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Kelty Hearts & the EOS League


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Had arranged to go through to Fife to meet an auld pal for Talbot's visit to the Haws, so went through anyway despite the game being off and decided to take in Kelty's match with Preston Athletic in order to broaden my knowledge of the non league scene. 

First time at Kelty and have to say a very tidy set up. Preston made a game of it for about twenty minutes, after that it was a case of how many. Kelty nocked the ball about well on the plastic pitch and looked a very good side. However, Preston look like a side of ADL standard and would have liked to see Kelty under a bit more of a challenge. 

As a dyed in the wool Juniors fan I was curious to see another grade of non league. Also tried to get a feel of the place and the club. One or two observations, as I said a very good set up with a fair amount of cash invested. On the down side I wouldn't like to be in there if there was a 1000 plus crowd as I think it would be difficult to see. There was no more than 150 present which was a disappointing crowd. I find myself asking what will Kelty's future be? Almost certain to go into LL but what then? Kelty are clearly a well run club and it is great to see them investing in the infrastructure and ground. However, they clearly don't have a big fan base and I therefore assume a benifactor is backing them, wonder what will happen should that backing be no longer?

 

Interesting times for Kelty, however I never saw anything that would generate enough interest that would make me wish Talbot would consider such an adventure. It was only one match but it was all very low key in comparison to the West Super League, and there is the problem if we are ever to unify the non league set up IMHO. 

 

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Had arranged to go through to Fife to meet an auld pal for Talbot's visit to the Haws, so went through anyway despite the game being off and decided to take in Kelty's match with Preston Athletic in order to broaden my knowledge of the non league scene. 
First time at Kelty and have to say a very tidy set up. Preston made a game of it for about twenty minutes, after that it was a case of how many. Kelty nocked the ball about well on the plastic pitch and looked a very good side. However, Preston look like a side of ADL standard and would have liked to see Kelty under a bit more of a challenge. 
As a dyed in the wool Juniors fan I was curious to see another grade of non league. Also tried to get a feel of the place and the club. One or two observations, as I said a very good set up with a fair amount of cash invested. On the down side I wouldn't like to be in there if there was a 1000 plus crowd as I think it would be difficult to see. There was no more than 150 present which was a disappointing crowd. I find myself asking what will Kelty's future be? Almost certain to go into LL but what then? Kelty are clearly a well run club and it is great to see them investing in the infrastructure and ground. However, they clearly don't have a big fan base and I therefore assume a benifactor is backing them, wonder what will happen should that backing be no longer?
 
Interesting times for Kelty, however I never saw anything that would generate enough interest that would make me wish Talbot would consider such an adventure. It was only one match but it was all very low key in comparison to the West Super League, and there is the problem if we are ever to unify the non league set up IMHO. 
 


Do you see an Ayrshire team doing " a kelty " ?? It's so much easier for east teams like kelty to do it as an east of scotland pyramid setup is in place , through here in the west we don't have one and the alternative is to join the south of Scotland league which has very little appeal .
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The crowd yesterday was 240 including 70 in for hospitality ( at £30 a head)who most chose to stay in the Sports Bar & Social Club during the game on a bitterly cold day to watch the football/rugby.

If we relied on gate receipts it’s obviously not sustainable, if we rely on the Sports Lounge and the Social Club being rammed most weeks as well as gate,sponsors then it’s a good recipe for generating finances to keep us competitive.

You should have ventured into both bars before during and after the game and that would have possibly changed your observation.

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14 minutes ago, theshed said:

 


Do you see an Ayrshire team doing " a kelty " ?? It's so much easier for east teams like kelty to do it as an east of scotland pyramid setup is in place , through here in the west we don't have one and the alternative is to join the south of Scotland league which has very little appeal .

 

Yes my Beith chum, this is true there is actually no such facility in the west. Any type of proposal will no doubt involve the SOS which would no doubt result in an even more low key product than I witnessed yesterday. There was no real excitement or passion that we are so accustomed to in the West Juniors. The announcer tried to wind it up a bit but it was rather bizarre. I never saw any away fans and the home support was fairly low in numbers and atmosphere. My point being, even if there were a West equivalent it wouldn't get anyone from the juniors exited. I just wonder where Kelty will be in five years?

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1 minute ago, kefc said:

The crowd yesterday was 240 including 70 in for hospitality ( at £30 a head)who most chose to stay in the Sports Bar & Social Club during the game on a bitterly cold day to watch the football/rugby.

If we relied on gate receipts it’s obviously not sustainable, if we rely on the Sports Lounge and the Social Club being rammed most weeks as well as gate,sponsors then it’s a good recipe for generating finances to keep us competitive.

You should have ventured into both bars before during and after the game and that would have possibly changed your observation.

Well, if there were 240 payed they weren't watching the game, it's not hard to count 150! But clearly some great initiatives there and well done.

