The Brechin City Thread

[theoriginalhedge]

58 minutes ago, Infirmary Street said:

Come on then Brechintogether - joined Nov 17th, all your posts to date seem to be about changing the model and/or bringing in external business expertise, implying that there is something wrong with the current committee. I’m not suggesting you are up to anything nefarious but I do infer that you have some kind of angle on this, and/or know more than you are letting on. Would it be unreasonable to ask you to declare any interests before we go much further with this conversation? 

I honestly don't know why there is so much resistance to change.  This has been brewing for many years now.  With every other Angus club realising  the need for modernisation  and restructuring  I think we have to act fast and try to get some dynamic business ideas  on board.   The committee have tried  their best with the resources available but I think even they realise that we can't go on operating in the hope of a magical televised cup draw to  get us back on an even keel............................Especially now when we have to scratch our heads to remember the last time we won a cup game. 

Hopefully the meeting can generate some positivity to allow the changes to be made in the right manner and for the genuine  good of the club.  All the other Angus clubs embraced change. Why can't we ? 

[Infirmary Street]

14 minutes ago, theoriginalhedge said:

I honestly don't know why there is so much resistance to change.  This has been brewing for many years now.  With every other Angus club realising  the need for modernisation  and restructuring  I think we have to act fast and try to get some dynamic business ideas  on board.   The committee have tried  their best with the resources available but I think even they realise that we can't go on operating in the hope of a magical televised cup draw to  get us back on an even keel............................Especially now when we have to scratch our heads to remember the last time we won a cup game. 

Hopefully the meeting can generate some positivity to allow the changes to be made in the right manner and for the genuine  good of the club.  All the other Angus clubs embraced change. Why can't we ? 

I’m in no way resistant to change. As long as it’s the right change, driven by people who have the best interests of the   Club and the town at heart. At the moment though I would take more or less anything offered that might see us preserve our position in the SPFL, and I suspect the same is true of many others. That in itself makes us vulnerable, as a group, to making poor choices in haste, so forgive me if I have a healthy scepticism about new accounts popping up and promoting an agenda that changing the model/structure is the only answer to our current problems. It could be that changing the players and/or manager in Jan gets us to a place of safety, in which case would we still feel the same? It could be that laying a plastic pitch, to increase community use and bring extra revenue, is an alternative, for example. It could be that building an indoor snowboarding centre in the car park is the answer! I don’t know any better than anyone else.  

But the narrative seems to have missed a few steps and gone straight to ‘change the structure’ and I’d just like to be clear on why that is, and who if anyone stands to gain from promoting such an agenda

Brechin’s a small place and there are four senior clubs in Angus - there isn’t a magic seam of fans to be mined so we will always be constrained. Yes there are incremental improvements that could be made: we can do more to get younger fans through the gate - and the club has been trying to build stronger links with the YFC recently - but it doesn’t necessarily follow that there is a magic bullet that the existing committee has somehow not spotted. 

A more attractive team to watch would be a start tho. If you’ve only got 400 core fans then you can’t afford to drive any of them away. Mr Dods still has a lot to answer for on that front 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

22 minutes ago, Infirmary Street said:

A more attractive team to watch would be a start tho. If you’ve only got 400 core fans then you can’t afford to drive any of them away. Mr Dods still has a lot to answer for on that front 

I'd argue that your board has a lot to answer for on that front. Not only did they persevere with him through an entire winless season, they actually allowed him to continue in his role for another 5 months - putting trust in him to build a squad for the following season in League 1.

Dods was a shite manager but it's up to the board to act in the best interests of the club and ensure an acceptable standard of manager is in charge of the playing squad. 

[Infirmary Street]

11 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I'd argue that your board has a lot to answer for on that front. Not only did they persevere with him through an entire winless season, they actually allowed him to continue in his role for another 5 months - putting trust in him to build a squad for the following season in League 1.

Dods was a shite manager but it's up to the board to act in the best interests of the club and ensure an acceptable standard of manager is in charge of the playing squad. 

Aye fair enough

[Burnsythebinman]

similarities to stenny. cant help but think that there needs to be big changes. brechin gets about the same support as we do at stenny. we're fan owned so no big investors. board saw what was happening years ago and built a community program to bring in more money, business sponsors and that. seem to be doing well behind the scenes this last couple of years and theres a mood that were on the up, even though some of the players signed are questionable and performance at times isn't good this season.

