Junior football, what is the future?

[Sergeant Wilson]

15 minutes ago, GordonS said:

Have you never had a manager?

Surely we've all had the experience of cringing while a senior manager talks a load of shite, when they know you're much more knowledgeable than them and they should just pass the question to you.

That the SFA is led by a shower of self-serving ignorant blowhards should come as a surprise to no-one.

Aye, it was partially rhetorical, but I've not had many as bad as these.

I would've loved the opportunity to counter Maxwell's "achievement" speech.

 off the top of my head...employing McLeish, sacking McLeish, colt teams, project brave, challenge cup, before we start on pyramid and licensing.

[GordonS]

35 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Aye, it was partially rhetorical, but I've not had many as bad as these.

I would've loved the opportunity to counter Maxwell's "achievement" speech.

 off the top of my head...employing McLeish, sacking McLeish, colt teams, project brave, challenge cup, before we start on pyramid and licensing.

The shambolic handling of the decision to buy Hampden and their failure to recognise Glasgow City Council's rights are particular highlights for me.

Apparently the SFA don't have enough money to send the U20s to Toulon either. Scottish football has around the 10th highest revenue in Europe and the SFA are short of cash. They really can't get anything right.

[Robert James]

12 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Did the ERSJFA clubs know that a split format meant no tier 6 entry when they took part in the restructure survey? If Rod Petrie is correct in saying that the SJFA were informed of that a long time ago that could be interpreted as a decision against pyramid entry along the same lines as is reported to have happened with the NRSJFA.

Suggestion -

Check the accuracy of the 'split format'  ruling  with Rod Petrie/Ian Maxwell directly  (and not through either the SJFA. or the EoSL). to verify if the above is correct .

Check with the LL Secretary (David Baxter) for confirmation as to whether or not, the EoS will accept late applications, and if so, will Tier 6 "conferences"  be guaranteed for any such (late) pyramid applicants for 2019/20.

Alternatively, ask your club to confirm if it no longer wishes to join the pyramid, and  instead, intends to remain with the SJFA,  playing in the East's split  divisions, as recently agreed by the ERJFA,   

[Burnie_man]

The shambolic handling of the decision to buy Hampden and their failure to recognise Glasgow City Council's rights are particular highlights for me.
Apparently the SFA don't have enough money to send the U20s to Toulon either. Scottish football has around the 10th highest revenue in Europe and the SFA are short of cash. They really can't get anything right.

They dont. Semi-finalists at last two tournaments and a good grounding for new u21 players, but money going to womens team instead, not enough for both. Gemmill not happy.

[GordonS]

20 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

2 hours ago, GordonS said:

The shambolic handling of the decision to buy Hampden and their failure to recognise Glasgow City Council's rights are particular highlights for me.
Apparently the SFA don't have enough money to send the U20s to Toulon either. Scottish football has around the 10th highest revenue in Europe and the SFA are short of cash. They really can't get anything right.

They dont. Semi-finalists at last two tournaments and a good grounding for new u21 players, but money going to womens team instead, not enough for both. Gemmill not happy.

Then Gemmill can f**k off.

The women are bringing in about £1.5 million from FIFA for qualifying for the World Cup. That's before sponsorship and anything they could get for progressing from the group.

The men are bringing in nothing from anyone because they never qualify.

If football were funded the way Olympic sports are in Britain the men's side would be gutted and the women's team would be getting boosted.

As for the "successful" U21s, no, not really. Scotland has for decades achieved much more at youth grade football than in men's football, because we may not be able to trap a bag of sand and every second touch is a tackle, but by God do we learn how to hold our position and not take any risks. While the rest of Europe is learning technique in small sided, non-competitive matches we're learning to play 4-4-2 and tackle anything that moves from the age of 10. I watch a lot of age-grade football and I've watched countries pass us in technique, one after the other. We were so far out of our depth against Portugal at St Mirren last month it was embarrassing. We grafted our way through but once their boys learn how to play full-size football, we're totally screwed.

Have a dig through wiki for the squads of teams that qualified for age-grade finals in the same years Scotland did. You'll recognise a lot of the names of players in the squads of other countries, and if you click through the names you'll find the clear majority had decent professional careers. Dig through the Scotland squads and you'll find very few who made a full-time living from football at all. Eejits think our lack of progression is because those boys don't get drilled enough in men's football. That's nonsense. It's because they never learn technique.

And it's no coincidence that our best players often didn't play much age-grade international football. Andrew Robertson got 4 U21 caps and nothing before that. Ryan Fraser got 6 caps at U19s but nothing younger. Keiran Tierney has one U18, four U19 and no U20/21 caps. We're relying on luck and individual perseverance to create our best players.

