Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

[Blue Oktober]

4 minutes ago, DutchBorderer said:

He did so from a worse position, argueably, since the play-offs are still very much avoidable. Given his ambassadorial role at Hearts and how that might make it easier to attract good loanees, you'd almost consider him a decent pick as 2019/2020 manager.

There is absolutely no way that Gary Locke would walk away  from a well paid secure job with a club he loves to take on  the unenviable task at Berwick.

[The Minertaur]

Just now, Blue Oktober said:

There is absolutely no way that Gary Locke would walk away  from a well paid secure job with a club he loves to take on  the unenviable task at Berwick.

I don't see Locke taking any managers job anytime soon.  He's got it easy at Hearts.

[Disc Potato]

18 minutes ago, Redcar said:

We will be playing in the Lowland League next season, with the only glimmer of good news that we are almost certain to be about 8 points adrift come May, so can't start getting all bitter about Clydegate. 

The only tiny glimmer of hope is if we immediately replace Harvey with someone who can organise a football team. Even then though, should that person exist, it is hard to imagine how he can tighten up a team with nobody who has a clue how to defend in midfield. 

So, sadly for John Bell, he will have to spend a few months working out a strategy to compete for players with the likes of Spartans, Bonnyrigg etc etc. The parachute payment may give us one decent chance to get back up to the SPFL and if we fail, our overheads/debts and especially our location will mean we will stay there for ever, and maybe disappear altogether. 

There are do many culpable people for our sad demise. I think we need another of Dutch's dodgy polls to see who we think wins the overall gong. 

Lowland League still isn't worth thinking about bud, one season down there will end us. We have 8 games to SAVE OUR CLUB.

The parachute payment is around 40k which is half this year's contribution from the SPFL and we are still loosing 40k on those figures. We couldnt afford to keep the same playing budget and lose 80k next season, probably more with fewer people attending, that would wipe us out.

Came across a set of accounts from my days 2005/06, the playing budget was 135k and we lost about 20k on the year. Now we are paying around 25k less on players and losing 40k on the year. 

Berwick Rangers have a terminal illness right now and its bloody painful watching the club die.  

[Disc Potato]

1 minute ago, gogsy said:

Why would it end Berwick Rangers as a club , it hasn't ended East Stirling?

If we kept the same playing budget as now, we would get one attempt at getting back up and even then that would mean huge losses.

We would have to cut our cloth accordingly which means survival but also a club that would become a mid-tabe lowand league outfit at best. 

[Fergie1]

2 minutes ago, gogsy said:

Why would it end Berwick Rangers as a club , it hasn't ended East Stirling?

Probably based on the financial figures he stated. And the fact probably 100% of our players are based around the central belt, when your drop into the lowland league you are then competing with a big pool of clubs already based in that area for these players. It has been stated on here we already struggle to attract players, what hope would we have in the lowland league with less money. The pull just now and the swingin factor between a player choosing us over one of these teams at the moment is our league status. 

[Fergie1]

Just worth a mention, if we do manage to bring someone in short term and secure our safety, Gary jardine should be high up on the list of managers to bring in long term. The job he did at Edinburgh city and what he is currently doing at civil service is excellent. 

[The_Pit_Owns]

1 hour ago, The Minertaur said:

I did the Cowdenbeath Twitter for a while but got in trouble after we had a match abandoned against Partick Thistle when I tweeted that the game was stopped not long after the Thistle fans started singing "We can't see the ball" (we'd just scored to go 2-1 up).  Somebody complained and the club were warned they could receive a £10K fine for hinting that we were undermining the referee.  A fortnight after the match I had to retract the tweet and apologise and I haven't done it since! 

You were reporting facts. 

[The Minertaur]

1 minute ago, The_Pit_Owns said:

You were reporting facts. 

#freetheminertaur

[newcastle broon]

2 minutes ago, Fergie1 said:

Probably based on the financial figures he stated. And the fact probably 100% of our players are based around the central belt, when your drop into the lowland league you are then competing with a big pool of clubs already based in that area for these players. It has been stated on here we already struggle to attract players, what hope would we have in the lowland league with less money. The pull just now and the swingin factor between a player choosing us over one of these teams at the moment is our league status. 

