Dev

Nairn County has withdrawn their side from the League. Having B teams at the bottom rung of the ladder and making their way up from there is another matter. The NCal is the local bottom of the ladder.

But the same duty of care applies whether it's a league or cup match.

?? I guess I could have used other examples such as Talbot home games against bigger opposition. Apologies.

In a sense it would be like current potential WoS cup games where big clubs visit those with limited capacities. They'd just have to limit capacity for the particular match. Same, in a sense, to Scottish Cup games e.g. Aberdeen at Darvel.

With Councils frequently doing deals to hand over responsibility for sports centres etc maybe there are some good opportunities available these days for football clubs to take on a facility and bring it up to standard over time? Thorn Athletic has been criticised, rightly in my view, for the failure to play at Campbeltown, but they have done lots of good work at the sports centre which they have taken over. They deserve some pluses for getting things done there.

Isn't the athletics facility to be enclosed? If the football pitch is within that area then that would deal with that?

A good point. However, there also needs to be access for clubs to funding to improve facilities. Isn't there the SFA Trust or something like that which has a very good track record of helping clubs? Recently on P&B wasn't there mention of blocking relegation to Division 4 for Licenced clubs? Maybe Division 4 should be a Transition Division so clubs could join and have full membership but stay at the bottom level (no promotion but no blocking the next club with the facilities) until the facilities are in place to a certain agreed minimum standard? Maybe that is now what it is?

There's now more internet chatter about encircling the Russians/Wagnerites within Bakhmut. I guess that Russia will want to control or kill off Wagner & co when the War is done so they won't be too grief stricken if they are taken out of the War. However, Wagner is comprised of mercenaries who are paid to fight. Maybe someone has offered an alternative deal to the Russians' one? One where they live to fight another day, albeit for a new Pay-Master. Pure and utter speculation, of course, I admit, but that could have interesting knock-on effects. It would certainly introduce an element of surprise - if not shock.

Some clubs will come up due to better financial backing but that's always been the case in the history of leagues of any sport. Others will move up because of better organisation, management, etc. It's always been like that within the League. It's just that, in effect, the League's structure has been hugely expanded to include hundreds of clubs which wouldn't even dream of reaching the SPFL and are no threat whatever to current SPFL clubs. However, there are some clubs which see the SPFL as an achievable peak of their ambitions, someday, and some of them will, over time, make it.

(Your text in bold type) That sounds logical. However, referring to suggestions which are on the internet is not wishful thinking. It is just flagging up something which is out there on the internet. It may be non-sense or not, only time will tell.

FWIW. My take on the article is that clubs such as the OF understand that they are better off organizing matches for non-first team players etc on a one-off basis. This has been done already against a number of English clubs and seems to work. Why on earth would they persist with the Conference gimmick unless it is to be the back-door way into the SPFL?

Clubs move up and down the SPFL and everyone accepts that. Clubs have now left the SPFL and, so far, have not managed to return. That's even without the cream of the West of Scotland League's clubs being in the Lowland League. It won't be too long before more strong clubs move up into the Lowland League and from there they will move up again into the SPFL2. When a SPFL club gets relegated out of the League it is not getting back up straight away and that's because the Highland and Lowland Leagues have enough good clubs to prevent that from happening. These leagues are getting stronger too. If existing SPFL clubs are not absolutely confident that they can avoid relegation from the League then the time has come to open up the relegation trap door so that it would be easier to return if the worst comes to the worst in future. Failure to deal with this means an almost certain "No Return" Ticket to the Highland/Lowland Leagues upon relegation. It's a shame that the SPFL clubs still "don't smell the coffee". Existing clubs which are relegated out of the league are going to find it tough to return any time soon.

Would they have the playing resources (and finance) to try that? It'll cost a fair amount to sustain in SPFL2.

Wasn't there talk of Tweedmouth using the main stadium next season?

If correct then Welcome to Dumbarton St Pats. Anyone know when the AGM is being held and when the papers for that are to become accessible? Assuming that anything to do with any new club(s) or significant changes would be on these.

