DiamondOwl

As someone who has drifted away from spfl football in recent years mainly due to cost and entertainment value, you guys will find plenty of life in the so-called non-league sector. Gate prices are less, you only play teams twice in the league (as previously mentioned), and there's less sterile grounds. So commiserations, but actually you might find your footy experience more enjoyable. I certainly have and have no desire to go back, although I do still follow the Airdrie scores. Incidentally, I remember Cowden spanking Airdrie 5-1 a number of years ago, I think it was at the Excelsior. In fact at that time the Blue Brazil always gave us a tough game. All the best, and who knows.... you might not want to come back! (Although the problem of the junior ugly sisters at the lowland level is bound to be depressing).

WoSFL Division 3. Oh Right. So It's going to be WoSFL: Premier Division, Division 1, Division 2, Division 3 (and if necessary Division 4). Could you please provide a link for the decision not to call the second league "championship" in the new system, and how the leagues will be made up next season in terms of conference finishing places, etc?

Yes, I think it’s either the 1st of June or 1st July, Pie and Bovril makes changes re which forum supporters of clubs relegated/promoted in the spfl should post in. Probably it will be at that point (if not before) that a new WOSFL forum is introduced. This thread, although presently full of life, is, to all intents and purposes, dead. The question has been answered: “Junior football, what is the future?” Answer (sadly, IMO): “There is none”. Congratulations to all you pro-pyramid people. The political parties should get Burnieman to lead their campaigns. Almost single-handedly in less than three years he has destroyed junior football and massively expanded the senior non-league sector, convincing (almost) everyone that now they are all so much better off..... He seems to have disappeared recently - must be helping the government with advice about their COVID-19 press conferences!

I'm not on a committee of any Junior Club and am not high ranking in the business field, so I doubt I'd manage it. To answer your second question.... Well, some of the clubs are so short of people to do these things, that it's easier to go with the flow.... Or. perhaps some are trying to do it. I don't know if conversations are going on behind the scenes club to club or with the ERSJFA.

You've obviously not been reading this thread. In reality there's a lot more than 10, probably double that, but they've been convinced by the propaganda that there's no choice. They're scared of being left without a league to play in, so rather than take a stand, they're all signing up for something they don't really want. Somebody would have to take the lead and start phoning round potentially like-minded clubs to see what their thoughts are. As has been mentioned previously, at least 17 clubs didn't initially express an interest in the LL-WoSFL. Yes, That's what some of us are waiting for..... some leadership

The issue is that there may not be as many as 10 and they may not have the people with the experience of running a league, or time to organise it.

I'm hoping that the article providing the views of the Wishaw Juniors secretary is only partially true. That is: Things are going to be very financially challenging in the short to medium term. Sadly, I think we all know that is true, particularly for the smaller clubs. But the bit about having to join the new league is, I hope, a red herring and that talks are ongoing with some other teams and the ERSJFA about expanding the East region and perhaps renaming it. It's too depressing to believe that ALL the junior clubs are going to kill off junior football in the West of Scotland.

Absolutely. I do think this would be the best option all round. But are they willing to do this? Perhaps they don't want to say anything until a club or two asks them.

You're at it again... "you lot". We're not all clones on here, you know. We have differing views!

I've only been posting here for a few days..... I've always been open to the idea of a WOSL, but as I have no desire to watch it, wanted the junior leagues to survive.

Absolute nonsense. glensmad is spot-on. There will be at least 10, probably nearer to 20 clubs who believe they are trapped into doing this because they've been told there's nowhere else to go. They would far rather stay junior teams in a junior league, but have been scared into believing no one else feels the same and they'll be left behind if they don't go.

You're right. But I think that was before the deal keeping the clubs in the junior cup. I very much doubt they'll be enough left for a league. Without the ERSJFA stepping in to offer some clubs a home, the announcements will keep coming and the choice for the individual clubs will become non-existent.

Why not? I’m for all clubs to be free to play at the level they wish to play it, in the league of their choice. Obviously, so long as they are within the general area (or the area is undefined) and that they qualify in terms of their infrastructure (including governance, ground and finance) to play in that league. The problem, as I see it,at the moment, is that the West region juniors have been left without any real choice.

If the Thorniewood committee want to stay in the junior set up, they should approach the ERSJFA and see whether in the case of one, two or more clubs, where there was no junior league left for them to play in, they would accept them. Looking at the ERSJFA constitution, no boundaries to the region are mentioned, so it would seem to be a question of whether the existing clubs would be willing to accept the travel. Surely relatively near clubs like Thorniewood, Wishaw, Carluke and Lanark would be accepted. Despite what has been said about wanting to provide a choice, at the moment these clubs seem to be faced with no real option of playing in a junior league. It’s either join the new WOS pyramid league(s) or go amateur.

To reply to both.... I stated "It's all football". I didn't say there was any major difference between senior non-league football and junior football, did I? The bottom line is that some clubs see no reason to throw away their junior history and are happy to continue to be defined by that grade/level. Surely it's up to them if they want to continue to stay loyal to what they see as their identity?

I used “Junior” as the adjective to define the level of the players playing the football. Similarly, I could have written “Kids” football or “Amateur” football. It’s all football. The word “Junior” has been used for over 100 years to describe a level or grade of football in Scotland. Many teams and players are happy to see that continue and are happy to call themselves “junior” and play in a Junior Football League. I hope that’s cleared that up for you.

