AlansHotBath

Now I may be a humble armchair fan that has never kicked a ball in my life, but I feel like Vale may be sitting bottom this season again. I thought when we played them they looked stodgy with zero ability up front, and might have been stodgy enough often enough to finish above Edinburgh Uni if things went their way, but probably not.

Popped along to this today. I was expecting more from Stirling but they never got going at all, far too ponderous. I still don't really see anyone giving Kelty much of a challenge for the league this season.

Turns out Aitken is a jobber and a loser, who knew?

All aboard the Dalbeattie hype train

TBF calling them Sevco BSC in the replies is pretty lazy patter. I'd like to see Vale digging teams out on twitter all season knowing they are going to be relegated this time.

Fantastic start to season by Dalbeattie. They are ones of the teams I've had a soft-spot for since Shire came down to the LL so I'm pleased to see them doing well, and not just hanging about in the 'not VoL or Edinburgh Uni' zone where they've been for the past couple of seasons

Shire 0 - 0 Vale of Leithen. Possession wise Shire are dominating, but this has '65th minute Vale winner' written all over it...

Previously I'd thought it would've been good move to create a single streaming service for all clubs to use, but as match streams have presumably been done away with again I do think this is a better idea now, and would do more to raise the profile of clubs than B teams. Was there any word on where the money was spent? Normally I wouldn't be fussed about the league being publically accountable for every penny, but given the bad PR this has generated it might be worth them actually saying what good has come out of it.

Looks like he is also gone (unless he's left the assistant post to take up the manager's one)

I assumed Jerry was busy combing old Pro Evo games to find the new Broomhill badge. I don't think it's similar to the MK Dons thing - the new BSC will be at a ground in Glasgow that won't be licensed for the LL anyway (less of a concern for them if they are genuinely just looking for get young players game time), so Broomhill haven't really stolen their spot. They've signed some decent players, while I don't think they'll win the league they won't fall below mid-table, unlikely to be far from the top 4 if they are out of it at all.

I had to leave a bit early to catch a train, so I missed Del coming on (and the equaliser), but that sounds believable. I knew Camelon were a brand new team but I was impressed by how organised and together they looked in the first half particularly, all things considered. All the best for the season ahead!

Yeah, very entertaining and it was great being back at an actual live game. Not quite sure what to make of either team for the season ahead, admittedly.

Jeanfield game now off! Only found this out recently after a Shire friendly was cancelled, but apparently it's due to testing being mandatory at the 5th tier but not below, so clubs below the LL playing LL opposition are having to test more in advance of the games. Some aren't able and/or willing, so are cancelling games that were arranged prior to this rule coming in.

George Fraser was right - it was only for one season. I did say at the time that he knew they were going to go for SPFL status soon, and wanted a bite of the pie while it was still available knowing it would happen anyway.

Their last was with Stenhousemuir last season, which seemed to go alright by all accounts.

Bit unfortunate for two of the teams who voted against the Colts to be stuck playing against them on the first game back. Also, interesting there's still no name change for BSC there. I wonder if that will be in place before the season starts or if they've got an agreement to use it for longer with BSC Glasgow

It'll be interesting to see whether they remake themselves as an Alloa-based club for the forseeable (and how that effects the relationship with Alloa Athletic), or whether they up and leave entirely to try to keep their Glasgow roots. Or go fully down the Edusport route and focus on building an entirely online fanbase of oddballs who are really into Equity for Punks, Rangers and American sports.

What fresh hell is this? Journalists across Scotland breath a sign of relief that their occasional soundbites from the LL will no longer have to come from the EK boss

Shire had some good games against Kelty in the past few years. I think my favourite was the 3-3 draw where we were 2 down with 20 to play, their keeper was sent off for handling outside the box, we scored twice, they scored in the 91st(?) minute and then we equalised again almost right from kick off. The was a big post-game shoving match as well. Funnily enough I was watching highlights on YT of that game just the other day, and it's remarkable how different the Kelty team is to now. I think that was very early in Barry's tenure (although if I am right in thinking he may have missed the game to play celebrity 5-a-side).

Two good signings announced tonight - Kieran Gibbons, and the returning Connor Greene. Of last season's squad Gibbons and Reis Peggie would've been my pick to re-sign (aside from those already elsewhere), and Connor is one of my favourite Shire players, so pretty chuffed with that. The squad for next season so far: GK Ross Connelly Iain Ure DEF Connor Greene Greg McColm MID Craig Henderson Andy Kay David Churchill Kieran Gibbons Andy Shirra FWD Robbie Young Dean Watson

Re: that last sentence- they do know what league they are playing in, they are just kicking and screaming about it. The article reads like they've been abandoned like a newborn left at the church steps in a basket. Another embarrassing note in Brechin's history, ang again I feel sorry for the fans who mainly seem to accept their situation and just want to get on with it, as opposed to Ken Ferguson, who has royally fucked it the past few years and has been scrambling to 'fix' it ever since. (Although the LL have set a "pay your way in" precedent so maybe you can't blame him now...)

Will be between them and Bonnyrigg imo. I am still not totally convinced by Aitken as a manager and there are still a few weeks of squad-building to go, but the signings have been pretty impressive so far.

Yeah, it will be to do with licensing, and the many fans who will be rushing to these competitive games (that don't count for anything for the Colt teams at the end of the season). I think owners/chairmen are less likely to be against it than fans are, and it's easy to sell the rental of your ground as a way to make a bit of cash without actually letting the Colts into your own league (for now)

He's very good in the Lowland League. As for the jump up to the third tier for a team who are presumably aiming for the play-offs? I think he could do well, although I wouldn't want to rely on him as my main striker at that level. I hope he does well, I like Brown and I'm not surprised he's got a chance at a higher level. Yeah, Dish is a great player to watch, inconsistent admittedly but our entire team had been. It is very funny and pretty predictable that he's gone back to Spartans after we paid a chunk of cash for him only a couple of seasons ago.