The Brechin City Thread

[Bring Your Own Socks]

I’ll miss my trips to The Glebe. Just as simple as that. Always a warm welcome and hospitality. Hope the guys who make the club work keep it going. 

[GordonS]

14 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

Don't know the attendance but Brechin were in the League Cup semi Final at Hampden against Rangers in 1957.

I don't know if the attendance figures here are at all reliable, but it says it was 28,403.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957–58_Rangers_F.C._season

[Hedgecutter]

Another thing to 'look forward to' is the potential excitement of deeply wanting to get up to a particular level from the very start of the season.

It's already been mentioned by several posters of other affiliations in the past that Brechin are happy enough to trundle around the lower leagues.  I'd have to partially agree with that tbh, not that it's necessarily bad to recognise your limitations and live within your means.  However, I think it would be fair to say that Brechin fans in general haven't had a deep passionate desire to get up to, say, Championship level; certainly from my perspective, it's always been sort of seen as a 'nice to have' with the general realistic expectation that it'll be a fleeting visit.  We don't have the feeling that we 'belong' there. 

If you compare it to certain other fan groups who have a truly entrenched passion and determination to get up a league (even if it's a completely deluded notion but the future expectation is there), then it's not something I've really felt at the Glebe since they won the Third Division in the early 2000s.  Yes, there was the pitch invasion at Alloa and it was a great feeling and achievement at the time, and I'm not denying the players and fans didn't want it, but I just feel that there's an underlying difference about it that I'm perhaps struggling to put into words here.

I'm not saying that the club has lacked any ambition as many would make out, as there's always a desire to have another league trophy win against the club's name and a new flag flying above the stand as a great achievement, but it's not really been the same compared to some other fan groups imho.  For many (maybe even most) of a Brechin persuasion it's merely case of "yasss, we've made the playoffs; ach, we lost out, oh well, back to the same old teams next year, we're doing well to be here anyway".

What this relegation might do now is give the fans and club that absolute burning desire to hit the target of SPFL football again where we feel we truly belong, and be the catalyst for that full blown "let's f***ing do this" feeling from the very start of the season (in a more positive way that's not just about avoiding the relegation playoffs to keep the status quo the following season).  I think that's certainly one element to look forward to and will improve the experience for early and middle parts of the season.

#tl;dr

Edited May 24, 2021 by Hedgecutter

[Jacksgranda]

8 minutes ago, GordonS said:

I don't know if the attendance figures here are at all reliable, but it says it was 28,403.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957–58_Rangers_F.C._season

I couldn't find the attendance figure anywhere, suppose that would be reliable enough.

[Jacksgranda]

12 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Another thing to 'look forward to' is the potential excitement of deeply wanting to get up to a particular level from the very start of the season.

It's already been mentioned by several posters of other affiliations in the past that Brechin are happy enough to trundle around the lower leagues.  I'd have to partially agree with that tbh, not that it's necessarily bad to recognise your limitations and live within your means.  However, I think it would be fair to say that Brechin fans in general haven't had a deep passionate desire to get up to, say, Championship level; certainly from my perspective, it's always been sort of seen as a 'nice to have' with the general realistic expectation that it'll be a fleeting visit.  We don't have the feeling that we 'belong' there. 

If you compare it to certain other groups who have a truly entrenched passion and determination to get up a league (even if it's a completely deluded notion but the future expectation is there), then it's not something I've really felt at the Glebe since they won the Third Division in the early 2000s.  Yes, there was the pitch invasion at Alloa and it was a great feeling and achievement at the time, and I'm not denying the players and fans didn't want it, but I just feel that there's just that underlying difference about it that I'm perhaps struggling to put into words here.

I'm not saying that the club has lacked any ambition as many would make out, as there's always a desire to have another league trophy win against the club's name and a new flag flying above the stand as a great achievement, but it's not really been the same compared to some other clubs imho.  For many (or arguably most) of a Brechin persuasion it's merely case of "yasss, we've made the playoffs; ach, we lost out, oh well, back to the same old teams next year, we're doing well to be here anyway".