Just because they don't want to turn Senior you describe them as "very odd", They are Junior Football Clubs and apparently they want to stay that way, who said they don't want to play with the rest? I reckon if one (or two) of the clubs towards the east of the WRJFA eg. Shotts, Forth, Carluke, Wishaw, etc said they wanted to remain Junior outside the Pyramid and there was nowhere for them to go, the West Lothian clubs would happily welcome them in. Have any of them said otherwise?

No it's time that you stopped all your bollocks, Mr Establishment! You heard it here first! .... All the best Cammy. Another player that shouldn't have gone. It''s wonderful how Murray is reshaping the squad into an exciting, attacking, entertaining, group of players. From the comments on here it's obvious people are really enjoying watching this far superior squad to the dross of last season.

You're not getting it.....You must be a clone!..... You must be a clone!.... You must be a clone! (Get the idea?) No diversity of opinion will be approved. But please keep posting here JR as it both annoys the establishment and more importantly allows opinions to be expressed that contradict the majority view of the clique.

Perhaps, you’ve got a point. At least from the fact that you make it, I can tell you are intelligent, and so worth a response. Whether I am still a true fan might well be up for debate. But it’s not about me. It’s about the attitude your post displayed and the attitude of others on this site to any dissension whatsoever. This would appear to be: Such people are to be discouraged from attending. Their money is not as good as ours, because their opinions don’t tally with ours. We only want clones of ourselves as Airdrie fans. I respect your opinion on the team. Yes, some of the signings do appear positive and as I’ve said many times before, perhaps I am wrong, and this will be the dream season. Maybe things are changing, we’ll just need to wait and see. I think for me it’s been a steady drip, drip, drip of boring teams and poor managers with very little to entertain us on the park. Turning up in the freezing cold to watch dross. Murray has been getting the stick because he’s the present boss and there didn’t seem to be much improvement after he took over from Findlay . That’s despite the whitewashed version of the glories of the end of last season that some people have put on here. Another issue is cost. Surely, I am not alone in thinking the value for money has been terrible: £16, now going up to £17. If any others on here have visited Junior Football, they will realise our product is vastly over-priced. If you’ve not tried out the juniors, then please, whenever Airdrie are not playing, and/or you have a free Saturday, give it a go. You’ll be supporting grass roots footy and will most likely be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you for the tone of your post which is positive and constructive. Obviously, you are someone of excellent character who is willing to go against the crowd. I salute you for that. Many people on this site are just engaging in the old herd mentality and there’s really no point in responding to them. They don’t want any supporters on here who disagree with the party view. I’m accused of being negative, yet I’ve not be nearly as negative towards Murray as they have been, and are being, towards me. However, in contrast to what has been said, it’s not about me. Whether I go back to Airdrie games is neither here nor there. At first, yes, I just wanted to get my views across, but now it’s about much more than that. It’s about football clubs and supporters’ attitudes to each other. Are we allowed to have differing opinions and be respected? That’s the question. If anyone read the lengthy post in response to Glenmavis Diamond properly, they would realise that the issue is declining crowds and yet supporters want to discourage anyone who doesn’t share their viewpoint from attending. They only want clones of themselves. Of course, this is an issue for society in general, the ‘thought police’ want to control us, we must all think the same way. I’m just thankful I was educated before all this crap was being forced upon our children. Anyway, this is getting way too deep for a football forum. Every good wish to you bbbbb and thanks for being someone with your own mind. It’s refreshing to see. (Note: Stopallthebollarks is just a troll, I think everyone has figured that out. All his stuff is a misrepresentation of the facts).

Why would I want to get people to beg me to go? I have no such desire. I wish people would stop making up supposed agendas for my posts. Hope you enjoy the games.

Mmm….Nobody cares whether I come back…. Seriously, this is the sort of attitude coupled with a real lack of entertainment on the park that has caused our support to steadily decline over the past few years. Whatever you think of me, if you are a true fan you should want as many people as possible paying to watch the team and for car parking, food, etc. Surely, it is vital to ensure that the club continues to be viable. In the past 6 or so years I have seen 8 people who previously sat round the area where I sit disappear from our support. One of them is a member of my family, who only went to two games last season and has become less and less interested. Others used to be there every week, but at some point have had enough. It is going to be very difficult to get some of these people back. Once people start doing other things and get out of the habit, they are unlikely to return. Despite some people’s attitudes towards me on here, if wrong about Murray then I probably will return. That’s assuming it happens this season. But if right, then the likelihood is I will not. One thing that’s not been mentioned is that I bring another member of my family, one who is still interested, at least to an extent. So the club loses 2 fans if I don’t come back. I know that won’t worry most people - Good riddance may be your attitude ( and seems to be attitude of at least 6 people on here), but continue telling people they shouldn’t come to games unless they agree with the position of a clique who toe the party line and you’ll find you only have the clique left! The Airdrie support is getting smaller and smaller and the demographics don’t look good. The problem is that young fans generally don’t like the sterile atmosphere. The old Broomfield was one of our biggest assets. It was a big part of what got me hooked and a tremendous loss to the club. As I’ve said a number of times I don’t want to see the club fail. I have tried to bring a dose of reality in, but it seems no one wants to hear it. I'll take a stab in the dark is this is directed at me by any chance!? Note I have hardly said anything about the team - focused mostly on the management. The reason I’ve continued to post on here is because I care about the club, even if I struggle to enjoy watching the games these days.

It's one game. But it all sounds wonderful. Maybe I should rush back on Wednesday and be thoroughly entertained. Oh wait a minute.... I've just noticed your comment over on the Clyde thread: "We, Airdrie, didn’t play that well today either to be honest....”. So it's a mile better, but we're not playing well? Anyway, good result for the diamonds (even if it was still, by your own admission, not great to watch).