tellyboy

FT Montrose Roselea 2 (Thomson 16 63) Lochee Utd 4 (Hay 29 pen 65 Linn 43 Moore 78) Very attractive match to watch in front of Roseleas biggest ever gate at Links Park (est 200). Roselea took the lead and looked like being the usual thorn in Lochee Utds side. Two goal before HT saw Lochee go in ahead at the break. Thomson again scored to draw Roselea level then a very contested penalty saw Hay push the ball past keeper Irvine and out of the pitch when the referee awarded the pen. Hay converted with Irvine almost getting to it. Craig Moore struck a sweet low shot from 20 yards to seal it for Lochee Utd who had a nervy final few moments and were glad to hear the whistle. A good performance from Roselea and they have made great progress this season competing with the top clubs.

Game in the balance until the 73 minute when a flurry of penalties were awarded - 3 in fact in 11 minutes. Whilst you could see why they were given you could also argue the case why each wouldnt be given. No doubting Broughty Ath are a good young team and deserved the win overall but a helping hand is always helpful. Looking at the facilities they cannot be far off a Licence but cannot answer if they are potentially looking at it

From our time in the North that would be correct. Very little appetire for travel to Dundee which is what I would have wanted for the original Superleages in 2002/3 and can still see how it work but can also see why the in rapidly changing face of the Pyramid it could be here today and gone tomorrow? As far as other teams joining the Midlands 3/4 of the North Fife teams must be interested? St Andrews unless they have massive East Pyramid aims must surely be tempted by 15 mile trips over the Tay and derby with Tayport rather than 120 mile trips to the Borders? a couple of Amateur step ups would see 24/26 teams and two Midland Leagues until a few move to the Highland League!

Have experienced this feeling at Italy 1990. Stayed near Rimini and all the bars, fans enjoyed a ball the whole two weeks but sadly a day after our exit the Engerlund started to arrive and the atmosphere changed not for the good although there was no trouble. You could see the hard working bar and restaurant owners change their mood and wanted us to stay. It was almost like a War film when the Germans arrived in French/Italin towns in Tanks and plundered. I will wait for the draw and see where "they" are before booking my destination. Italia 90 wonderful but the last couple of days just wanted out of there. Gabici Mare was the small resort we stayed and a lovley place would go back again

How about St Andrews a mere 15 miles from Dundee, Newburgh and the north Fife clubs who all face long jounrneys to the Borders at times making the shift? I suppose its a big move as things can change very quickly as we well know and your boundaries become shorter/longer at the click of a fingers as we well know. Surely up to the SFA/SJFA to have meaningful discussions to sort these things out but dont hold your breath!

Good summary of the game and Brechin Vics certainly improving. Roselea playing well and as well as looking to beat teams around them I dont think any of the top 5-6 will relish playing them this season. Long way to go before we challenge for honours in this League but certainly improved on last 3-4 seasons with the new players coming in. As you say good to see the link up with Montrose FC working well and hopefully pays dividends for all as per the vision of 15 years ago. Good to catch up and you are welcome to come and support as any time!

What is the format for the draw as heard it was said on Saturday there are 115 teams entering with 15 receiving a bye to 2nd Round so 100 will be in the draw however that wont work as would mean 50 plus 15 in the second round. Not easy I guess?

Montrose Roselea still have first call on the use of Broomfield Park as a back up but hopefully some fixtures may be changed once the SPFL release their fixtures on the 30th June. I am sure most teams will want to play on Links Park which is a great surface & stadium. Roselea have still always had to play 3-4 games a season mainly Scottish Cup ties on Broomfield Park which in its own right is still an excellent facilty and well maintained surface.

AGM was last night and fixtures to be released this week at some point with start date Sat July 22nd and 5 midweek matches to get ahead of schedule. Montrose Roselea admitted back into the Midlands as expected.

