Marten

To be honest, I've been out of the country for nearly a decade now so it's difficult for me to say as things will undoubtedly have changed since then. There are definitely rules in place over there as well, but when I was living there it was definitely not that strict.

Ok, I stand corrected, I must have had the wrong information. Maybe it's something like Celtic getting more than some Dutch teams as they get a large chunck of the Scottish TV money where the Dutch money is more evenly distributed?

True, despite the much lower population, there is no reason why Scotland should be as poor as they are now (both in terms of Scottish teams in Europe & the national team). Football is massive here, there is a relatively decent amount of money. If the game here would be run better, both on local levels and by the football authorities, Scotland should really be doing much better. I'd love to see some of that Dutch approach being copied here.

True, my local club in the town where I grew up has 11 pitches, of which 6 have floodlights. They have approx. 100 teams in all age categories, of which 20 male adult teams, 60 boys youth teams and 20 women/girls teams. And that's a town with a population of just 22K. Quite impressive really.

Trust me, I've met plenty of Dutch football dads when I was playing over there who fall in that category. There are however, as DutchBorderer rightly said, plenty who do get involved in a positive way too.

Even tiny villages have their own youth set ups with good coaching. There are more and more regional development centres as well for players who don't get picked up by professional clubs immediately. Professional teams often work together with local non-league clubs to provide a pathway to the top as well. Big names like Ruud van Nistelrooij, Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt etc. came through a non-league club's youth setup and only went professional at a relatively late age. Ajax are going through an odd season, until early 2019 their season seemed to be a pretty forgetful one. Their highlight was qualifying from their CL group, although they didn't have the hardest draw. Ironically, the 6-2 thumping by Feyenoord seemed to be the moment that turned their season around. They've been pretty much invincible since.

Kirrie Thistle 5 Forfar West End 3 Excellent game for a neutral. Could have gon either way. Kirrie scored the final goal deep into stoppage time. Attendance was 95.

It's the bottom club and second bottom club, so Dalbeattie are still at risk of relegation.

Between these 3 options, I think C makes the most sense. It also makes it relatively easy to slot new clubs in on tier 7 if there are future applications from the 2020/21 season. Also, Cove Rangers getting promoted doesn't automatically mean an extra club in the EoSL, as Dalbeattie Star are 14th in the LL and I assume they'd get relegated to the SoSL. So if they don't get re-elected to fill Selkirk's vacancy, it won't affect the EoSL.

Having seen the footage of the penalty, I now agree with the retake. I also was close to the foul and I definitely thought it was well outside. As there is no footage of that one, I can't comment on that moment now. What was written on the first red card I agree with, could've been a straight red in the first place as I said before. I still object to the 2nd and 3rd red cards though but that's mostly for the inconsistency. Earlier in the game I heard language which was probably at least as bad, from either side, towards officials and each other that didn't even get punished with a yellow. Had he been consistent in these decisions, I wouldn't complain about it. But it's the inconsistency that annoys me the most. Some other things that were far less influential on the game got me with this referee as well. He was very inconsistent with less far-reaching decisions too imo.

I've got nothing against you, so I wish you the best for next season regardless of which division you'll be in. I'll probably pop down for a game sooner or later. I've said before that the only thing I had against the rule change re. the Selkirk situation is that it seemed like happening during the season (obviously it didn't happen in the end), but in principle I think it's fair enough to regard a club that resigned during the season as the bottom club. I hope this sparks a debate on the rules, not only for resignations during the season, but also on how to fill a vacancy. I'm also not a fan of an application process. Either solve a vacancy by reprieving a club from relegation or by promoting the best club in the tier below that missed out. Both would be fine as a solution as long as they choose one of them.

I'm not saying whether or not you should be picked. I don't know the exact procedure/criteria so I won't complain at all if they pick you as long as they followed the correct procedure. I just assumed you would apply, I'd be surprised if not tbh.

I'd think EK would have a great chance. They look impressive this season and Cove don't seem as strong as they were last season. I also think both Albion Rovers and Berwick Rangers look worse than Cowdenbeath did last season.

