Kelty Hearts & the EOS League

[HTG]

6 hours ago, FairWeatherFan said:

 

The Highland League is blocked unless you try to force their hand. The SoS is now running with 15 teams what happens if two more clubs from the West of Scotland decide to join up?

 

If Banks of Dee decided that they wanted to be part of the Highland League, it would be interesting to see them challenge the sfa structure for the Scottish Cup whereby clubs not in the pyramid have to play in preliminary rounds. Surely you shouldn't have to play in qualifying rounds because the pyramid has a massive full stop in one half of the country. 

I am still of the view that the sfa has little if any desire to manage a proper pyramid in this country.  They've implemented something without taking ownership of the game in the way they should have. 

I will keep coming back to this because it's an absolute fact. You can't run a pyramid in Scotland which is based on a north/south split because most of the north is covered in heather and the population gap is massive. The population map directly correlates to the number of teams playing football in each half of the country and to the depth of ability.  

There has to be a Lowland League East and a Lowland League West.  Anything else is a sham.

[kefc]

2 hours ago, db11 said:

Has work started on the stand opposite the changing rooms yet?

May 2018, not a great idea to build a stand during the season.

[Jason King]

1 minute ago, kefc said:

May 2018, not a great idea to build a stand during the season.

Tottenham are

[leomessi1984]

5 minutes ago, Jason King said:

Tottenham are

It will take a few seasons for Kelty to be following Tottenhams lead, we will get there though

[Skipper]

Here's something I don't understand.  Linlithgow are licenced, Bo'ness aren't .  Yet it would appear they are waiting on us to make a move before committing themselves.  Are they scared?  In my eyes, they've missed out by waiting to see what others do.
Whatever they do now will be reactionary not proactionary, unlike Kelty.

Things are moving fast. Only two years ago the thought of moving from the juniors was laughed at by most. Now I have noticed that the majority of folk I go with are at best enthusiastic about moving and at worst ambivalent about it. Can only see this trend continuing.

[Skipper]

Kelty turn out in the big games there’s no getting away from that. Last game of last season when we lifted the title against Bonnyrigg 800 plus. Compare that to Linlithgow and Bonnyrigg crowds when they last won the league at their ground, it’s clear to see on you tube videos only half that turned out.
 

Yer pipe ! Last time we won the league on our own patch there were far more than 400 there????

[FairWeatherFan]

2 hours ago, HTG said:

I am still of the view that the sfa has little if any desire to manage a proper pyramid in this country.  They've implemented something without taking ownership of the game in the way they should have.

I think the SFA ticked their box and left them to it. The pyramid at this point is in the hands of the HFL, EoSFL and SoSFL and their respective memberships.

In the EOSFL thread about new clubs they've brought up getting enough members to run 2 divisions again. If they did that without forcing Tier 6 clubs to be licensed, would a newly licensed East Junior really accept the idea of having to go through 2 Divisions stymied by unlicensed clubs along the way?

[Jambo'ness]

4 hours ago, Skipper said:

Things are moving fast. Only two years ago the thought of moving from the juniors was laughed at by most. Now I have noticed that the majority of folk I go with are at best enthusiastic about moving and at worst ambivalent about it. Can only see this trend continuing.

I think we have the same  situation at Bo'ness.  A year ago, a lot of the auld yins were dead against it, citing travel as a major issue.  Since then, in the last calendar year, we have played on Tayside seven times, which has blown the travel issue away.

People are generally afraid of change but we have not dropped anything sudden on fans.  Just letting them see the sense of change.

 

[Gordon EF]

I've been keeping an eye on Kelty this season and I hope a lot more junior teams consider making the switch or we can get closer to some kind of amalgamation of the junior and senior set ups below the SPFL.

I'd love to see a good, competitive pyramid structure in Scottish football with realistic access right up and down the structure. But the reality is, that's unlikely to happen without a good proportion of junior teams agreeing to join. It's understandable that there's a good amount of trepidation on both sides. I'm sure many on the junior side see the smaller SPFL clubs as wanting to keep the door shut and hang on to what they have and a lot on the senior side see the bigger junior clubs as being afraid to give up their 'big fish in a small pond' position.

From the point of view of SPFL clubs, the trapdoor will seem a lot less terrifying if there's a decent, entertaining league to drop into and there's surely got to be a route that can result in the best juniors and seniors forming a level below the SPFL so that top junior clubs don't have to pass through the relative drudgery of the EoSL or particularly SoSL?

