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Cove Rangers Champions


EdTheDuck

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18 hours ago, jamamafegan said:

Why do folk hate Cove?

It's partly them outspending the other teams on players while having no ground to upkeep for years. And that any decision that goes against them is treated as cheating.

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They're derided as being Toonsers and city slickers by the other shire clubs, who by and large have half their teams come out from Aberdeen or the immediate vicinity on any given matchday. Keith need a bus to get all theirs back to Aberdeen after a game. 

They're smug and full of themselves, although by no means any more so than Elgin were in the late 80's or Huntly were in the FIAR era. 

They're competent and know what they're doing in an era when we've two teams this season alone who've had points deducted and least one other who would have been thrown out of a regional cup for fielding an ineligible player had they not lost the tie. 

They're professional and run a slick financial operation when the bulk of the rest of the teams can barely organise a raffle.

They did, however, take the absolute piss out of the league with their ground antics for a good six or seven years, which is infinitely more legit a reason than the ones above to think they're an awful shower. Which is unfortunate for their support who took no joy from traipsing out to play homers at Keith and Inverurie for three seasons and who got a terrific level of abuse from everyone for something they were forced to face up to while their suits said nothing - even to their own support - about when they might be going home.  The ground scenario will haunt them for a while if they don't go up, as it's believed the reason they didn't press the Buckie ineligible player farce more forcefully is that they were (probably correctly) under the impression if they took it further no club would offer them a ground to play at. The season Buckie went into the playoffs in their place was probably Cove's best opportunity, what with Cowden and East Kilbride being equally new to the playoffs at the time.  IMO, they should be long gone already. 

Sadly they'll probably get another shot it all again if they blow it this year as with them in the league, a few Shire sides seem to be keeping their powder dry, and the North sides offer little opposition. Brora managed to this season, but could still trail in 8 points behind them despite conceding only 12 times all season in the league. 

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8 hours ago, Marten said:

I've been quite impressed with East Kilbride this season, so there is a decent chance Cove might not even make the SPFL play-off final.

If they would get promoted you'd need a larger squad though to deal with all the suspensions...

It was them who picked up all the red cards Marten we only had 2 yellows in 3 games.

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5 hours ago, welshbairn said:

It's partly them outspending the other teams on players while having no ground to upkeep for years. And that any decision that goes against them is treated as cheating.

As a Locos supporter I have little natural empathy for Cove but I question whether no ground = heaps of cash to spend. Obviously there is a cost saving from not having the upkeep of a ground but a having a ground is a source of income too - gate money, social club, sponsorship, corporate events etc. I have no idea how one balances against the other but without figures I'm not jumping to conclusions.

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26 minutes ago, Northboy said:

As a Locos supporter I have little natural empathy for Cove but I question whether no ground = heaps of cash to spend. Obviously there is a cost saving from not having the upkeep of a ground but a having a ground is a source of income too - gate money, social club, sponsorship, corporate events etc. I have no idea how one balances against the other but without figures I'm not jumping to conclusions.

By no means a great lover of Cove but as you say not having a ground but presumably having to hire other facilities would not be a major advantage I would have thought cant be many sides that have won leagues without having a home game. They don't have a huge support either so must have very good sponsors or some other method of getting cash. The manager seems to get under folks skins & must admit during his short spell as our manager in the SPFL he seemed totally out of his depth but has a good HFL record. Saw them a few weeks back & they seem capable enough. Would think most of the HFL would be happy for them to move on & make way for new challengers its not quite like Celtics domination in the SPL but  some new challengers would lift the league again.

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4 hours ago, Northboy said:

As a Locos supporter I have little natural empathy for Cove but I question whether no ground = heaps of cash to spend. Obviously there is a cost saving from not having the upkeep of a ground but a having a ground is a source of income too - gate money, social club, sponsorship, corporate events etc. I have no idea how one balances against the other but without figures I'm not jumping to conclusions.

The rumours were that they paid Locos £800 per match for the use of your ground, not sure how the ticket share went, but the pitch turned into a tatty field. 

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10 hours ago, welshbairn said:

The rumours were that they paid Locos £800 per match for the use of your ground, not sure how the ticket share went, but the pitch turned into a tatty field. 

Cove charge £300 for use of their pitch for 2 hours for amateur games so £800 seems a bargain!

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Rumour has it they did quite well out of the groundhopping arrangements due to a laxness on the part of certain clubs when it came to collecting/enforcing payments. Hence Formartine dropping them like a bad habit after the middle year of hoboness and Cove bedding in at the surprisingly amenable Locos for the last season on the road.  Cove's hospitality sales are through the roof, and have been since they took on a full time commercial manager (IIRC formerly of Aberdeen FC) to run things for them. Gate money for Cove - and for everyone in the league bar maybe Locos, Wick and sometimes Buckie - is an irrelevance these days. 