What this relegation might do now is give the fans and club that absolute burning desire to hit the target of SPFL football again where we feel we truly belong, and be the catalyst for that full blown "let's f***ing do this" feeling from the very start of the season (in a more positive way that's not just about avoiding the relegation playoffs to keep the status quo the following season).  I think that's certainly one element to look forward to and will improve the experience for early and middle parts of the season.

No pressure, then...

[TheScarf]

I'm trying to think of the reasons why Brechin City would ever be in the LL?  Given they're about 30 miles from Aberdeen.  They're the same latitude as Fort William ffs. Brechin is hardly the outlier in the HL.  Half the clubs are about an hour away from them.

[cmontheloknow]

16 hours ago, Clyde01 said:

They are not there on merit at all. When the lowland league was formed they cobbled together a load of shite to bulk up the old EoS sides that joined it. No attempt was made to bring in sides like Linlithgow, Bo’ness etc instead they got newly formed glorified boys clubs like Cumbernauld colts, edusport academy, bsc Glasgow and parachuted them straight in at tier 5. 

The junior clubs were told they'd have to start at bottom of juniors if they ever returned (potentially a 4 league demotion!) so there was too much to iron out at the time. 

[Hedgecutter]

4 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

No pressure, then...

Well, you say that, but we were arguably only where we were out of historical association with what is now the SPFL.

If all of the current senior teams had started on an even footing then there wouldn't be any huge expectation for us to be any different to say Turriff.  Similar sized towns, both ~30 miles from the nearest city, tractors on the high street, red sandstone buildings, etc etc.

Given the players we had 5 years ago, there's no denying that getting into the current situation has been anything other than a royal f*** up, but in the grand scheme of things, there shouldn't actually be any shame in Brechin being a HL side.  The difference is that we now feel that we belong up in the SPFL because we've previously shown that we can hold our own when we make the right choices.  If it's realistically achievable then it should be the aim.

[Jacksgranda]

2 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Well, you say that, but we were arguably only where we were out of historical association with what is now the SPFL.

If all of the current senior teams had started on an even footing then there wouldn't be any huge expectation for us to be any different to say Turriff.  Similar sized towns, both ~30 miles from the nearest city, tractors on the high street, red sandstone buildings, etc etc.

Given the players we had 5 years ago, there's no denying that getting into the current situation has been anything other than a royal f*** up, but in the grand scheme of things, there shouldn't actually be any shame in Brechin being a HL side.  The difference is that we now feel that we belong up in the SPFL because we've previously shown that we can hold our own when we make the right choices.  If it's realistically achievable then it should be the aim.

 

2 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Well, you say that, but we were arguably only where we were out of historical association with what is now the SPFL.

If all of the current senior teams had started on an even footing then there wouldn't be any huge expectation for us to be any different to say Turriff.  Similar sized towns, both ~30 miles from the nearest city, tractors on the high street, red sandstone buildings, etc etc.

Given the players we had 5 years ago, there's no denying that getting into the current situation has been anything other than a royal f*** up, but in the grand scheme of things, there shouldn't actually be any shame in Brechin being a HL side.  The difference is that we now feel that we belong up in the SPFL because we've previously shown that we can hold our own when we make the right choices.  If it's realistically achievable then it should be the aim.

 

2 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Well, you say that, but we were arguably only where we were out of historical association with what is now the SPFL.

If all of the current senior teams had started on an even footing then there wouldn't be any huge expectation for us to be any different to say Turriff.  Similar sized towns, both ~30 miles from the nearest city, tractors on the high street, red sandstone buildings, etc etc.

Given the players we had 5 years ago, there's no denying that getting into the current situation has been anything other than a royal f*** up, but in the grand scheme of things, there shouldn't actually be any shame in Brechin being a HL side.  The difference is that we now feel that we belong up in the SPFL because we've previously shown that we can hold our own when we make the right choices.  If it's realistically achievable then it should be the aim.

You'd have been quicker drawing me a picture...

[Hedgecutter]

1 minute ago, Jacksgranda said:

You'd have been quicker drawing me a picture...

Goodness knows what happened there.  I didn't refresh and  only hit submit once!

[drs]

18 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said:

The junior clubs were told they'd have to start at bottom of juniors if they ever returned (potentially a 4 league demotion!) so there was too much to iron out at the time. 

