New clubs in the East of Scotland

[heedthebaa]

9 minutes ago, cowdenbeath said:

Does the town of Berwick really need another EOSL side? Tweedmouth Rangers are already struggling so will Tweedmouth Community do any better, they will just probably end up taking players from each other so can't really see any of the two doing much.

Where's Five Arches about in the town?

Travelling south by train over the River tweed look to your right, five arches just other side of the river. I agree, don't think the town long term could sustain another EOS club. Still good to see the club making an effort to upgrade their facilities though 

[cowdenbeath]

3 minutes ago, heedthebaa said:

Travelling south by train over the River tweed look to your right, five arches just other side of the river. I agree, don't think the town long term could sustain another EOS club. Still good to see the club making an effort to upgrade their facilities though 

Cheers i'm down in Berwick on Saturday but will be off the train by then! Just wondered where it was.

As you say good that their looking to upgrade their facilities. Re the players there must be a few guys from Berwick who play for the likes of Coldstream and Eyemouth also?

Edited October 26, 2017 by cowdenbeath

[heedthebaa]

imo there is a shortage of players in this area right now, especially capable of playing and more importantly ' haddin their ain '. Within the town and surrounding areas there is Border Amateur, North Northumberland, Northern Alliance and EOS already. Can't knock for trying but if they succeed in getting in, another club could fold imo. I never thought Duns would stay long neither 

[HibeeJibee]

It is worth clarifying this club already exists - they're top of B Division of the Border Amateurs - so it wouldn't be a case of another squad of players having to be raised in the Berwickshire and Berwick area, tbf. Whether the quality of player is there is possibly a more valid concern.

Football in Berwick-upon-Tweed is very 'fractured' right now:

* Berwick Rangers toiling somewhat in SPFL2
* Tweedmouth Rangers became a big fish in the North Northumberland League, decided to move up and across into EOSL... currently bottom
* Spittal Rovers reformed and became a big fish, decided to move up into Northern Alliance... currently 2nd bottom of bottom division
* Tweedmouth Community (formerly Tweedmouth Amateurs) have been in Border Ams for years; joined last season by Berwick Rangers Youths, and this season by Highfields moving across from NNL
* Tweedmouth Harrow are a big fish in NNL and currently 2nd top; Belford to the south are 2nd bottom
* both Springhill and Lowick United have folded?

That said if any club wants to develop facilities for themselves and the community, and test themselves at a higher level, that shouldn't be discouraged. Good luck to them.

[HibeeJibee]

Shots of their iconic Five Arches ground:

Edited October 26, 2017 by HibeeJibee

[cowdenbeath]

It was more the quality of players I was getting at as you Tweedmouth were big fish before moving and are struggling big time there are obviously not enough players in the area good enough to make much of an impact in the league.

[heedthebaa]

2 hours ago, cowdenbeath said:

It was more the quality of players I was getting at as you Tweedmouth were big fish before moving and are struggling big time there are obviously not enough players in the area good enough to make much of an impact in the league.

In fairness to Tweedmouth Rangers, they lost quite a few players I'm led to believe because of the move to EOS 

[cowdenbeath]

1 hour ago, heedthebaa said:

In fairness to Tweedmouth Rangers, they lost quite a few players I'm led to believe because of the move to EOS 

A fair bit of travelling I would imagine the novelty would soon wear off,

[edinabear]

Well so far on the rumour mill we have Bo'ness and Clydebank potentially making the move to East of Scotland. Anyone know the time frame for applications or can this all be done in the summer?

How many spaces does the EofS have? Are we reaching a situation where the EofS 2 is reinstated?

[stanley]

Clydebank would surely go to the South of Scotland league?

East of Scotland League would be harder with Lothian Thistle (and Kelty Hearts if they fail to win the league this season).

[heedthebaa]

More the merrier, 13 teams just now, Kelty up, Maybe Hawick down, another 2 in if true,  hopefully back to two leagues in the near future 

[heedthebaa]

The start up of LL absolutely destroyed the EOS, but it had to happen. The organisation of the league is still good, but yes, it’s weaker. Just look at the teams that left. The absence of promotion from the 1st division and relegation from the premier has been detrimental also. Welcoming signs though for its future 

[LongTimeLurker]

19 hours ago, stanley said:

Clydebank would surely go to the South of Scotland league?