Please dont move us back again, we are starting to get dizzy as it is!! Does kind of make sense and there could still be a bit more of Mike Reids "Runaround Now" until the Pyramid settles. Montrose Roselea as a club have shown to be adaptable and will continue to do so if it benefits Lower League football

Two Teams still down and 5 to be promoted from Championship

Levein did contribute in a big way as no Scotland Manager ever again will attempt to play 4-6-0 (Or we hope not)!

The draw for the 1st Round of the Quest Inter Regional Cup played between Tayside and North teams was made at Stonehaven on Sunday. The ties are due to be played on Sat Nov 12th 2022 and second round once drawn on Sat 10th December 2022. The first two rounds see the regions whittled down to 8 and drawn against each other at the last 16 stage Full Draw: Stoneywood Parkvale v Culter Montrose Roselea v Banchory St Ternan Maud v Cruden Bay Buchanhaven Hearts v Banks o Dee JFC Stonehaven v Deveronside Rothie Rovers v Longside Sunnybank v Nairn Bridge of Don v Lossiemouth Utd Ellon utd v Aberdeen Uni Colony Park v East End Dyce v Dufftown Glentanar v New Elgin Foress Thistle v Newmachar Byes Hermes, Islavale & Fraserburgh

Was at this as a neutral and thoroughly enjoyed it played at a decent tempo. Impressed with young Tosh who scored the first for the Fed and set up second. Screamer for Carnoustie then the sending off changed it all. There could have been a red before that for a Carnoustie player for a punch but happened in a flash so could have that wrong. For me the penlaty was soft but maybe clumsy more than deliberate however my friends thought it might have been. Only one winner from there and harsh on Broughty who deserved at least a point. Two good teams and highly entertaining for £6. One small picky point was the amount of weeds in the corner of the pitch beside the Pie hut. Surely they could be removed or sprayed as were very unsighlty (on the pitch not the surrounding). Still a great set up at Carnoustie and has the pitch been moved over a few yards from the far side as cant remember the gap between the banking and pitch being so wide?

Brechin City are latest Angus club to consider the Astro route to engage further with the Community

Was at this and East Craigie were exceptional and may even go as far as saying they are the best Junior side I have ever seen football wise (there have been other effective teams like Talbot and Tayport of past who knew how to win games). Size wise Tayport had a massive back four and East Craigie were small all over the park. They just passed and made great decisions 95% of the time. Should have been six when they missed a near open goal near time. Very good to watch and Tayport could do nothing to stop them. Can see how they went to Banks o Dee and won 3-0 which not many sides could do BTW Ivo I met Eddie by chance on Weds on the train on the way to Hampden (he was away to sons birthday party) and he was asking for you. Said he has a lot of time for you and respects your views on the game as I do as well. Nice to be respected. Wondered about your Balkan states background and choice of cheapy cars. He was in great form despite being restriced after his health scare.

The top 14 in the Superleague minus Banks o Dee who should move to the Highland League and Deveronside who will be relegated to the Championship. Add in Stonehaven and Stoneywood Parkvale who were promoted from Division 1 and you have 14 for this season in the Premier League. All the rest from the lower divisions 1 & 2 with any new clubs will be in the Championship. See here for current teams and standings https://northregion-jfa.pitchero.com/match-info/tables 4 up and two down next season to take the Premier League up to 16 however if there was a relegation from the Highland League one less clubd would come up from the Championship. There might even be a playoff between 3rd bottom Premier and 5th in the Championship but cant confirm that.

That is correct but they have also kept access to their old ground Broomfield Park for fixture clashes with Montrose FC. I guess that sharing at HL level would be allowed the same in as Lowland League clubs like East Stirling etc. The only thing would be that they would need permission from MFC to have access to play midweeks and Fridays should the necessity arise and that would mean bookings for Youth teams etc would be cancelled. Do they have the appetitie to do so? Very doubtful as would mean a Highland League side competing for Sponsorship and fan base with a Division 1 SFL club and that is hard as it is. Very tempting to get a Licence and try for the Scottish Cup all the same. Think they will see how the Pyramid shapes up before making any moves.