...and they were literally fed "shit" when they were told that they would need £100k toilet blocks installed. It all came back and bit the SJFA on the arse and now its a complete irrelevance whereas if they had some gumption and forward thinking they could have been running the LL and Wos and EoS.

[Brummo]

2 hours ago, drs said:

Why are some people gleefully posting their ignorance about Scottish football?

It isnt up for debate - Brechin alongside every Angus club fall within the Highland League catchment area. What is so hard to understand about this?

This: Supporters of the Pyramid are keen to bring about change in the Scottish game. Agreed.

However when it comes to the boundary line dividing the country between LL and HL, suddenly it is as immutable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians, irrespective of how bad this rule is. 

If you are so keen to bring about much needed changes in Scottish football, why are you so glaringly inconsistent on this?

No Angus club thinks it is the right decision. It is unanimously agreed by anyone who knows the game in this area that the line should be drawn at the North Esk not the Tay. 

The decision to make the Tay the boundary needs looking at again for this reason.

Not really that hard to understand, is it?

[drs]

Its not a bad rule.

The boundary should be looked at, agreed, and moved further south to ensure there is a more equitable split of clubs in the 2 feeders and under them. 

[FairWeatherFan]

3 minutes ago, Brummo said:

This: Supporters of the Pyramid are keen to bring about change in the Scottish game. Agreed.

However when it comes to the boundary line dividing the country between LL and HL, suddenly it is as immutable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians, irrespective of how bad this rule is. 

If you are so keen to bring about much needed changes in Scottish football, why are you so glaringly inconsistent on this?

Is the HL/LL boundary line flawed? Yes. You just won't find a lot of people that support the idea of moving it further North. As that just makes it worse and doesn't fix anything.

 

[Gordon EF]

53 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Another thing to 'look forward to' is the potential excitement of deeply wanting to get up to a particular level from the very start of the season.

It's already been mentioned by several posters of other affiliations in the past that Brechin are happy enough to trundle around the lower leagues.  I'd have to partially agree with that tbh, not that it's necessarily bad to recognise your limitations and live within your means.  However, I think it would be fair to say that Brechin fans in general haven't had a deep passionate desire to get up to, say, Championship level; certainly from my perspective, it's always been sort of seen as a 'nice to have' with the general realistic expectation that it'll be a fleeting visit.  We don't have the feeling that we 'belong' there. 

If you compare it to certain other fan groups who have a truly entrenched passion and determination to get up a league (even if it's a completely deluded notion but the future expectation is there), then it's not something I've really felt at the Glebe since they won the Third Division in the early 2000s.  Yes, there was the pitch invasion at Alloa and it was a great feeling and achievement at the time, and I'm not denying the players and fans didn't want it, but I just feel that there's an underlying difference about it that I'm perhaps struggling to put into words here.

I'm not saying that the club has lacked any ambition as many would make out, as there's always a desire to have another league trophy win against the club's name and a new flag flying above the stand as a great achievement, but it's not really been the same compared to some other fan groups imho.  For many (maybe even most) of a Brechin persuasion it's merely case of "yasss, we've made the playoffs; ach, we lost out, oh well, back to the same old teams next year, we're doing well to be here anyway".

What this relegation might do now is give the fans and club that absolute burning desire to hit the target of SPFL football again where we feel we truly belong, and be the catalyst for that full blown "let's f***ing do this" feeling from the very start of the season (in a more positive way that's not just about avoiding the relegation playoffs to keep the status quo the following season).  I think that's certainly one element to look forward to and will improve the experience for early and middle parts of the season.

#tl;dr

I know what you mean. I think that's a general symptom of pretty much punching right at the top of your weight for so long.  I think it's generally accepted that relative to crowds and resources, Brechin have done extremely well over the past 20 years or so. By most standards, they're one of the smallest 'traditional' SPFL clubs and so to be a competitive L1 club with the occasional trip to the Championship consistently for so long was a real achievement. But where do you go from there? Brechin staying where they were would have genuinely been an achievement.

