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North Caledonian League Expansion


Robert James

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3 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

It's a limitation of the region thing FM uses. Using the South of Scotland league as an example the gamemakers know there's nowhere in the league system further west or south than D&G so will only use a North and East boundary for the furthest placed town in the game by those markers. (Sanquhar and Gretna)

image.thumb.png.5a912a1282b8279ff41195a05de56020.png

As you can see this means if Girvan were to be relegated/promoted the game would view them as clear South of Scotland league teams. Imagine the same cup off for the West of Scotland and it goes as far as Girvan and as far east as Harthill, etc.

So when the game knows there are supposed to be 32 teams in the Scottish 5th tier it will divide those 32 teams the best way they can. Fort William is a lot closer to the boundary line than it is to Wick so it seems the obvious choice, etc.

 

Staying off topic on FM Editor... As well as putting in the league boundaries, you can also specify leagues in Competitions → Regional Divisions for each club which makes things a bit less unpredictable, although you'll still get some odd movements, but significantly fewer. It would be better if you could specify by region, but that's never been implemented.

Edited by Cyclizine
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1 minute ago, Cyclizine said:

Staying off topic on FM Editor... As well as putting in the league boundaries, you can also specify leagues in Competitions → Regional Divisions for each club which makes things a bit less unpredictable, although you'll still get some odd movements, but significantly fewer.

I tend to nominate leagues that other league promote/relegate into as well. 

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1 hour ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

I tend to nominate leagues that other league promote/relegate into as well. 

Yeah, I do that as well. I've got a Scottish pyramid that I put together a few years ago that is pretty good, even after a decade or two. I do add a bit of flexibility, e.g. for Tier 6, I allowed a bit of an overlap in regions, so I wasn't too fussed if Ayrshire clubs ended up in SoSFL or Fife clubs in Midlands.

Edit: I also put Shetland in the NRJFA region and Orkney in the NCL area. Makes a bit of sense with ferries and flights...

Edited by Cyclizine
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12 hours ago, Dev said:

 

Why so against a little speculation? It's a Forum after all and without a range of views none of us would be here!

Robert was, after all, the first person on P&B to come up with the West of Scotland League title. He took stick for that one too.

One thing though we should all anticipate is that there are more changes coming to the HL pyramid area. Hopefully that will strengthen the N Cal league.

Thanks Asim. 

Yes I agree, and will watch future developments with interest.

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On 09/12/2021 at 19:57, Cyclizine said:

Robert, you're prone to presenting your personal opinions and wishes as truth, and then being very defensive when you're called out on some of the inconsistencies. It's not a competition, everyone up here is well aware of comings and goings in the NCL, just we don't feel the need to post unsubstantiated rumours and Football Manager-esque fantasies about Skye United or Ness and Point joining the NCL...

If you read my original post about "Skye United", i suggested that whilst the Isle would be capable (IMO) of entering a team in the NCL, although it was unlikely in the foreseeable future. I did encourage Skye footballers to enter a club in one of the NCL cup competitions. None of my posts have ever referred to Ness or Pont !!!. 

By all means, disagree with my opinions, but  don't attribute  my opinions to being facts. And by the way, it was me who first posted on this forum, that  Loch Ness, Nairn U23's, Alness, & Scourie, were joining the NCL.  If you check back, you will see it was an information post.  

And don't put me in the same category as "The Lurker", who has regularly presented his views as facts, on this and other P&B  forums, and then changed his mind when they are proved to be incorrect.  

 

 

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Understandable enough when there are two ferry crossings across the Pentland Firth involved and extra money will now no doubt need to be found to pay for another trip to Alness (unless they can they double it up with a cup game somehow?). The resident fantasist needs to bear that sort of thing in mind when he starts claiming a Lewis & Harris entry is just around the corner. It remains to be seen if Orkney will be able to sustain what they are doing long term if the number of league games gets ramped up to 30 or so because more clubs from beyond Inverness such as Fort William, Strathspey Thistle and his latest pet hobby horse Nairn St Ninian are on board for pyramid related reasons.

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1 minute ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

I think there's a telly programme in this, along the lines of 4 in a bed or real houswives.

Groundhoppers and league formationists of Scotland.

Intrigue, lies, rivalry...

In the style of The Detectorists hopefully.

detectorists2.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just been looking on the SoSl board and see they are looking to take their league from level 6 in the pyramid to level 7 and the winners gain promotion to either the EoSL or more likely WosL as this better represents their relative standard. 

Might this also be a good idea for the NCL? Drop below the midlands and the North Super league in the pyramid?

Few clubs in it seem to meet the criteria for highland league entry and even if they do, would  likely be underdogs against Midlands and North Super league teams in a playoff. 

Guaranteed promotion for winners as not have to worry against licencing and not as big a hike in standard if they do get promoted.

Or would the geography of the highlands rule this out? 

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19 minutes ago, Merkie84 said:

Just been looking on the SoSl board and see they are looking to take their league from level 6 in the pyramid to level 7 and the winners gain promotion to either the EoSL or more likely WosL as this better represents their relative standard. 

Might this also be a good idea for the NCL? Drop below the midlands and the North Super league in the pyramid?

Few clubs in it seem to meet the criteria for highland league entry and even if they do, would  likely be underdogs against Midlands and North Super league teams in a playoff. 

Guaranteed promotion for winners as not have to worry against licencing and not as big a hike in standard if they do get promoted.

Or would the geography of the highlands rule this out? 

I can't see any advantage for the NCL clubs in this, why would they want to be promoted to playing away games in Aberdeenshire (which is effectively what the North Superleague is) or Tayside?

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If they get promoted as it stands to the HFL they will be playing a lot of away games in Aberdeenshire, Brechin City etc but I see your point. 

I notice the North Region 1st and 2nd divisions are pretty small ( 8 and 9 ) teams. 

Perhaps a regionalised merger with these 2 leagues with the NCL to provide a 14 and 15 team league ?

All the teams closest to Aberdeen in one and teams closest to Inverness in the other ?  Winners of each playoff for promotion to Super league etc. 

 

 

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The playing standard in the NCL is quite low as summer amateur leagues are the preferred format over most of its sparsely populated catchment.

With Dundee area junior clubs now part of the equation in HL feeder terms there's not much likelihood of NCL clubs getting promoted so the NCL will probably trundle along doing its own thing for the most part.

Main interest right now would be what happens with Fort William's full-time football experiment over the next few months as that's clearly aimed at avoiding falling through the trapdoor into the NCL (presumably anyway, they actually get to choose).

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