[MOFOREVER]

We near neighbours know how you feel right now. Although there is lots to be done off the field by way of being a more thriving Community Club and all that stuff the main issue right now is  is matters on the pitch and yesterday at Stirling has to be the start of a revival. From watching match highlights I think you have a good enough threat up front but building a successful team starts at the back and builds through midfield. Goals are conceded far too easily and that just has to be put right in January - or else!

There are at least 3 teams you can realistically catch and you can do it but it will be by a huge team effort both on and off the pitch, so get stuck in with determination. Good luck.

Having said that I still think relegation from the SPFL is not sensible. Let more teams in rather than let some well established clubs fade away. Angus clubs to the HL is nowhere near sensible when looking south instead could be a better option. Things are stirring in football in that direction and more clubs aspire to go higher.

[charlie king mvp]

28 minutes ago, MOFOREVER said:

We near neighbours know how you feel right now. Although there is lots to be done off the field by way of being a more thriving Community Club and all that stuff the main issue right now is  is matters on the pitch and yesterday at Stirling has to be the start of a revival. From watching match highlights I think you have a good enough threat up front but building a successful team starts at the back and builds through midfield. Goals are conceded far too easily and that just has to be put right in January - or else!

There are at least 3 teams you can realistically catch and you can do it but it will be by a huge team effort both on and off the pitch, so get stuck in with determination. Good luck.

Having said that I still think relegation from the SPFL is not sensible. Let more teams in rather than let some well established clubs fade away. Angus clubs to the HL is nowhere near sensible when looking south instead could be a better option. Things are stirring in football in that direction and more clubs aspire to go higher.

For the life of me I can’t understand why the Angus clubs didn’t try everything they had to make sure that they wouldn’t go into the Highland League if they got relegated.  The Lowland League would be a much more sensible option.

Maybe they did but I can’t remember anything being said about it at the time.  But like many others at the time I didn’t pay much attention to it as we were a long way from being at the bottom of League Two. Or so I thought.

[Hedgecutter]

17 hours ago, MOFOREVER said:

Angus clubs to the HL is nowhere near sensible when looking south instead could be a better option. Things are stirring in football in that direction and more clubs aspire to go higher.

If I remember correctly, ages ago I worked out the distances that Brechin would need to travel for both HL and LL fixtures, and in the end HL involved the least travel, albeit marginally (yes, even with Fort William & Wick).

The main problem involves the club attracting Central Belt players, who would obviously find LL most convenient for them whilst giving  the idea of fortnightly trips to Highland / Moray / Aberdeenshire a wide berth.  If a club is struggling to find players of a decent standard around the area that it's based in, then that's not really the fault of the SFA blazers tbf.

Taking any personal bias away and looking at it from the perspective of, say a Kelty Hearts committee member:  Forres, Buckie, Fraserburgh, Nairn etc are all clubs in places bigger than Brechin facing that recruitment issue so it would be a bit cheeky of clubs like Brechin / Montrose to say "I know it's further for the local committee and fans to travel, but we've got a better chance of pulling a decent team together if we went into the LL, at the probable expense of currently lower ranked LL, EOSFL & junior clubs that are actually based down there.  If Brechin were relegated by Kelty, all the SPFL would be doing is swapping clubs from two similar sized places, with Brechin's perceived 'elevated status' arguably being the result of a closed shop that saw us stay in the league system despite frequently finishing bottom of the system during the 60s and 70s.

That said, it would be difficult to argue the same if it was a Dundee club facing the trapdoor for which the LL distances would be lower, so one could still argue that the the overly simple line of latitude cut-off is somewhat ill-thought out for some cases.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Hedgecutter

[MOFOREVER]

From what I recall at the time it was decided that only the Angus clubs plus those further north obviously could drop to the HL simply because there had to be somebody AND because the lower league clubs didn't have collectively enough votes to snuff it out and what votes they did have were heavily weighted by those in the Central belt and lower who couldn't give a toss about the Angus clubs. Not being unkind but that's about it without beating around the bush. Historically Brechin and Montrose have been outcasts and although it can be said that was a long time ago - what's changed now? Any relegated club should have the option of which league to drop down into. It's nothing to do with being against the pyramid system though personally I don't think it solves anything in Scotland, but a bigger SPFL structure might and anybody could have a bad season - could even be the Binos this year?

Gone are the days when the Mo and Brechin attracted most of their players from Aberdeen and as Hedgecutter says why would even Dundee based players want to travel to HL clubs mid winter when they could play in the Central belt.

Apart from anything else Angus is NOT in the Highlands!

