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The Nick of this Division


Is this the worst second tier in the history of Scottish football?  

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On 26/11/2019 at 20:28, stumigoo said:

Ally Maxwell

Jamie McQuilken
Brian Welsh
Rab Shannon
Christian Dailly
Steven Pressley
Andy McLaren
Dave Bowman
Gary McSwegan
Robbie Winters
Craig Brewster

Subs -
Ray McKinnon
Grant Johnson
Owen Coyle

That’s the team vs Partick in the 95/96 playoff final. The first season I started going to games. There are 9 or 10 names from that squad who were outstanding. Not necessarily saying in comparison to the current crop but it is a ridiculously strong side.

That team would pretty much qualify for Europe at the moment. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you still had to fix the play-off to get promoted. 

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1 hour ago, Ludo*1 said:

I'd really feel sorry for Brechin if they sunk to that level. They have the most iconic stadium (And hedge) out of all the wee Angus teams.

It's a stupid wee Junior ground for a stupid wee Junior level team; the sooner that they get flushed out of the national game for good, the better. 

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On 26/11/2019 at 10:30, AyrTroopMajor said:

Think this one is hard to answer as an Ayr fan given that our team this season and last season are significantly better than anything that we have managed to field at this level since the days of Gordon Dalziel and Bill Barr. 

I am certainly used to being played off the park at this level but was never clear whether that was down the the high standard of opposition that we were facing or whether we were just, yet again, absolutely rancid relegation-fodder. I think we are a bit of an anomaly here. We are better than we have been before, and everyone else is probably worse.

This is a good point, in our "best times" we had guys like Pat McGinlay, Yogi Hughes, James Grady, Eddie Annand, Gary Teale, John Davies plus the French U21 Keeper David Castilla and a CH in Luc Sonor who'd Captained Monaco and had multiple caps for France. Around the same time we were coming up against a Hibs side containing Frank Sauzee, Russell Latapy, Stuart Lovell etc.

However as Ayr troop has said that was the exception rather than the rule for Ayr and I'd honestly say that our current squad is every bit as good if not better than the majority of our 2nd tier sides in the past 30 years.

It's also easy to look back and remember getting destroyed at this level by guys like Paul Harvey, John Henry, Kevin McAllister, Owen Coyle, Jackie McNamara etc, however these are the ones we remember as they were the best around and all went further in the game or were stepping down to this level having been at the very top. There were also multiple diddies plying their trade at every side in the division, some of whom couldn't even control a bloody football !!!

Who's not to say that in 20 years time people will be talking about the great championship players of 2018 - 2020 and recalling the amazing goalscoring exploits of Dobbie & Shankland ??

We also might see guys who might look nothing now stepping up and having great careers at higher levels and again people will look back and note that they played in a Championship around 2019 and automatically think the level must have been great.

As I say, hindsight is a wonderful thing...........

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If they were stupid enough to rate the current Championship of then the First Division of barely fifteen years previously would look like Serie A in the 1990s by comparison, as anyone who has actually watched this division has observed an objective decline in quality.

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I'd love to tell you the league is a big pile of shite and nowhere near as good as the 90s but I'd also love to tell you we are part of it and not 3rd in league fucking 1 below world class outfits like Airdrie and Raith [emoji853][emoji25]
Get back to the seaside forum you scallywag.
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On 26/11/2019 at 13:19, Skyline Drifter said:

I think there's probably a fair bit of merit in your foreign / English players point. Both Celtic and Rangers have a lot more domestic players now, middle order sides have less foreigners and there are therefore probably a lower standard of Scot floating down a level.

I'm not convinced your "Part time teams are finding it easier to stay in the Championship" point has an awful lot of merit though. Are they finding it easier? Arbroath have had a great start but they are 7 points off the playoff spot (granted that's another part time team) and 9 points off the bottom. If Thistle get their act together with a new Board and presumably new funds after Xmas then Arbroath still have much to do to ensure safety. Alloa stayed up last season but did so by a point as we imploded and the worst Falkirk car crash in living memory came up a point short.  17/18 the two part time teams were relegated. 16/17 part time Ayr went down and Dumbarton stayed up on goal difference from the Gary Locke / John Hughes Raith debacle (who knows what might have happened if they'd played an actual goalkeeper in goal every game!). 15/16 Alloa went down, Dumbarton stayed up thanks to Livi being a car crash. They finished 8th but did so by 6 pts granted. They also stayed up the year before but there were three part time sides that season + Livi had a points deduction.

2013/14 did see Dumbarton finish 5th which was a terrific achievement. There were 3 part time teams that season plus Morton were in complete car crash mode and finished bottom but it was still a terrific effort. Indeed they only missed the playoffs 2 weeks from the end of the season when we edged them out. In 12/13 Dumbarton and Cowdenbeath both stayed up but Airdrie had all but gone bust and Dunfermline had a 15 pt deduction. 11/12 the only part time team Ayr were relegated. 10/11 the part time sides Cowdenbeath and Stirling Albion were relegated. Etc, etc.

Dumbarton managed to stay up for 4 years, bucking a trend but helped by full time sides going bust and having other part time sides in the division. Alloa have twice managed to stay up but only did so by a hair's breadth on the last day both times. Arbroath are doing well so far but we're not even at the halfway point yet. I don't think there's any real evidence that part time sides are truly competitive at this level over a season, but there probably is a narrowing of the gap.

Six, I think you'll find

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