Edinburgh Hatter

So... what was the attendance? The Kelty website looks very slick... but is still showing yesterday's match as "NEXT FIXTURE" rather than "RESULT", so no details there.

Yes, good to see the Uni along with yourselves "doing the right thing" re the OF Colts. You're maybe right about the Uni not having the full student intake to pick from yet, but I'm not sure it would really be that much of a game changer... the Uni didn't pull up any trees last year either, as I recall. I suspect that (with the model the club operates under) they'll find their appropriate level sooner rather than later. Hopefully, that'll be in the EOS Premier, but I'd not risk my bijou residence on it... From the games I've seen over the last couple of seasons, there are at least 3 or 4 teams currently in the EOS Premier who would be able to hold their own in the Lowland League, and you can probably add another 5 or 6 from the WOS Premier, who are possibly even stronger. As things stand, just ONE of these teams MAY get promoted to the Lowland this season. At that rate, it might take a decade to sort out those Lowland teams who are currently playing at a level which is arguably some way above their merits. To put it kindly. But I suspect we may not have seen the end of the tinkering yet... more SPFL teams will be looking favourably at the Colts idea, and the creation of a Lowland 2, in part to accommodate them, may not be far away. We live in interesting times!

Enjoyed the game too... though it was rather men against boys! Rose were never going to concede a goal, let alone lose. I've watched the Uni 3 times this season, and their best performance to date was in a 3-3 draw in a pre-season friendly at Musselburgh. They play neat football but really lack any cutting edge up front... I guess they are more out of the old Corinthian mould than (for example) Stirling Uni! Which is OK, but when you consider the excellent facilities at Peffermill, and the sheer size of Edinburgh Uni as an institution, might be seen as underachieving somewhat. But then for lots of reasons we don't have the sort of sporting ethos in this country where students are encouraged to buy into supporting their own Uni's teams: here, it's basically about taking part (great, if you can!) and... very little else. There's no attempt made (at least, not that I have seen) to drum up significant regular support, and to a sizeable proportion of the student body (especially those from overseas) that might seem a bit strange. Or maybe not... I suspect the Uni will just scrape enough points to stay up this season, provided they can avoid defeat to VoL. Some achievement! But unless there is a radical shift in the way the club is structured/funded (even by simply establishing an adequate number of sports scholarships, for example) there's only one way they are headed. The Lowland League's disgracefully self-interested attitude to increasing the number relegation places will only save them (and quite a few others) for so long. Attendance on Saturday? I guessed around 350-400? But could have been more. Good luck for the rest of the season!

Do you do the lottery numbers?!

Any plans for seats, or more cover? And if so, where?

Doesn't seem to get updated much recently... it's all very well asking for contributions to be sent in (as opposed to being proactive and checking things for yourself, though I realise this takes a fair bit of time!) But when images are sent in... nothing seems to happen! Which is unfortunate, as there have been some very significant developments, at quite a number of clubs, over the last couple of seasons. Floodlights, seats, covered enclosures and formerly open grounds being enclosed, to name just a few. So consequently some of the info on the site is now well past its sell-by date.

Don't bother! It's still in the state it was several months ago: I took this pic on 4 November 2020. No roof, no back wall and no seats yet (I'm assuming it's actually going to be a seated stand, as the treads are quite deep). There does appear to have been a bit more work done there recently on what looks like a fairly substantial media platform, on the halfway line next to the new stand. And I'm not sure what's happening on the low grass bank along the rest of that side... from a distance, it looks a bit chewed up. I did wonder if it was perhaps going to be terraced, but it could equally just be where they dumped any spare material when this wee stand was being built. Who knows? Haven't found any mention of all this on the Spartans website, etc. You'd think they might want to publicise what will be, by any standards, a real improvement in facilities. But no... I did idly speculate that it might even be their tenants Edinburgh City who were building this stuff, having decided the new Meadowbank is going to be rubbish from a football-watching point of view. But they don't give any info away either.

You should put a few images of Holm Park on the Clydebank website! And I don't just mean images which are taken during matches, but ones which specifically show the facilities you have and the improvements made (and planned). Folk are naturally interested in these sorts of details (you've only to look at the number of times the same query or topic is raised on sites like these, when a bit of definite info from the club concerned would save folk going round and round in circles of misinformation). Surely any club would want to highlight progress they have made? And with a decent presence on social media, including the club website, how difficult is it to take a picture or three and post them? Clydebank certainly aren't the only club who are missing a trick when it comes to boosting their image, for free, to a wider audience. Over the past few months, there have been significant developments at various levels in the lower pyramid. A few examples: it has taken many months for images of a stand under construction last spring at Broughty Athletic to hit their website; Queen's Park's media coverage of the major refurbishment of Lesser Hampden is woeful: poorly presented and outdated, and Spartans (or could it be their tenants?!) are currently building a sizeable new stand and media platform at Ainslie Park. But unless you've actually been there, you would know absolutely nothing about it. A picture, as they say, tells a thousand words! Just a suggestion.

But... surely that's the whole point of a pyramid system (or at an even more basic level, of the principle of promotion and relegation)? To allow teams to move up or down till they reach a level they are comfortable with, and can hopefully be competitive at. Not to operate as a quasi closed shop, forever finding (often flimsy) excuses for salvaging teams which are patently out of their depth, and have been for a considerable time. And for the sake of balance... not to prevent (via self-interested gerrymandering) ambitious clubs being able to progress in the other direction, provided of course they get it right both on and off the field.

True.... but why on earth would you go to the trouble of sourcing funding, getting planning permission and installing all the equipment for something which isn't going to perform to the required spec?

If you look at the doc "proposed site plan", there are 5 lighting columns shown, with just 2 of them being on the stand side. There's a small text panel on the plan which describes all columns as being hinged, 18M tall, and having LED lights.

Don't think it'll take that long: I reckon the pyramid will be a very different beast within the next 6 or 7 years at the most.

All really laudable stuff... I just wish folk would learn how to spell LICENCE (the noun, not the verb)! Perhaps they now have American backers?

Sorry if this has already been noted on this site somewhere, but I certainly haven't seen it... On the East RegionJunior site home page there is: "The East Region of the SJFA is looking to build on a successful and competitive system, as we become part of the SFA Pyramid (Tier 6) and are inviting new clubs to join us for the 2019/20 season". ???!!!