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1 minute ago, Isabel Goudie said:

Yes my Beith chum, this is true there is actually no such facility in the west. Any type of proposal will no doubt involve the SOS which would no doubt result in an even more low key product than I witnessed yesterday. There was no real excitement or passion that we are so accustomed to in the West Juniors. The announcer tried to wind it up a bit but it was rather bizarre. I never saw any away fans and the home support was fairly low in numbers and atmosphere. My point being, even if there were a West equivalent it wouldn't get anyone from the juniors exited. I just wonder where Kelty will be in five years?

No one is going to compare the East Of Scotland League against the East or West Superleague would they?

Competing for 5 years in our current League with the greatest respect isn’t part of our plan, it’s the bottom of the 6 tier pyramid, bottom division.

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1 minute ago, Isabel Goudie said:

Well, if there were 240 payed they weren't watching the game, it's not hard to count 150! But clearly some great initiatives there and well done.

They weren’t watching the game, there was a load who enjoyed their hospitality day out in the club and stayed there all day. It really is a 3 prong business setup at the club. Matchday Income, Hospitality/Social Club & Sponsorship.

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Yes my Beith chum, this is true there is actually no such facility in the west. Any type of proposal will no doubt involve the SOS which would no doubt result in an even more low key product than I witnessed yesterday. There was no real excitement or passion that we are so accustomed to in the West Juniors. The announcer tried to wind it up a bit but it was rather bizarre. I never saw any away fans and the home support was fairly low in numbers and atmosphere. My point being, even if there were a West equivalent it wouldn't get anyone from the juniors exited. I just wonder where Kelty will be in five years?



Kelty will find their level and for me it will be the third division , possibly the second division maximum , probably attracting a reasonable crowd when " senior " football is fresh to them , after a good few years though I would expect the novelty to wear off ,maybe it would be comparable to junior teams that feature regularly in the Scottish senior cup , the first taste is amazing but after a few games in it season after season it loses its freshness and buzz a little bit , if I were a kelty fan it would stick in my throat a bit leaving our level without winning the holy grail of the Scottish cup though .

If their was a west of Scotland pyramid structure I would see a few west junior teams making the transition of going down the senior route but until then I think we will all stay where we are, going down the south of Scotland league route is a total nipple inverter to be honest .
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6 minutes ago, kefc said:

They weren’t watching the game, there was a load who enjoyed their hospitality day out in the club and stayed there all day. It really is a 3 prong business setup at the club. Matchday Income, Hospitality/Social Club & Sponsorship.

Well can't blame them for that, it was absolutely Baltic! 

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13 minutes ago, gogsy said:

You weren't looking very far then because there were about 20 -30 there and they were conspicuous by the fact they were wearing blue.

I suppose they never had much to shout about, but I never noticed them. 

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20 minutes ago, Isabel Goudie said:

 My point being, even if there were a West equivalent it wouldn't get anyone from the juniors exited.

Well surely the point is that if a WoSFL were ever to be introduced it would be full of former Junior clubs.

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9 minutes ago, Isabel Goudie said:

Well can't blame them for that, it was absolutely Baltic! 

Hope you enjoyed your visit btw on a bitterly cold afternoon. There’s a new seated stand going in where the old enclosure is on the school side in May.

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Obviously got problems with your eyes then, if you think a 1000+ crowd would make it difficult for you to see as well.

Only been to the new Kelty set up once and I found that I had to move about quite a bit in the covered enclosure to follow the game. Blooming pillars are too many and too thick.
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Yes, they have already said they will, might be next season, might be season after, but they will.



One thing for sure is that when kelty aren't around anymore and possibly losing boness and if so then linlithgow might follow is that it can make winning the Scottish a little bit easier as that would be three clubs you obviously would want to avoid in the Scottish , three big big forces and it would open up even further west domination in the Scottish cup.
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1 minute ago, theshed said:

 

One thing for sure is that when kelty aren't around anymore and possibly losing boness and if so then linlithgow might follow is that it can make winning the Scottish a little bit easier as that would be three clubs you obviously would want to avoid in the Scottish , three big big forces and it would open up even further west domination in the Scottish cup.

If you lost the biggest 3 or 4 clubs in the East it would be the beginning of the end of Junior football as a separate entity.  Maybe the SJFA are waking up to the fact given they have formed a "working group" regarding the Pyramid.   Anyway, this discussion should probably be in the Future of Junior Football thread otherwise we'll have two on the go.

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If you lost the biggest 3 or 4 clubs in the East it would be the beginning of the end of Junior football as a separate entity.  Maybe the SJFA are waking up to the fact given they have formed a "working group" regarding the Pyramid.   Anyway, this discussion should probably be in the Future of Junior Football thread otherwise we'll have two on the go.



If one big ayrshire club takes the plunge I predict another two or three would follow and that along with two or three east teams doing the same would chuck a big spanner in the works .
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