Their commercial operation clearly outdoes everyone in the league, with only Locos seemingly able to compete in terms of sponsorship and fundraising. Brora and Formartine have money but it's out of one guys pockets, whereas Cove and Locos do an eternally sound job of filling advertising boards and the like, and from Big Oil and their offshoots, not just local window cleaners or whatever.  Cove usually did their social events at some funcy hotel even before their social club closed , and the club had planned to not have a social club at the new ground long before they dug the first hole in the ground and started throwing Meccano about the place, much to the supports annoyance.

Locos pitch held up surprisingly well all things considered, though by the very end it was struggling. Locos by then had word they might be moving and perhaps weren't looking after it as well as they should have. 

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See if Cove did make it to SPFL2 would it be a correct theory to presume that the raised profile and elevated levels of attention would mean they could draw decent support from the Aberdonian public, say when Aberdeen are playing away?

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On 19/04/2019 at 23:14, ForzaDundee said:

See if Cove did make it to SPFL2 would it be a correct theory to presume that the raised profile and elevated levels of attention would mean they could draw decent support from the Aberdonian public, say when Aberdeen are playing away?

They play in royal blue and are called Rangers. Aberdonians are a petty bunch and I know that many people don't go for this reason alone. Possibly why Banks o' Dee get more as Jimmy says.

Cove have also been very much 'out of sight, out of mind' and if it wasn't for the P&J third page from back or if you're at all ignorant of the lower leagues (which many followers of the Premiership teams are), you'd forget they existed. Banks o' Dee on the other hand are right beside the railway and can be seen from Riverside Drive. You could also argue that Cove isn't seen as being Aberdeen and hence "why should I support them?" syndrome kicks in. BoD on the other hand come across as being an Aberdeen team. 

I don't think that Cove v Formartine or Cove v Brechin would make much of a difference to the neutral anyway. 

Exception would be if it was a big 'decider'game or cup game, much in the way that neutral fans commonly head to playoffs. I was at Cowden v EK for example, and almost missed the start of our epic game at Alloa because of those b*****d pens!  Same with Montrose v Brora along with half the Brechin support. Hardly any neutrals go to normal league otherwise, unless it's for the corporate. 

That said, I know some folk that head up to Formartine for HL games when the Dons are away, but that's partly just to escape town for a bit. An Altens industrial estate near Cove doesn't quite have that same appeal. 

Edited by Hedgecutter
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On ‎19‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 08:00, Muzza81 said:
On ‎18‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 21:32, welshbairn said:

The rumours were that they paid Locos £800 per match for the use of your ground, not sure how the ticket share went, but the pitch turned into a tatty field. 

Cove charge £300 for use of their pitch for 2 hours for amateur games so £800 seems a bargain!

I've heard the £300 fee too but there are plenty of amateur and juvenile fixtures being scheduled at Cove's new ground. I can't see many teams paying £300 so I suspect some of the regular users might have negotiated more attractive terms.

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Just now, Northboy said:

I've heard the £300 fee too but there are plenty of amateur and juvenile fixtures being scheduled at Cove's new ground. I can't see many teams paying £300 so I suspect some of the regular users might have negotiated more attractive terms.

It’s £250 plus VAT. I’ve contacted them about a booking recently. 

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21 hours ago, Hedgecutter said:

That said, I know some folk that head up to Formartine for HL games when the Dons are away, but that's partly just to escape town for a bit. An Altens industrial estate near Cove doesn't quite have that same appeal. 

I know a few Dons supporters in Inverurie who take in a Locos game when their 'big team' is away. Cove might get a few but as you say I suspect location is a bit of a negative factor with the Cove ground.

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5 minutes ago, Muzza81 said:
7 minutes ago, Northboy said:

I've heard the £300 fee too but there are plenty of amateur and juvenile fixtures being scheduled at Cove's new ground. I can't see many teams paying £300 so I suspect some of the regular users might have negotiated more attractive terms.

It’s £250 plus VAT. I’ve contacted them about a booking recently. 

That's a lot of money! Out of interest, what day of the week and time were you looking at?

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See if Cove did make it to SPFL2 would it be a correct theory to presume that the raised profile and elevated levels of attention would mean they could draw decent support from the Aberdonian public, say when Aberdeen are playing away?
Didn't really work for Meadowbank and Edinburgh City are not packing them in despite their success. A ground in the middle of nowhere without a place for a pint isn't a terrific draw.
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