invergowrie arab Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 22 hours ago, invergowrie arab said: Stick the Tayside Juniors, Aberdeen Juniors and Highland League all in at Tier 5 with a 3 way playoff to determine the North rep to play the LL rep. That basically gives everyone 3 or 4 chances to avoid an unwanted promotion. Im half serious on this. The Highland League was designed with a specific function in mind. It was never meant to be a league from Bettyhill to Broughty Ferry. The Tayside Juniors mostly want a local league. A regional split at level 5 allows ambitious clubs to progress and the Highland and Tayside Juniors to remain mostly intact year on year. I dont have a clue about Aberdeenshire junior football and whether its possible/desireable for them to go into the Highland League or for the Highland League to withdraw from Aberdeenshire and lump Aberdeenshire/Tayside in together. It also solves the issue of a Montrose ot a Brechin ending up in the HL which would be ridiculous. It might be hard if half the the HL are champing at the bit to join league 2 and they see it as making that route harder but i dont get a sense they are. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Aberdeenshire juniors wish all of this would go away. The SHFL won’t throw out teams from the Shire so there can be some kind of east coast merger. The whole thing was fucked the day the decision was made to do a Highland/Lowland split. Should have done it in three, like the juniors had set up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 30 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said: Im half serious on this. The Highland League was designed with a specific function in mind. It was never meant to be a league from Bettyhill to Broughty Ferry. The Tayside Juniors mostly want a local league. A regional split at level 5 allows ambitious clubs to progress and the Highland and Tayside Juniors to remain mostly intact year on year. I dont have a clue about Aberdeenshire junior football and whether its possible/desireable for them to go into the Highland League or for the Highland League to withdraw from Aberdeenshire and lump Aberdeenshire/Tayside in together. It also solves the issue of a Montrose ot a Brechin ending up in the HL which would be ridiculous. It might be hard if half the the HL are champing at the bit to join league 2 and they see it as making that route harder but i dont get a sense they are. North Region said they weren't interested nearly a year ago. Tayside clubs are trying to stay East or Junior. NCL is too small and isolated to matter on their own. As for the paper talk of it being impossible due to travel. Any prospective club to reach Highland League level from the Juniors or NCL are likely to be from Aberdeenshire or Tayside further easing travel concerns. For any club making their first step in the current set up, they'll already have an example of a club travelling long distances within it and surviving without much fuss in the shape of Wick. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 If a team at this level can’t afford to cope with being a SHFL side travelling to Dundee once a season or being a Dundee club travelling to the far north once a season, they should pack it in. Even Fort have managed to keep going. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 1 hour ago, invergowrie arab said: Im half serious on this. The Highland League was designed with a specific function in mind. It was never meant to be a league from Bettyhill to Broughty Ferry. The Tayside Juniors mostly want a local league. A regional split at level 5 allows ambitious clubs to progress and the Highland and Tayside Juniors to remain mostly intact year on year. I dont have a clue about Aberdeenshire junior football and whether its possible/desireable for them to go into the Highland League or for the Highland League to withdraw from Aberdeenshire and lump Aberdeenshire/Tayside in together. It also solves the issue of a Montrose ot a Brechin ending up in the HL which would be ridiculous. It might be hard if half the the HL are champing at the bit to join league 2 and they see it as making that route harder but i dont get a sense they are. I actually agree with a lot of this... My only problem would be tier 5 should only have licensed clubs imo. So a smaller, leaner Highland league with 10-12 teams followed by 2 feeders from the old Highland league catchment and a Aberdeenshire/Tayside set up could work. Only issue is that the Tayside teams have already started they wish to remain in their current catchment mainly due to most their players coming from further south... so herein lies the next problem 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 The Highland League would fold before it would ever drop to ten teams and playing 3x or 4x. No amount of piddling cup games replace league fixtures. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Its not really a matter of whether or not Lochee Utd could afford to play Brora, but more about whether or not its in anyones interest that they do so. Its not how i would have organised it but my suggestion is IF the juniors move over and IF the Tay boundary stays fixed then im not convinced there is a necessity to have one overarching top division for the whole North region. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strathman Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 For most of the time when there has been Scottish League football the Highland League area was an afterthought. Respected guys like Jack Steedman and Bob Crampsey actively fought against Highland teams advancement. In Steedman's case blatantly and Crampsey who championed Gala's right to join instead of teams with fan bases such as Elgin and Ross County. The decision to elect Ferranti Thistle who did not even have a suitable ground ahead of Inverness Thistle was incomprehensible to anyone looking at the game as a whole. The Pyramid, far from perfect but a lot better than nothing, means that clubs can achieve Scottish League on merit. I think it is inevitable that the Lowland League will eventually become a much better standard than the Highland League. Last year's Scottish Cup results was the first real sign of that happening. For the time being though the current system is fair enough. Cove outclassed East Kilbride and Spartans in the last couple of play offs. Brora have also won so the current system is not lop sided in terms of ability. Leave it for a while yet would be my take. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenon Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Here's how I would sort the Highland pyramid. Tier 5: Highland League Premier (10 clubs - top 10 of existing HL) Tier 6: Highland League One (10 clubs - bottom 7 of existing HL plus top 3 NCL clubs) Tier 7: Highland League Two (10 clubs - rest of NCL plus North and possibly Tayside junior applicants, would eventually extend to conferences if more juniors wish to apply) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 How does a ten team league fill a season? f**k playing each other 4 times in the league before adding in possibly another four cup meetings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 26 minutes ago, Jimmy Shaker said: How does a ten team league fill a season? f**k playing each other 4 times in the league before adding in possibly another four cup meetings. Funny how it’s always a supporter from one of the bottom teams that objects so loudly to the HL being split... Steady on Jimmy, you’ll do yourself harm, the guy is only throwing out his idea, nothing to get upset about 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 So if I go find a Brocher to tell him his idea is shit, that’ll be fine? What a rube. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 8 hours ago, Spyro said: Funny how it’s always a supporter from one of the bottom teams that objects so loudly to the HL being split... Steady on Jimmy, you’ll do yourself harm, the guy is only throwing out his idea, nothing to get upset about I haven't met anyone in Scotland who thinks 10 team leagues are better than 18. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 9 minutes ago, welshbairn said: I haven't met anyone in Grant Street or Lossie who thinks 10 team leagues are better than 18. FIFY 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I suggest you ask more SHFL fans. Or consider the response to the Stables plan to chop the league in two. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northboy Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 10 hours ago, Jimmy Shaker said: How does a ten team league fill a season? f**k playing each other 4 times in the league before adding in possibly another four cup meetings. As a supporter I see no appeal whatsoever in a 10 team Highland League. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, Northboy said: As a supporter I see no appeal whatsoever in a 10 team Highland League. It's a solution nobody wants to a problem nobody North of the Tay cares about. Edited August 30, 2019 by welshbairn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 As a non HL fan 10 team league sounds shite. All leagues in Scotland should move towards 18- 20 with euro/promotion playoffs meaning anywhere in the top third of the league is meaningful 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 It would certainly add a bit of spice to the Highland League if there was a European slot at stake. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 It would certainly add a bit of spice to the Highland League if there was a European slot at stake.You must be kidding. You saw the knicker wetting that went on when Brora realised they may have to go to Brechin and Peterhead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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