Our male youth football system doesn't work. And the suggestion it's somehow being let down because the women are finally getting a few crumbs from the table is a joke.

[GordonS]

I think I'm supposed to say /rant over now, or "Parklife!" or something.

Anyway, back to non-league football...

[Truthteller]

37 minutes ago, GordonS said:

I think I'm supposed to say /rant over now, or "Parklife!" or something.

Anyway, back to non-league football...

Fud

[AlanCamelonfan]

7 hours ago, Robert James said:

Suggestion -

Check the accuracy of the 'split format'  ruling  with Rod Petrie/Ian Maxwell directly  (and not through either the SJFA. or the EoSL). to verify if the above is correct .

Check with the LL Secretary (David Baxter) for confirmation as to whether or not, the EoS will accept late applications, and if so, will Tier 6 "conferences"  be guaranteed for any such (late) pyramid applicants for 2019/20.

Alternatively, ask your club to confirm if it no longer wishes to join the pyramid, and  instead, intends to remain with the SJFA,  playing in the East's split  divisions, as recently agreed by the ERJFA,   

Any new applicants are tier 7

[Burnie_man]

9 hours ago, GordonS said:

Then Gemmill can f**k off.

The women are bringing in about £1.5 million from FIFA for qualifying for the World Cup. That's before sponsorship and anything they could get for progressing from the group.

The men are bringing in nothing from anyone because they never qualify.

If football were funded the way Olympic sports are in Britain the men's side would be gutted and the women's team would be getting boosted.

As for the "successful" U21s, no, not really. Scotland has for decades achieved much more at youth grade football than in men's football, because we may not be able to trap a bag of sand and every second touch is a tackle, but by God do we learn how to hold our position and not take any risks. While the rest of Europe is learning technique in small sided, non-competitive matches we're learning to play 4-4-2 and tackle anything that moves from the age of 10. I watch a lot of age-grade football and I've watched countries pass us in technique, one after the other. We were so far out of our depth against Portugal at St Mirren last month it was embarrassing. We grafted our way through but once their boys learn how to play full-size football, we're totally screwed.

Have a dig through wiki for the squads of teams that qualified for age-grade finals in the same years Scotland did. You'll recognise a lot of the names of players in the squads of other countries, and if you click through the names you'll find the clear majority had decent professional careers. Dig through the Scotland squads and you'll find very few who made a full-time living from football at all. Eejits think our lack of progression is because those boys don't get drilled enough in men's football. That's nonsense. It's because they never learn technique.

And it's no coincidence that our best players often didn't play much age-grade international football. Andrew Robertson got 4 U21 caps and nothing before that. Ryan Fraser got 6 caps at U19s but nothing younger. Keiran Tierney has one U18, four U19 and no U20/21 caps. We're relying on luck and individual perseverance to create our best players.

Our male youth football system doesn't work. And the suggestion it's somehow being let down because the women are finally getting a few crumbs from the table is a joke.

The men teams is the main income streams for the SFA, at the moment that is ticket sales and sponsorship.  The potential £1.5m from the Womens World Cup will merely help offset the cost of funding what is an amateur game with little or no return. This send off game at Hampden against Jamaica wont turn a profit, it will cost the SFA money. It costs SFA money to stage home qualifiers (no profit in it) and of course it costs to send them to away games.

"The men are bringing in nothing from anyone because they never qualify."  is complete bunkum, it's the mens game that subsidises the womens game.

So if we agree the mens team is one of the main income streams we need to try and improve it to help all parts of the game, and that is bringing through players of which the U21’s and below is an important part (inc Toulon Tournament, where Ireland are taking our place). We all moan that Scotland isn’t producing players, well we wont do that by underfunding the youth side and I understand why Gemmill isn't happy.

So to bring this back to being half relevant to this topic, we should be concerned the SFA is having to pick and choose what it funds, that suggests that the SFA are not doing enough and making bad financial choices, and the Maxwell/Petrie combo doesn't inspire confidence that this is going to change soon.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Burnie_man

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

That the sfa dont turn a profit with 30,000 at hampden paying £30/£40 a skull is madness.

[Burnie_man]

3 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

That the sfa dont turn a profit with 30,000 at hampden paying £30/£40 a skull is madness.

I'd think they probably do.

I note that they had time last week to appoint a new non-exec Board member, a former Aberdeen player (never heard of him) who is in the financial industry.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48049133

 

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by Burnie_man

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I'd think they probably do.
I note that they had time last week to appoint a new non-exec Board member, a former Aberdeen player (never heard of him) who is in the financial industry.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48049133
 
 

You just said it costs them money? Which is it?