So why no get Northumberland based players in then. I already said morpeth town were travelling a fair bit this season and doing extremely well or can you no even compete wi them for players  ? 

I know you had one from that area a couple seasons back but he was on his own. 

Change yer rectuitment strategy and training base add a few more lads from the north east and you just never know they might like it. 

[NE63 exile]

Morpeth Town doing exceptionally well this season,no too far doon the road. Player wise they're travelling big distances this season. Is it no time to see what their is oot their in Northumberland instead of the Edinburgh catchment area  ?

It’s very much the same problem that Elgin City and Peterhead face in this division and Stranraer too.
The decent players down in the North East are getting decent money in the Northern League. £100-£150 on average perhaps a bit more in some cases but have next to no travelling. But the bottom line is a lot of them don’t want to travel hence clubs like Morpeth (who have a millionaire Chairman) are paying well over the odds to get players to commit and in some cases offer them a job in his factory as a sweetener to keep them.
The likes of Blyth Spartans, Spennymoor and Darlington are struggling to get players to commit to travel in the National League North and they are on the door step down there.
We’ve had a number of players from down there over the years. Only really Peter Davidson and Ken Bowron stuck it out long term. Most hung around for a season but the lure of earning as much money locally and not trailing up the A1 four times a week is the deal breaker.

[The_Judge]

21 minutes ago, Disc Potato said:

Lowland League still isn't worth thinking about bud, one season down there will end us. We have 8 games to SAVE OUR CLUB.

 

10 minutes ago, Disc Potato said:

We would have to cut our cloth accordingly which means survival but also a club that would become a mid-tabe lowand league outfit at best. 

This is exactly the kind of thing Cowden fans were saying in March 2017.  There is still a life for your club outside of League 2...maybe a more enjoyable life than continually trying to avoid last place.

Honestly, ask some of the ES fans, the world hasn't stopped spinning.  They yearn to be promoted but that's normal and what most clubs should aspire to.

[newcastle broon]

2 minutes ago, NE63 exile said:

 

It’s very much the same problem that Elgin City and Peterhead face in this division and Stranraer too.
The decent players down in the North East are getting decent money in the Northern League. £100-£150 on average perhaps a bit more in some cases but have next to no travelling. But the bottom line is a lot of them don’t want to travel hence clubs like Morpeth (who have a millionaire Chairman) are paying well over the odds to get players to commit and in some cases offer them a job in his factory as a sweetener to keep them.
The likes of Blyth Spartans, Spennymoor and Darlington are struggling to get players to commit to travel in the National League North and they are on the door step down there.
We’ve had a number of players from down there over the years. Only really Peter Davidson and Ken Bowron stuck it out long term. Most hung around for a season but the lure of earning as much money locally and not trailing up the A1 four times a week is the deal breaker.

 

Canny mind the lads name from 2 or 3 seasons ago he left for similar reasons. Thought he was decent as well.

Im led to believe the current squad train at Haddington. Would a training base in the alnwick morpeth area no help and it's only yer match day travelling to worry aboot. 

Worth a stab in the dark compared to what s currently happening  ? 

Like has been said it'll only get worse competing for central belt LL players should the disaster happen ?

[Fergie1]

I thought getting beat from hawick in the Scottish was tragic, getting beat from teams of that ilk looks like it could become common practice.

[The_Judge]

1 minute ago, Fergie1 said:

I thought getting beat from hawick in the Scottish was tragic, getting beat from teams of that ilk looks like it could become common practice.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.

[DutchBorderer]

10 minutes ago, newcastle broon said:

Canny mind the lads name from 2 or 3 seasons ago he left for similar reasons. Thought he was decent as well.

Chris McDonald? Came in from Whitley Bay but the travelling proved too much, plays for Morpeth now.

We all know East Stirlingshire still exist, but that is just one club who are now occupying an anonymous spot in midtable LL. Considering BRFC losses, I’m not sure life would be quite as nice for us down there.

