Lowland league v junior league

[the tin man 55]

The eos is doing OK you have a battle for league winners imo leith will win it this year very good young side

[the tin man 55]

If easthouses had met the tranent fi last year a honestly think houses wide be top

[Shanner 2,582]

Basically nonsense but on the general decline of crowds it's already happened decades ago.

it's yet to bottom out.

[Glenconner 942]

it's yet to bottom out.

The crowds ain't.

With a handful of exceptions crowds are down to 20/30 looking on in the bottom Leagues.

Take way relatives and its committee and nothing else.

Social media doesn't really help in most cases.

Some teams seem lost on that front or there's nobody left to cater for.

Standard wise, on the wrong day a few seniors would be out the Scottish Cup.

A good player could easily say play for a local Junior team and be happy being home for 5pm rather than trail to somewhere like Castle Douglas on a Saturday playing for the Cumbernauld Colts.

[HTG 3,908]

A good player could easily say play for a local Junior team and be happy being home for 5pm rather than trail to somewhere like Castle Douglas on a Saturday playing for the Cumbernauld Colts.

That's as may be but there are bound to be plenty players in the most populous area of Scotland who would happily play non league as part of a pyramid and therfore across southern Scotland but who have had very limited opportunity. In that respect EK, CC and BSC offer something new and it's not hard to argue that a few more clubs in the west would be a good thing in terms of player options.

[Glenconner 942]

That's as may be but there are bound to be plenty players in the most populous area of Scotland who would happily play non league as part of a pyramid and therfore across southern Scotland but who have had very limited opportunity. In that respect EK, CC and BSC offer something new and it's not hard to argue that a few more clubs in the west would be a good thing in terms of player options.

Bit Chicken and Egg this.

Yep your right.

Wonder what team will go for it first.

Btw, do need to be a full member of the SFA to be in the LL.

Would most Junior grounds pass muster?

[fan of the juniors 1,465]

This nonsense about trying out something new is laughable

The only way the players will jump league is if Colts Bsc etc pay more than their junior rivals do

[Glenconner 942]

This nonsense about trying out something new is laughable

The only way the players will jump league is if Colts Bsc etc pay more than their junior rivals do

Colts Bsc pay money???

[Burnie_man 6,808]

I reckon that the current LL League / any setup will Branch out to other leagues and that we will be in amongst it through any shape or form.

Junior teams will eventually all get a sniff of it and will become involved .

The ll is good for now but it needsmore

The only way we’ll move this whole shambles forward is if the SFA admit they got the initial set-up wrong and branch the LL out in East and West Divisions – and engage pro-actively with the Junior clubs - although by the sounds of it the SPFL wouldn’t accept that.

If that was done, you move BSC, Colts, EK and Stirling Uni into the West and invite applications from the West Juniors and SoS (and give them a years notice, not a few weeks), that then frees up space in the LL East for four or five Junior applications from the East Region. If Juniors then move in significant numbers into this set-up, only then might you find the SJFA start playing ball and fit in below that structure with the EoS and SoS merged into it, they should realise at that point that the game is up as far as continued isolation is concerned.

It’s all pie in the sky though and will likely never happen. The LL with get their 16^th and last entrant next season and that will be that, it will effectively be a closed shop unless the clubs in the EoS and SoS who win the title get licenced.

[fan of the juniors 1,465]

Colts Bsc pay money???

Wouldn't know. Was replying to the comment about players trying something new

Players will play for who pays the most pure & simple

[clash city rocker 836]

The only way well move this whole shambles forward is if the SFA admit they got the initial set-up wrong and branch the LL out in East and West Divisions and engage pro-actively with the Junior clubs - although by the sounds of it the SPFL wouldnt accept that.

If that was done, you move BSC, Colts, EK and Stirling Uni into the West and invite applications from the West Juniors and SoS (and give them a years notice, not a few weeks), that then frees up space in the LL East for four or five Junior applications from the East Region. If Juniors then move in significant numbers into this set-up, only then might you find the SJFA start playing ball and fit in below that structure with the EoS and SoS merged into it, they should realise at that point that the game is up as far as continued isolation is concerned.

Its all pie in the sky though and will likely never happen. The LL with get their 16^th and last entrant next season and that will be that, it will effectively be a closed shop unless the clubs in the EoS and SoS who win the title get licenced.

All they ever wanted was a feeder league to shoot down claims that Scottish football was a closed shop. The SFA were never interested in a genuine pyramid set up. Never.

[Burnie_man 6,808]

All they ever wanted was a feeder league to shoot down claims that Scottish football was a closed shop. The SFA were never interested in a genuine pyramid set up. Never.