[craigkillie]

You just said it costs them money? Which is it?

He was talking about the women's game, which is £5 a head and where they'll probably (quite rightly) give away a ton of tickets to boost the attendance.

[Burnie_man]

7 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

You just said it costs them money? Which is it?

The Scotland v Jamiaca ladies "send off" game at Hampden.  It's £5 to get in, but SSC members get in for free and a raft of tickets will be handed out free to Ladies/girls clubs.

Not saying it's wrong, I was just making the point that the mens game subsidises the womens game as it currently stands.

Way off topic though so I'll leave it there.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

The Scotland v Jamiaca ladies "send off" game at Hampden.  It's £5 to get in, but SSC members get in for free and a raft of tickets will be handed out free to Ladies/girls clubs.
Not saying it's wrong, I was just making the point that the mens game subsidises the womens game as it currently stands.
Way off topic though so I'll leave it there.

Fair enough i misread you. However stewarding and policing costs will be minimal so I dont think it’ll be any huge loss, folks will still buy programs and food etc so im sure theyll recoup most costs.

[Robert James]

4 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

The Scotland v Jamiaca ladies "send off" game at Hampden.  It's £5 to get in, but SSC members get in for free and a raft of tickets will be handed out free to Ladies/girls clubs.

Not saying it's wrong, I was just making the point that the mens game subsidises the womens game as it currently stands.

Way off topic though so I'll leave it there.

Back on topic........ are individual AGM's held for the  West, East and North Regions  before the AGM for the SJFA ? To what extent does the SJFA have a veto over the decisions made individually by the three regional Associations ? 

Is the SFA Board expected (or required ?) to meet before  the AGM's of the Lowland, EoSL, and SoSL are held ? To what extent, if any, do the SFA Board's decisions about the pyramid and licensing, need to be approved/ratified at the SFA 's (full) annual meeting ?

Have any of the above AGM dates been set  ?

[GNU_Linux]

Back on topic........ are individual AGM's held for the  West, East and North Regions  before the AGM for the SJFA ? To what extent does the SJFA have a veto over the decisions made individually by the three regional Associations ? 
Is the SFA Board expected (or required ?) to meet before  the AGM's of the Lowland, EoSL, and SoSL are held ? To what extent, if any, do the SFA Board's decisions about the pyramid and licensing, need to be approved/ratified at the SFA 's (full) annual meeting ?
Have any of the above AGM dates been set  ?

The regions all hold AGMs. I don't expect much from the north agm sans maybe whats happening with Inverness City. East & West on other hand could be very interesting. Then ofc theres the SJFA AGM itself. No dates set for any as far as I know.

[FairWeatherFan]

2 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

27 minutes ago, Robert James said:

Back on topic........ are individual AGM's held for the  West, East and North Regions  before the AGM for the SJFA ? To what extent does the SJFA have a veto over the decisions made individually by the three regional Associations ? 
Is the SFA Board expected (or required ?) to meet before  the AGM's of the Lowland, EoSL, and SoSL are held ? To what extent, if any, do the SFA Board's decisions about the pyramid and licensing, need to be approved/ratified at the SFA 's (full) annual meeting ?
Have any of the above AGM dates been set  ?

The regions all hold AGMs. I don't expect much from the north agm sans maybe whats happening with Inverness City. East & West on other hand could be very interesting. Then ofc theres the SJFA AGM itself. No dates set for any as far as I know.

Inverness City are meant to be done.

An interesting wrinkle that's popped up though is Nairn St Ninian. They had a game moved with their ground deemed not fit for purpose. Apparently they put up some temporary works to gain Superleague entry but they've been removed since then. So there might be something happening with them. Which would be a shame as they could finish as high as 6th and are well clear of relegation.

[nicotina]

loks' agm is tomorrow night.   no idea if it is on the agenda

[Robert James]

2 hours ago, FairWeatherFan said:

Inverness City are meant to be done.

An interesting wrinkle that's popped up though is Nairn St Ninian. They had a game moved with their ground deemed not fit for purpose. Apparently they put up some temporary works to gain Superleague entry but they've been removed since then. So there might be something happening with them. Which would be a shame as they could finish as high as 6th and are well clear of relegation.

They could ground share with the Wee County at Station Park, which is an attractive venue.  Juniors Montrose Roselea are successfully sharing with their town's senior club, at Links Park.

The other "wrinkle" might be that having a Highland Region location, means  they could  apply to  join the North Caledonian League for next season, and beyond.