If there is a relegated Highland League side then one less side is promoted from the Championship to Premier as a contingency

Heard it was pretty unanimous. There was an intitial vote for two divisions v three and then the Management option for 2 Leagues v one from a club. There was little difference between the 2 and the Club one was voted in as per above. Montrose Roselea seem happy in the North and have not made any approach to the Midlands. There is very little difference in travel (bar Nairn and Banff) especially with the new Aberdeen bypass. It has been mentioned that had they stuck around in the East Region they would have landed in the Midlands League however if the Midlands clubs had got what they wanted then they would have been stuck in a League with more travel and Fife/Lothians teams. Isnt hindsight wonderful!

Just Spey Valley and Buckie who have both kept membership but no definite word on return and rumours of Lossiemouth United making a comeback. There have been a couple of enquiries from Amateur teams and word on Ground sharing which might not work (fall outs etc). The plan is to go from 14 to 16 after the end of the first season so would reduce the lower league to a more managable level.

The North/Tayside combined Superleague was discussed but never got off the ground. The SJFA did put forward another idea where the top 8 from both Regions at the halfway stage in their respective Leagues would combine to play each other once to decide the Playoff entrant (if Licencesed). That again didnt get off the ground. One issue could be that some teams will not have reached the half way stage due to Cups and postponments and delay the second half of the season. Good idea all the same but not for everyone. There was a North Region Meeting yesterday and the outcome was the creation of two Divisions the Premier and Championship from the current three Leagues. The top (Premier League) will consist of 14 teams for season 2022/23 but will move to 16 in season 2023/24 by having two relegated and four promoted from the Championship. There are 31 teams in the North now and if Banks o Dee beat Fort William in the two playoff games then Maud will survive being relegated. There might be some issues if the teams in abeyance rejoin and some new teams come in as the lower League could become too big as will start with 16 as it is at the moment.

Nairn would possibly be a casulty of such a move if they could not afford the travel but could also stay at Level 6 by going to North Caledonian League. Neither is ideal I have to admit and there will always be one or two teams affected by boundary moves. Footnote we have a lot of good friends in Nairn and our clubs get on well so wouldnt want to lose that bond

This was discussed at a North Region Meeting in Feb this year but did not attract much interest from the North. It was suggested by the SJFA that the top 8 from Midlands and top 8 from the North could face off in a Superleague after each Region had played each other once (Roughly two 16-18 Teams_ the remainder would then play for a watered down North & Midlands League Trophy in their own Leagues). The winner of the Superleague would then be the team to play off with the winner North Caledonian League (if both licencesed)for the right to play in the Highland League Play off. The next season all clubs would return to their own Regional Leagues again and play each other once and repeat the 8 v 8 play off. Refreshing in my eyes but not for everyone (harder to get to the Highland League and contrdictory more travel to Dundee was cited?) We have been a long advocate of this for the obvious geographical reasons that suits us however when the 6 old Junior Regions were divided up eg North/Tayside/Fife/ East/Central and Ayrshire for me if you were dividing it up into 3 New Regions 6/2 = 3 however I can totally see how the Dundee sides fancied the £££s floating about in the East and decided to form a massive three regions into one and leaving the North on their own, Forward 20 years and we now see the Midlands clambering to join the Highlands after a snub from the breakaway East of Scotland League, Things change And just as an add on we proposed no Scottish Junor Cup repalys in rounds 1-4 in 2008 and asking for draws to be made a round in advance (to promote the Junior game and make ties more exciting) only to be rediculed at the time and what do we have now? Progress 14 years too late to make the Junior game more Professional The Junior game is finished. Lets just dish out the £500k Bond to those who are members and (hangers on) and move on to the Non League set up that is now empoering the Scottish Non League game to its betterment, I could add but hopefully we can all move forward and embrace the new Non League Semi Proefssional level or whaterver we call it as it is improving and £500k in a Bond does nothing for football at the present?

Bridge of Don Thistle have longer term plans to build a stadium as part of a 1,000 or so new housing scheme in Bridge of Don. Not sure how long that will take to come round though.