I'd love to see the non-leagues take up the junior East/West/North structure and mix LL and HL clubs into that.

[energyzone]

It's not going to be drudgery if a good few junior clubs go for it at the same time.

There's nothing stopping interested West junior clubs taking a proposal to the SFA for a West of Scotland league to sit alongside the EOS and SOS leagues. The worst they could say is no.

That's if any West clubs are actually interested, which is something nobody seems to have mentioned thus far.

[theshed]

It's not going to be drudgery if a good few junior clubs go for it at the same time.

There's nothing stopping interested West junior clubs taking a proposal to the SFA for a West of Scotland league to sit alongside the EOS and SOS leagues. The worst they could say is no.

That's if any West clubs are actually interested, which is something nobody seems to have mentioned thus far.

I always think Talbot are a good example to follow as they seldom get things wrong off the park , if they stay then I don't see many if any Ayrshire teams doing a kelty ; genuinely don't know how my own club feel about it but I reckon if Talbot were to go for it then a good few Ayrshire teams would follow ,just for talking terms personally I think without kelty , boness , linlithgow ; bankies and say Talbot then would it be anywhere near as appealing to remain junior ?

I would want my team to challenge the very very best and if we lost too junior clubs then it wouldn't be nearly the same, if a west LL ever came to fruition then I reckon it would be a huge game changer .

[HibeeJibee]

14 hours ago, Che Dail said:

LL has been their aim but it's not a straightforward arrangement with Edinburgh Leisure on lease / ownership.

And they currently groundshare with Tynecastle (I dont understand why the  council put the 3G out the back and not in the enclosure!)

They're slowly making headway, tbf. I went to LTHV-St Mirren and the toilet block and clubroom modular units had gone in.

Council planning website says warrant for covered terrace has been granted - apparently it's going up by the spring, indeed the plans show 2 - and permission for a catering cabin was applied for last month.


I think the problem with 3G is that while Meadowbank is being redeveloped it's the only athletics venue in Edinburgh.

Can't really throw javelins and hammers into a plastic pitch...

[guinness]

I've read some of this.. But until an established junior team rises through to the Spfl, we'll never know what's really going to happen. I think with a lot of team's in close proximity to established Spfl teams. Like for instance Sauchie & Alloa. Sauchie £6 admission Alloa £16. How many Sauchie fans will pay £15/16 to get in?? Not many. Admission + a P & B + a H/T raffle. You maybe even get change off a tenner. Some difference. Time will tell.

[calmac25]

No offence intended but do you think Sauchie would rise much higher then where they are? Lowland league prices range from £5-8

[cmontheloknow]

7 hours ago, guinness said:

I've read some of this.. But until an established junior team rises through to the Spfl, we'll never know what's really going to happen. I think with a lot of team's in close proximity to established Spfl teams. Like for instance Sauchie & Alloa. Sauchie £6 admission Alloa £16. How many Sauchie fans will pay £15/16 to get in?? Not many. Admission + a P & B + a H/T raffle. You maybe even get change off a tenner. Some difference. Time will tell.

Why has going as high as Alloa got to be the aim of a club such as Sauchie anyway? In most pyrmaid systems there are very few clubs who race up and down the divisions. Those that do tend to be backed financially / lose financial backing. 

[the jambo-rocker]

Say there is a East/West split, where would you draw the line about? Pardon my lack of knowledge on it but who is the most Eastern West Junior side and vice versa?

[Jambo'ness]

23 minutes ago, the jambo-rocker said:

Say there is a East/West split, where would you draw the line about? Pardon my lack of knowledge on it but who is the most Eastern West Junior side and vice versa?

I think it would have to be Camelon & Dunipace.

[Marshmallo]

Harthill is the boundary I believe. Shotts are West and Fauldhouse are East.

[Auld Heid]

In amongst all this ambition - the one thing that gets skirted around - the demographics of crowds.

The average age attending continues to rise and most clubs are not attracting a younger support.

This isn't a new problem and would be interested how clubs are addressing this. The ambitions are lost if punters don't buy into it.

When Meadowbank became Livingston they started by giving away 00's of free tickets to anyone but have never sustained decent crowds.

[Jason King]

You can say exactly the same about the SPFL and the EPL, its not just a junior thing - most youngsters can see Man United/Barcelona/PSG goals on their devices within minutes of the goal being scored and that has removed the link between clubs at all levels and the youth of today.

Why pay to go and see a game  when you can see the more famous teams goals without leaving the house.