I dont think you're far off the mark with that,

[peasy23 4,519]

All they ever wanted was a feeder league to shoot down claims that Scottish football was a closed shop. The SFA were never interested in a genuine pyramid set up. Never.

Nail hit on head. A journalist friend told me that the only reason this was pushed through was down to certain administrators getting a bumper bonus if they could get any sort of pyramid implemented.

[LongTimeLurker 1,689]

Have seen it claimed on here by a Queen's Park supporter, who seems to know what is going on at the SFA, that Stewart Regan was the recipient of that bonus and it was even written into his contract. It has always seemed strange to me that this was pushed so hard by the SFA when even amongst the nonleague seniors it's only really Cove Rangers, Spartans and Edinburgh City that were gung ho about getting into the SFL/SPFL. Then it dawned on me who recently became the president of the SFA (Alan McRae of Cove Rangers) and may have had a major role in hiring Regan.

[Cicero 443]

All they ever wanted was a feeder league to shoot down claims that Scottish football was a closed shop. The SFA were never interested in a genuine pyramid set up. Never.

If the juniors are shut out of the pyramid structure, is that not what they want anyway? That is the impression I get from the majority of posts on here anyway.

[Hertha/BJFC1938 630]

Have seen it claimed on here by a Queen's Park supporter, who seems to know what is going on at the SFA, that Stewart Regan was the recipient of that bonus and it was even written into his contract. It has always seemed strange to me that this was pushed so hard by the SFA when even amongst the nonleague seniors it's only really Cove Rangers, Spartans and Edinburgh City that were gung ho about getting into the SFL/SPFL. Then it dawned on me who recently became the president of the SFA (Alan McRae of Cove Rangers) and may have had a major role in hiring Regan.

So you are suggesting that football is corrupt?

No way is football corrupt ;)

[Burnie_man 6,808]

If the juniors are shut out of the pyramid structure, is that not what they want anyway? That is the impression I get from the majority of posts on here anyway.

No.

As has been done to death over the last couple of years, put in place a sensible structure that the Juniors would buy into (a three Region system for example), engage directly with the clubs and explain licence requirements and the positives of joining (as opposed to a few sheets of paper circulated by the SJFA), give 12 months notice to its implementation (not a 6 weeks) and you would have had Junior clubs join – with or without SJFA support.

You do not change 120 years of history in a matter of weeks, and the haste in which this was brought in followed by the complete inactivity of the SFA since then in trying to encourage Juniors clubs to join, does lend credence to the claims of bonuses to suit the blazerati.

But let’s not rake over it all for the umpteenth time.

[kenny131 983]

I have to say this thread , has been best I read for a long time. Hahaha comedy gold.

I would love to see my home town club join the LL. The prospect that the club could eventually make its way into SPFL is a great end goal, with the prospect of getting a huge cup draw. In my opinion it's they way forward.

[parsforlife 2,253]

I have always found the 'not enough time' line to be questionable.

The prospect of a lowland league had been ongoing well before January 2013, if the junior clubs were ignoring this then can they really blame others?

Alot of the time the suggestions are the juniors wanted to dictate everything, their structure, their timescale, their entry requirements, all the while not sufficiently engaging in discussions.

You can blame that on the likes of Johnston if you want, but he is the guy you put forward on your behalf.

Just because the junior game moves slowly doesn't mean everyone should have slowed down so you could keep up.

Regardless the set-up is as it is and looks very unlikely to change, the junior game either needs to engage with it directly or alternatively have a significant block of licenced clubs (15ish) who can put themselves forward as a reason to move towards a 3-region set-up.

[itzdrk 7,515]

The only way we’ll move this whole shambles forward is if the SFA admit they got the initial set-up wrong and branch the LL out in East and West Divisions – and engage pro-actively with the Junior clubs - although by the sounds of it the SPFL wouldn’t accept that.

If that was done, you move BSC, Colts, EK and Stirling Uni into the West and invite applications from the West Juniors and SoS (and give them a years notice, not a few weeks), that then frees up space in the LL East for four or five Junior applications from the East Region. If Juniors then move in significant numbers into this set-up, only then might you find the SJFA start playing ball and fit in below that structure with the EoS and SoS merged into it, they should realise at that point that the game is up as far as continued isolation is concerned.

It’s all pie in the sky though and will likely never happen. The LL with get their 16^th and last entrant next season and that will be that, it will effectively be a closed shop unless the clubs in the EoS and SoS who win the title get licenced.

Agree(ish) but i would suggest that the LL should remain as is and you could East/West below it, then you are taking baby steps up to playing national level football if you are getting promoted.