising are as a result of the incomplete nature of the pyramid.  A club winning a Dumfries & Galloway League should not be facing promotion to the Lowland League.  They should be promoted to a league which covers a wider area than Dumfries & Galloway but far smaller than the Lowland League.  There simply aren't enough leagues and clubs part of the pyramid so it's forcing village clubs to face the prospect of travel and promotion that they simply don't want or aren't ready for.  

I think there needs to be far less blame placed on individual clubs and, instead, far more talk about the problems with the SFA/SJFA and the seniors/juniors being in independent league systems.  The latter is the problem which has to be addressed.  The pyramid works on the level that finally clubs can be promoted into the SPFL and relegated out of it.  Finally, if a club is ambitious about progressing to the league then it can do so.  There is a pathway now.  There just needs to be a merger of the seniors and juniors and a proper pyramid system put in place where clubs progress gradually from very local leagues like the South of Scotland League up the levels in leagues gradually covering bigger areas until finally they reach the nationwide SPFL leagues.

[info]

Very well put

[newcastle broon]

6 hours ago, stanley said:

Unlike the Lowland League clubs, the South of Scotland clubs didn't sign up to join a new league as part of the pyramid.  They just happened to be in a senior league which became tier 6 by default.  These clubs have played in the Scottish Cup for years and they obviously wanted that to continue so did some work on their grounds to get them up to the required level and maintain their Scottish Cup participation.  I highly doubt any of those clubs would go "Actually, we're not keen on promotion to the Lowland League so we'll not bother with a licence and we'll lose our entry to the Scottish Cup".  The league had no prospect of promotion until very recently and is only sitting one level below the Lowland League (alongside the East of Scotland League) because there are no other leagues.  Everything else is junior or amateur.  A league consisting purely of Dumfries & Galloway clubs is never going to work properly as a feeder to the Lowland League which covers the entire bottom half of Scotland.

Most of the problems that are arising are as a result of the incomplete nature of the pyramid.  A club winning a Dumfries & Galloway League should not be facing promotion to the Lowland League.  They should be promoted to a league which covers a wider area than Dumfries & Galloway but far smaller than the Lowland League.  There simply aren't enough leagues and clubs part of the pyramid so it's forcing village clubs to face the prospect of travel and promotion that they simply don't want or aren't ready for.  

I think there needs to be far less blame placed on individual clubs and, instead, far more talk about the problems with the SFA/SJFA and the seniors/juniors being in independent league systems.  The latter is the problem which has to be addressed.  The pyramid works on the level that finally clubs can be promoted into the SPFL and relegated out of it.  Finally, if a club is ambitious about progressing to the league then it can do so.  There is a pathway now.  There just needs to be a merger of the seniors and juniors and a proper pyramid system put in place where clubs progress gradually from very local leagues like the South of Scotland League up the levels in leagues gradually covering bigger areas until finally they reach the nationwide SPFL leagues.

Good post but there are clubs in the current LL who are "village teams forced to face travel" week in week out. 

Maybes these didn't want or are ready either but have had to suffer 4 SEASONS of it just to keep on the right side of the SFA...... 

[LongTimeLurker]

1 hour ago, newcastle broon said:

Good post but there are clubs in the current LL who are "village teams forced to face travel" week in week out.

It's a lot easier to attract players as a "village team" when you are right next to a city the size of Edinburgh. How many of your players actually come from Rosewell? You are basically an Edinburgh club and that makes it a lot easier to find suitable players that are willing to do all the travelling.

[newcastle broon]

1 hour ago, LongTimeLurker said:

It's a lot easier to attract players as a "village team" when you are right next to a city the size of Edinburgh. How many of your players actually come from Rosewell? You are basically an Edinburgh club and that makes it a lot easier to find suitable players that are willing to do all the travelling.

Edinburgh club my arse...

There's a lot more competition from teams for players though. 

Innerleithen or closer to the south of Scotland Gretna..........