Jump to content

Team 16?

edinabear

By edinabear
in Lowland League

Recommended Posts

HTG

HTG

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, Rab B Nesbit said:

Very limited is better than nowhere at all though. And if relegated we'd go back to the East of Scotland League. 

Of course it is but we're talking about tier 5 of Scottish football here and if we're all honest about it we should really be aspiring to better than a scenario where you win your tier 5 title but still need to go through (and win) the play off games. And at the bottom of tier 5 absolutely nothing happens in the north whilst the tier below in the south still contains a significant number of clubs who cannot move up. 

Blackburn would need junior football to open up to the amateur game but they do have the opportunity to move to a consistently higher standard of football even within the framework in which they play. 

Clubs like mine don't of course and I personally find that dispiriting - back to the circular argument. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 743
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Redstarstranraer

Redstarstranraer

Posted
Posted

The above is important for me.  Definitely think that the Lowland League (and the Highland League for that matter) would gain a lot from there being an automatic and a playoff relegation spot in League Two as happens in the other upper tiers.  Evidently the problem then becomes how you a manage this if say an Elgin City is relegated to presumably the HL and an East Kilbride is promoted from the LL, but the potential for that problem to occur already exists in the pyramid as it stands at present.  What it would do is provide extra interest in all the leagues as (hopefully) teams were to cycle more regularly from tiers 4 to 5.  It would also raise the profile of tier 5 if more 'established' clubs were to feature more regularly and hopefully garner a little bit more media coverage.  Importantly it would show the more ambitious juniors and other clubs that might want to get involved in the pyramid that there was a decent opportunity of progression if they had that ambition.

At the moment we have a pyramid (finally) but it barely functions in the bottom two tiers.  Evidently whatever system you devise will have an absolute floor beneath which it's impossible to sink and improving the sixth tier in the south as it stands seems a difficult task, nor is it evident the Highland League clubs want or would agree to a sixth tier at that level.  The relative stagnation that the current system promotes between tiers four and five ought to be a problem easily solved, however.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Burnie_man

Burnie_man

Posted
Posted
Very limited is better than nowhere at all though. And if relegated we'd go back to the East of Scotland League. 

Where do you go if you finish bottom of the EoS? The EoS is equivalent to the South Division if you're trying to make comparisons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rab B Nesbit

Rab B Nesbit

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

Where do you go if you finish bottom of the EoS? The EoS is equivalent to the South Division if you're trying to make comparisons.

To the Edinburgh Evening News and put an advert in inviting applications for a new manager. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Mantis

The Mantis

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, HTG said:

Of course it is but we're talking about tier 5 of Scottish football here and if we're all honest about it we should really be aspiring to better than a scenario where you win your tier 5 title but still need to go through (and win) the play off games. 

Absolutely, but I understand the same thing happened in England at first. When your league becomes more credible, i.e. When there is more traffic between it and SPFL, then you have  a stronger bargaining position. For the first couple of years I was at the LL meetings representing WW and that's how the EOSL/SOSL relegation thing came about - by negotiation. They suggested what they thought should happen and it was discussed and voted on.

FWIW, even though I support WW I've spoken up for the Juniors a few times on these boards. The solution for TJ seems to be the same as for Sir Peter - a wee drop paraquat in his pint.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Burnie_man

Burnie_man

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, newcastle broon said:

The question was have gone defunct or went junior.

Threave are very much alive. 

They did withdraw from the league though, and have been "lost" to the LL for the time being as they decided it wasn't for them, similar to clubs being lost to the Juniors or folding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rab B Nesbit

Rab B Nesbit

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

Thanks, that's a good increase. We are at the 60/70 mark at the moment.

It is and one of the many positives of the Lowland League. Looking forward to WW progressing further in the set up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lionel hutz

lionel hutz

Posted
Posted

It's quite irritating actually, how football league system in this country has three systems.

Like pretty much everyone else in this thread I think the Juniors and Seniors should amalgamate into a proper pyramid (and the amateurs evenutally).

However, even if the LL clubs agree to having a three region systems there would still be problems:

  1. What are the entry requirements for tier 5? A License, floodlights, recent footballing history, will there be a grace period for junior clubs?
  2. Clubs in the West, will junior clubs like Meadow and Troon accept a place below the pyramid than Cumbernauld or BSC?
  3. Promotion and relegation? Mandatory or Optional
  4. Scottish Cup Entry, how many teams will be allowed to enter.

Knowing how frivilous some clubs can be with negotiation and progress (lack of floodlights in the juniors), it could take 5 years to sort these out.