It's easy and banal to talk about 'ambition' when the local pie howker or scrappy is pumping money into a club, signing players from 2/3 levels above and competing with clubs with next to no resources. But all these clubs have ceilings. Let's say Kelty get to L1 and their backer doesn't have the resources to build a squad capable of competing in the championship or stops putting his hands in his pocket. What will Kelty do that Brechin didn't? In that scenario, they'd do remarkably well just to stay where they are.

And Brora. The minute money stops getting put in there, they'll slide. And with tier 6 coming in in the North, they'd be lucky to stop that slide at the HL. More than likely they'd head into what becomes of the North Caledonian League.

[effeffsee_the2nd]

5 minutes ago, Brummo said:

This: Supporters of the Pyramid are keen to bring about change in the Scottish game. Agreed.

However when it comes to the boundary line dividing the country between LL and HL, suddenly it is as immutable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians, irrespective of how bad this rule is. 

If you are so keen to bring about much needed changes in Scottish football, why are you so glaringly inconsistent on this?

No Angus club thinks it is the right decision. It is unanimously agreed by anyone who knows the game in this area that the line should be drawn at the North Esk not the Tay. 

The decision to make the Tay the boundary needs looking at again for this reason.

Not really that hard to understand, is it?

 it's been drawn as it is to prevent the north - south strength divide from becoming even more lopsided than it already is,  the further north you move it the more isolated the northern teams become . someone had to lose out , that's how it goes.   Scotlands population is not distributed equally.  A team 30 miles from Aberdeen should not be travelling to Dumfries and Galloway to play in a regional competition anyway

[lionel wickson]

15 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

Don't know the attendance but Brechin were in the League Cup semi Final at Hampden against Rangers in 1957.

Berwick also made the League Cup semi final against Rangers in 1963.

[Hedgecutter]

10 minutes ago, Brummo said:

This: Supporters of the Pyramid are keen to bring about change in the Scottish game. Agreed.

However when it comes to the boundary line dividing the country between LL and HL, suddenly it is as immutable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians, irrespective of how bad this rule is. 

If you are so keen to bring about much needed changes in Scottish football, why are you so glaringly inconsistent on this?

No Angus club thinks it is the right decision. It is unanimously agreed by anyone who knows the game in this area that the line should be drawn at the North Esk not the Tay. 

The decision to make the Tay the boundary needs looking at again for this reason.

Not really that hard to understand, is it?

Brechin and Montrose to inevitably end up miffed as to why they're still in the HL, only to find that the SFA look at your proposal and accidentally draw it at the South Esk, saying "what's the difference?".

[Gordon EF]

13 minutes ago, drs said:

...and they were literally fed "shit" when they were told that they would need £100k toilet blocks installed. 

It's hilarious that anyone ever fell for that. One trip to Central Park, Cliftonhill or even Station Park would show you what the minimum requirements were like.

I'm sure one of the 'toilet blocks' at Station Park is still just a brick wall in a square shape with a opening for an entrance.

[Marten]

20 minutes ago, Brummo said:

This: Supporters of the Pyramid are keen to bring about change in the Scottish game. Agreed.

However when it comes to the boundary line dividing the country between LL and HL, suddenly it is as immutable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians, irrespective of how bad this rule is. 

If you are so keen to bring about much needed changes in Scottish football, why are you so glaringly inconsistent on this?

No Angus club thinks it is the right decision. It is unanimously agreed by anyone who knows the game in this area that the line should be drawn at the North Esk not the Tay. 

The decision to make the Tay the boundary needs looking at again for this reason.

Not really that hard to understand, is it?

As of next season there will be around 81 teams in the Highland League and feeders. There will be around 165 in the Lowland League and feeders. That's twice as many clubs in the southern half of the pyramid compared to the northern half. If the North Esk becomes the boundary instead, 20 teams (18 Midland League + Brechin City & Montrose Roselea) will be moved from the HL to the LL section of the pyramid so that would make it 61 - 185. Instead of double, there will be triple the amount of teams in the southern half compared to the northern half. I don't think such a move would make sense.

With the Midland League becoming a HL feeder it could only be a year before Brechin get a Tayside opponent like Lochee United or Broughty Athletic. If either of these replace Fort William that would vastly reduce mileage for Brechin.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Marten