[Disc Potato]

13 minutes ago, newcastle broon said:

Canny mind the lads name from 2 or 3 seasons ago he left for similar reasons. Thought he was decent as well.

Im led to believe the current squad train at Haddington. Would a training base in the alnwick morpeth area no help and it's only yer match day travelling to worry aboot. 

Worth a stab in the dark compared to what s currently happening  ? 

Like has been said it'll only get worse competing for central belt LL players should the disaster happen ?

We've recently had people down to Morpeth looking at players.

Reason is doesn't work just now is that travelling to Peterhead and Elgin is a massive problem as well as training.

If we were in the Lowland League the players travelling from the North East  will end up playing for nothing due to extremley low wages on offer. 

[newcastle broon]

29 minutes ago, Disc Potato said:

We've recently had people down to Morpeth looking at players.

Reason is doesn't work just now is that travelling to Peterhead and Elgin is a massive problem as well as training.

If we were in the Lowland League the players travelling from the North East  will end up playing for nothing due to extremley low wages on offer. 

Players from the north east might not have Yous in the LL though ? Yes it would be a gamble but considerong where you are now it would be worth the punt surely  ?

Peterheed and elgin are 4 times a season at present so i take it you would be interested in extending the SPFL2 then to allow more LL teams in and maybes visit these places only twice a season   ?

The various pyramid threads on here has the SPFL as a closed shop  ?

[NE63 exile]

Canny mind the lads name from 2 or 3 seasons ago he left for similar reasons. Thought he was decent as well.
Im led to believe the current squad train at Haddington. Would a training base in the alnwick morpeth area no help and it's only yer match day travelling to worry aboot. 
Worth a stab in the dark compared to what s currently happening  ? 
Like has been said it'll only get worse competing for central belt LL players should the disaster happen ?
[/

I can see where your coming from and it’s something that might be worth looking into. Queen of the South tried it under John Connolly signing almost a team full of North East based players but he insisted on the squad training in Dumfries twice a week.
The bottom line at the minute still revolves around the fact a lot of the better Northern League players simply want to play on the doorstep. So many clubs turned down promotion from the NL in the past because of the extra finance involved plus they knew they will lose most of their squad who don’t want regular trips down the A1(M) or the M62 every second Saturday and midweek.
Your 100% right about the Central Belt becoming congested - it’s going to get worse as time goes by. Hard times ahead.

[Muzza81]

42 minutes ago, DutchBorderer said:

We all know East Stirlingshire still exist, but that is just one club who are now occupying an anonymous spot in midtable LL. Considering BRFC losses, I’m not sure life would be quite as nice for us down there.

As opposed to an anonymous spot mid to lower table in League 2?

[berwick-the-unbeatable]

We're in some state. It's hard to see us not going down - we're two points ahead and yet it feels oddly out of out hands. I think it was Redcar who mentioned on here that he thought we had a fair few winnable games (including last night) left. I had a look at the fixture list last night, but personally I disagree. I felt there was only two and wouldn't put my money anywhere near us in either of those. I was gonna post an argument against players from the NE, but really talk of them is ultimately pointless because we're in trouble now and that isn't a solution to solve our immediate issues.

As a person, I quite like Harvey. His positivity throughout a disaster has been admirable, if at times delusional. I've just watched his interview from last night and it was the first time I thought he looked defeated. Personally, I think it's time for change, but even that isn't easy. No immediately obvious candidates spring to mind when, as has been mentioned, experience is a must. In any case, it's a gamble but so is sticking. The issue is we're that fucked I don't even know who could step in as caretaker. 

It's also well worth noting that I've barely seen us at all this season so my opinions might not and shouldn't hold as much weight as those who are still watching week after week (fair play to you, you fucking mentalists). It's been one disaster after the other, on and off the park, and it comes as no surprise to see us in this situation. As a club, we're screaming out for leadership, but the ominous silence suggests no one wants to touch or be associated with any tough decisions/actions that could quite easily turn out to be the final nail in the coffin. The reality of course is that the damage was done way before whatever happens from here.