East Kilbride are in the EoSFA. That set the precedent for Glasgow area teams to be in the EoS League.

[HibeeJibee]

Up to 16 is probably the most comfortable for a single division, but realistically there could be up to 18 clubs before you'd have to split into 2 divisions. There were 18 until the late 1980s, and 2 seasons ago there were 30 league games + 3 qualifying league games = 33 games overall, which is only 1 fewer than an 18-team league.

There is an interesting sort of "twilight zone" between 17 and 19: where it's bigger than would be ideal for 1 division, but smaller than would be ideal for 2 divisions.

When there were 17 clubs in 2014-15 it was 9-team Premier (27 games) and 8-team First Division (28 games), but that was coming down from 20 clubs the season before who'd played 18 league + 10 QL games... with 16 clubs the following season, the clubs tied 8-8 in a vote for 1 division of 16 and 2 divisions of 8, and the former was selected.

http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/football/east-of-scotland-league-to-become-one-division-of-16-clubs-1-3800630

On the one hand this quickly contributed to the demise of Kelso - who couldn't raise a team after regularly getting humped by ex-Premier clubs from Edinburgh - and apparently encouraged the departure of Craigroyston who felt it was uncompetitive; and of course it left only the title to play for. On the otherhand the departure of Civil Service and Hawick to LL and winding-up of Spartans EOS would have happened anyway - the demise of Duns being closer to the Kelso example at least in part; and of course it's less repetitive than playing 3/4 times.


It's only a couple of years since people were predicting the EOS League would carryon below its low point of 11 clubs and quickly fold. HtB himself said "EOSL RIP". It seems the relegation of Preston, entry of Kelty, possible return of Duns and talk of other new teams has stopped the rot and turned the trajectory upwards again. You could argue LL has at its core the EOSL Premier of old with some clubs left behind and others lifted up.

In terms of promotion/relegation, there could be a net loss of up to 1... i.e. champion promoted, no-one relegated; or at the other end of the scale a net gain of 2... i.e. no-one promoted, bottom 2 in LL relegated.

Edited November 29, 2017 by HibeeJibee

[Jeek]

Are Duns likey to return? seems like they did a lot of work on their ground, would be a shame to see that stuck in the ams.

[HibeeJibee]

It'll be a crying shame.

For completeness here's the grandstand they completed earlier this season - supplementing existing covered terrace:

[Whitburn Vale]

What a great set up Duns have now!!

Great pics HJ !!!

Would love to see Duns back in the EOSFL,their set up is LL standard !!

Think their problem is more to do with atrracting good enough players 

Edited November 30, 2017 by Whitburn Vale

[heedthebaa]

36 minutes ago, Whitburn Vale said:

 

Think their problem is more to do with atrracting good enough players 

I would say so WV, those facilities are certainly worthy of a return. I would love them to come back, but this area is getting worse for players of quality who want to play at EOS level

[LongTimeLurker]

Suspect Tweedmouth won't hang around too much longer as the EoS experiment clearly isn't working for them. Will be interesting to see how many junior clubs actually follow through and do what Kelty did.  So far it only seems to be superleague clubs like Bo'ness United and Clydebank that view the EoS as a stepping stone rather than a destination that are looking into it. The fun and games would really start if smaller junior clubs like Haddington and Blackburn that can't be too far off in licensing terms decided to give it a whirl for guaranteed Scottish Cup entry.

[Burnie_man]

2 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Suspect Tweedmouth won't hang around too much longer as the EoS experiment clearly isn't working for them. Will be interesting to see how many junior clubs actually follow through and do what Kelty did.  So far it only seems to be superleague clubs like Bo'ness United and Clydebank that view the EoS as a stepping stone rather than a destination that are looking into it. The fun and games would really start if smaller junior clubs like Haddington and Blackburn that can't be too far off in licensing terms decided to give it a whirl for guaranteed Scottish Cup entry.

I can’t speak for the club obviously but I can’t see them wanting to move to the EoSFL as it currently stands. Licencing is probably a long term goal for them but I don’t think there would be too much appetite in moving to a league containing clubs of the quality of the one we just got promoted from, or worse. Neither does the club have the resources to both get Licenced and buy their way to a LL place.

Everyone is enjoying the Premier League experience, and of course if clubs wanted to move to the Pyramid en-bloc, then I for one would welcome Blackburn joining in.