The Best bet (that the SPFL may agree to) would be to have a 4-way play-off for promotion between Club 42, HL winners, East Prem winners and West Prem winners.

Ignoring the North for the moment in the leagues could look like:

East Prem (16): Spartans, Vale, East Stirlingshire, WW, HRA, University of Stirling, Gala, Edin Uni, CSS, Preston, Selkirk, Kelty, Bonnyrigg, Broughty, Boness and Linlithgow

West Prem (16): EK, Cumbernauld, Dalbeattie Star, BSC, Gretna, Kirkintilloch, Glenafton, Hurlford, Pollok, Arthurlie, Auchinleck Talbot,  Beith,  Cumnock,  Troon,  Kilwinning, Kilbirnie Ladeside

Of the Juniors, Only one of those clubs has a license, and at least  a few are nowhere near one.

So there needs to be a grace period for clubs to get upto scratch and the SFA really need to intervene to sort this clusterfuck out

Link to comment
Share on other sites
calmac25

calmac25

Posted
Posted
It's quite irritating actually, how football league system in this country has three systems.

Like pretty much everyone else in this thread I think the Juniors and Seniors should amalgamate into a proper pyramid (and the amateurs evenutally).

However, even if the LL clubs agree to having a three region systems there would still be problems:

  1. What are the entry requirements for tier 5? A License, floodlights, recent footballing history, will there be a grace period for junior clubs?
  2. Clubs in the West, will junior clubs like Meadow and Troon accept a place below the pyramid than Cumbernauld or BSC?
  3. Promotion and relegation? Mandatory or Optional
  4. Scottish Cup Entry, how many teams will be allowed to enter.
Knowing how frivilous some clubs can be with negotiation and progress (lack of floodlights in the juniors), it could take 5 years to sort these out.

The Best bet (that the SPFL may agree to) would be to have a 4-way play-off for promotion between Club 42, HL winners, East Prem winners and West Prem winners.

Ignoring the North for the moment in the leagues could look like:

East Prem (16): Spartans, Vale, East Stirlingshire, WW, HRA, University of Stirling, Gala, Edin Uni, CSS, Preston, Selkirk, Kelty, Bonnyrigg, Broughty, Boness and Linlithgow

West Prem (16): EK, Cumbernauld, Dalbeattie Star, BSC, Gretna, Kirkintilloch, Glenafton, Hurlford, Pollok, Arthurlie, Auchinleck Talbot,  Beith,  Cumnock,  Troon,  Kilwinning, Kilbirnie Ladeside

Of the Juniors, Only one of those clubs has a license, and at least  a few are nowhere near one.

So there needs to be a grace period for clubs to get upto scratch and the SFA really need to intervene to sort this clusterfuck out


I agree with much of what you are saying. The solution to promotion is to adjust/combine tiers 3&4 to make a bigger league that could allow 3 or 4 promotion/relegation places. This was suggested a couple of years ago and met with the usual derision by lower SPFL clubs but I feel every league needs to make some concessions to sort it out. I know it's unpopular but if the addition of under 20's sides helped this to happen then I would be for it.

I also think that licencing is very important and has to be tied into any changes that happen. The east west split as you have it could have A grace period of maybe 2 years and then artificially inflate the top 32 licenced clubs into the top divisions after that. This would ensure the top teams couldn't afford to sit back and do nothing.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
parsforlife

parsforlife

Posted
Posted
It's quite irritating actually, how football league system in this country has three systems.

Like pretty much everyone else in this thread I think the Juniors and Seniors should amalgamate into a proper pyramid (and the amateurs evenutally).

However, even if the LL clubs agree to having a three region systems there would still be problems:

  1. What are the entry requirements for tier 5? A License, floodlights, recent footballing history, will there be a grace period for junior clubs?
  2. Clubs in the West, will junior clubs like Meadow and Troon accept a place below the pyramid than Cumbernauld or BSC?
  3. Promotion and relegation? Mandatory or Optional
  4. Scottish Cup Entry, how many teams will be allowed to enter.
Knowing how frivilous some clubs can be with negotiation and progress (lack of floodlights in the juniors), it could take 5 years to sort these out.




Entry licence for all tier 5 clubs, this doesn't currently require floodlights. Licence required on day 1. Can't drop current standards that clubs have worked towards because others haven't.

Clubs in the west will have to accept it, if we assume top 8 super league could get given entry into LL West then failing to finish in the positions gives you little option to moan. Mandatory promotion. A successful pyramid should always allow comfortable steps between levels. All - in Scottish Cup, entry point influenced by licence level. Licencing system expanded to have levels achievable for all clubs, each tier has set requirements and this applies evenly to all leagues at that level.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...