[theoriginalhedge]

11 hours ago, MOFOREVER said:

From what I recall at the time it was decided that only the Angus clubs plus those further north obviously could drop to the HL simply because there had to be somebody AND because the lower league clubs didn't have collectively enough votes to snuff it out and what votes they did have were heavily weighted by those in the Central belt and lower who couldn't give a toss about the Angus clubs. Not being unkind but that's about it without beating around the bush. Historically Brechin and Montrose have been outcasts and although it can be said that was a long time ago - what's changed now? Any relegated club should have the option of which league to drop down into. It's nothing to do with being against the pyramid system though personally I don't think it solves anything in Scotland, but a bigger SPFL structure might and anybody could have a bad season - could even be the Binos this year?

Gone are the days when the Mo and Brechin attracted most of their players from Aberdeen and as Hedgecutter says why would even Dundee based players want to travel to HL clubs mid winter when they could play in the Central belt.

Apart from anything else Angus is NOT in the Highlands!

A decision was made at SPFL  that a line would be drawn across the country along the line of the River Tay  those above the line would go to the Highland league , those below to the Lowland . 

[Hedgecutter]

18 hours ago, MOFOREVER said:

Apart from anything else Angus is NOT in the Highlands!

Our shirt sponsor, from the distillery behind the hedge, doesn't really help our case.

Edited December 10, 2019 by Hedgecutter

[Muzza81]

This Moforver guy is advocating no relegation from the SPFL so he’s probably best ignored. 

[theoriginalhedge]

3 hours ago, Muzza81 said:

This Moforver guy is advocating no relegation from the SPFL so he’s probably best ignored. 

Seems to want to make up his own rules . 

[Muzza81]

8 hours ago, theoriginalhedge said:

Seems to want to make up his own rules . 

Maybe it’s Rod Petrie? FWIW surely Brechin going to the HL would provide them with a far better opportunity for promotion than going to the Lowland.

The whole ‘ANGUS ISNT IN THE HIGHLANDS!!’ is also a dogshit argument as most of the teams currently in the HL aren’t in the highlands. How many teams in the Lowlands are actually in the lowlands - whatever that is? Almost as if it was just a name given to the leagues. 

[NE63 exile]

Maybe it’s Rod Petrie? FWIW surely Brechin going to the HL would provide them with a far better opportunity for promotion than going to the Lowland.

Agree with that statement. Definitely more obstacles to conquer to win the Lowland League while from what I’ve seen in the Highland League over the last couple of seasons especially with Cove gone it’s more balanced playing in the HL.

[Jacksgranda]

2 hours ago, NE63 exile said:

 

Agree with that statement. Definitely more obstacles to conquer to win the Lowland League while from what I’ve seen in the Highland League over the last couple of seasons especially with Cove gone it’s more balanced playing in the HL.

 

Very diplomatic 

[Aberdeen Cowden]

1 hour ago, Jacksgranda said:

Very diplomatic 

Very true!

[theoriginalhedge]

7 hours ago, Muzza81 said:

Maybe it’s Rod Petrie? FWIW surely Brechin going to the HL would provide them with a far better opportunity for promotion than going to the Lowland.

The whole ‘ANGUS ISNT IN THE HIGHLANDS!!’ is also a dogshit argument as most of the teams currently in the HL aren’t in the highlands. How many teams in the Lowlands are actually in the lowlands - whatever that is? Almost as if it was just a name given to the leagues. 

Hopefully it won't come to that , but you could be right. 

[Hedgecutter]

Let's just set up a Dundee & Angus league with the winner playing the LL winners for the right to play the HL winners.

The teams can play each other 8 times a season.

[Waspie]

On 09/12/2019 at 20:35, MOFOREVER said:

 

Apart from anything else Angus is NOT in the Highlands!

Parts of Angus would traditionally be regarded as in the Highlands. There are loads of Gaelic place-names and the 1950's Gaelic Dialect Survey found native Gaelic speakers extremely close to the western boundary of Angus. In many ways Angus would have stronger Highland ties than plenty of towns with long established Highland League clubs. As others have said, the Highland League isn't really an accurate name for it anyway. 

It was debated to death on here, but always felt it was very unfortunate that the pyramid didn't follow the East / West / North model of the juniors. It's a better fit than Highland / Lowland which looked like it was rushed through by some people with an agenda and others who didn't really understand the issues or care. I think pyramid will evolve (movement of old East juniors already a big step in right direction), but in its current form it does look potentially perilous for those dropping out of the SPFL. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Waspie