Brilliant, Shanner. I post the article as that is easier for me. www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/michael-beale-outlines-better-rangers-alternative-to-restrictive-and-repetitive-b-team-lowland-league-plan-4151089 Rangers Michael Beale outlines better Rangers alternative to 'restrictive and repetitive' B team Lowland League plan Michael Beale believes a return to a Reserve league with no age restrictions would serve Rangers far better than fielding a B team in either the Lowland League or the proposed Conference League. By Graeme Macpherson Published 21st May 2023, 08:30 BST The Ibrox club, Celtic and Hearts all currently field a Colts side in the fifth tier of the pyramid system ahead of the planned introduction of the contentious Conference division just below League Two from season 2024/25. That proposal is set to be voted on at the Scottish FA’s annual meeting, although Aberdeen have already ruled out entering a team. Beale feels that neither the Lowland League nor the Conference League meet Rangers’ needs and says the club’s younger players – and those recovering from long-term injuries - get more benefit from playing friendlies against other leading clubs. And he called upon Scottish football’s administrators to take inspiration from overseas when it comes to finding solutions on how best to improve young talent. The manager said: “I don’t think the Lowland League is a good bridge so we need to look at other games. In the last month or so the B Team have played Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Celtic a few times as well as Sunderland. It is important to give those boys a bridge and create an almost old fashioned reserve team where the boys who aren’t playing for me play with the young boys. The Lowland League is too restrictive as it is Under-21. So what do you do with Ianis Hagi, John Souttar, Robby McCrorie or Rabbi Matondo when they come back from injury? “Our B team play as many games as the first team so when do they mix with the first team and train with them? I understand why it has been put in but I think it is restrictive and repetitive for the players in terms of style and the stadiums they play in. For me, I would like a programme that is more creative and bespoke and can do. The club are really pushing, with other clubs, to get the teams in the pyramid like in Portugal, Holland and Germany. We have pushed and it is important the people making the decisions enable us some oxygen and light at the end of the tunnel. “We have that with the Conference League vote coming up. Will that prepare my young players to be involved in the Europa League and Champions League? Not so much. But if we can play Chelsea, Liverpool etc then I think you can somehow bridge the gap. If an academy and B team is there to support the first team, I don’t like a programme stopping the likes of Hagi and McCrorie playing games. I think it should be open age.”

War is awful and won't stop happening any time soon because anyone on P&B has any particular point of view about what is happening anywhere on the globe, let alone in the Ukraine. History tells anyone who researches the track record of the Russian Empires over hundreds of years that Russia's leaders have a bloody international and internal track record. This needs to be faced up to as failure to do so will, inevitably, send a message to the Russian leadership, whether now or in the future, that they can just do as they wish with impunity. Simples!

There are suggestions that the Wagner fighters are being drawn into positions in western Bakhmut so that they will be encircled by the Ukrainian forces and taken out of the War. The Russian leadership won't be sad to see the Wagner forces disabled as they could be a future threat to them in a post-War situation.

This conflict was started by Russia some years ago now and continued from Feb last year. They've caused hundreds of thousands of human beings to be killed, maimed and permanently disadvantaged. These human beings are not only Ukrainian but also other nationalities, including tens of thousands (or more) ethnic minorities from within current borders of Russia. ..... and why? The lust for land that you mention. Yet you criticise Ukraine for doing all it can to defend itself. In my view that's some short-sighted individual thinking - don't you get that? How many more human beings need to die or much land needs to be grabbed by Russia before some are content?

"How many millions of lives are you willing to sacrifice, so that Crimea reverts to Ukrainian control? That's not a rhetorical question. " As if the lives lost already aren't too many? Sadly, history tells us that it is necessary to learn from the past. Failure to do so costs lives now and will do so again in future, as Russia has so determinedly shown in many locations over hundreds of years. More lives will be lost as long as Russia exists in its' present style of leadership and attitude. Failure to deal with that will lead to lots more carnage in the times to come. Horrible, but it is necessary to learn from history.

Are you saying that this is why they would vote in favour of the new Conference league or are you suggesting that an expanded Div 2 or Divs 1 and 2 is what they do not want? Clearly there is a very real risk of B teams getting into the SPFL Div 2 in the medium to long term - even if the present proposal intentionally does not demand that. Any Div 1 or 2 club which doesn't take that on board is risking its' SPFL place at some time ahead.

Only nearly 70 years ago. Changes made to European countries after both World Wars aren't that much further back and plenty of countries have formed since out of the likes of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, etc. Should they re-think their status? Probably not. In any case the Russian state has a long history which includes the incorporation of other lands, whether by force or not but mainly through force. The Russians play a long-term game of expansion so if they have a net gain of any land it is a victory for them. Losing lots of temporarily occupied Ukraine in order to make a small gain doesn't seem that clever to many folk but it will be a victory, long term, for Russia. That is why Ukraine has to regain all of its land from Russia. The same concept applies to other potential Russian land-grab targets over the coming decades.

Try to look long-term. Celtic, Rangers and Hearts are all doing that with their B teams idea in a new Conference League below Division 2. They seem to believe that is a better idea than a decent Reserves and or Under 21's league which might also help other clubs. If they are right then they are creating a future long-term advantage for themselves over all other clubs. It doesn't make sense to let them add to their existing advantages of huge support etc. What happens if their B teams eventually get rule changes which allow them into Division 2? Having B teams in the SPFL lower divisions would not only kick out existing clubs but, if they rise as far as the Championship, it will relegate normal first team clubs from the Championship downward throughout the whole league, and beyond. Member clubs should not support this biased proposal by the SFA.

I’m curious to know what everyone would prefer if you had to choose: 1. No "B" teams except in Reserves/Age Group Leagues. 2. This conference league monstrosity

More or less anyone can form a limited company. It's not expensive to do. However, many do not become active and many form and close down.