Tbh, should it happen that Cove get promoted, I would expect Dalbeattie to be re-elected. As opposed to WW who would run the risk of not being picked imo.

They aren't safe yet, if they finish 14th and Cove (or Brora) get promoted, they'll still go down unless they get re-elected to fill Selkirk's vacancy.

Four games per season (at least) between Cove and Cowdenbeath sounds attractive though...

Looking at all of that, I can't look past Linlithgow Rose. They get the highest attendances in the EOS, got floodlights, have had a license for quite some time, have been one of the biggest east Juniors in recent years and score high on all other points.

They've said multiple times that the west isn't the issue. However, there has never been a proposal from the SJFA to bring the west in first while working on a solution for the east. If they'd come with that as a proposal, I'm sure the EOS would be happy with it.

Ok, fair enough.

I'd say it's a bit harsh to call it overpriced considering the game was only £ 5 to get in anyway. Inverkeithing are a new club and are working hard on upgrading their facilities, they need all the money they can get and I can't blame them for trying to use the groundhop as a way to get some badly needed funds in.

When Rangers were liquidated, Dundee were promoted to the SPL instead of reprieving Dunfermline. The open spots in the First & Second divisions were taken by the losers of the play-off finals, resulting in promotions for Airdrie & Stranraer. Livingston's demotion in 2009 again meant losing play-off finalists took the spots, resulting in a reprieve for Airdrie & promotion for Cowdenbeath. Gretna's liquidation in 2008 was the same, resulting in promotion for Airdrie & Stranraer. Airdrie's liquidation in 2002 was before the PO existed, instead Falkirk & Stenhousemuir were reprieved. Obviously the situations are different, especially with the existence of play-offs. But when ignoring the PO (which was an easy solution really), 2 different methods have been used: extra promotion when Rangers were liquidated and clubs reprieved in Airdrie's case. So there isn't really a clear precedent to apply to the LL this season. I agree that it would be fair to regard Selkirk as the bottom club, but that can't be done as it's not in the rules. I would assume that this is a point to be discussed at the AGM.

They refused this because the rules were changed during the season which the SFA deemed too late. I can't see any issue with changing the rule for future seasons though.

This, I find it disheartening how disrespectful some people are of smaller clubs, regardless of whether they are junior or senior. I was at Inverkeithing on Saturday, yes their standard of football and facilities were poor. But I spoke to some volunteers / committee members of the club and got a great impression. They are a new club and are working hard on improving things further. What they have already put up for the groundhop day was actually quite impressive for a club that's less than a year old. People there are working very hard to develop the club further, there was great enthusiasm with everyone I spoke to. All clubs that are run by hard working volunteers, but especially smaller ones, get my respect. These people are badly needed in Scottish football. Ultimately, they provide youth and adults of all levels with the chance to play football.

When I spoke to one of the organisers he told me that most junior clubs were actually interested when he spoke to them. The fixture secretary refused to even discuss the idea to accommodate this though.

I agree with you on the first red card, that could arguably have been a straight red for the tackle as well instead of 2 yellows. The second red card seemed very harsh to me and to all people around me agreed with that, a yellow would be fine. The penalty shouldn't have been given as you agreed, but it shouldn't have been retaken either. Another very harsh decision as the goalie pretty much saved it on the line, so it can't really be argued that he came off his line, I think it was understandable how players were annoyed with that. For the third red card I again think a yellow would've been fair but a straight red very harsh. I must have stood fairly close to you as it happened close to me as well. I didn't find that language worthy of a straight red, especially as I heard such language (or fairly similar) earlier in the game with no action taken at all. If anything, the inconsistency is what annoyed me the most. That probably caused my reaction which (as I said) is quite rare for me. And I wasn't the only one with such a reaction based on some of the hoppers around me. I think this was easily the poorest refereeing performance of the weekend (and one of the poorest I've seen in a very long time). Today's referee was excellent btw.