Celtic and Rangers B Teams in League Two?

[Benidorm]

7 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

All the #staunch LL owners absolutely choking for a chance to drink out the loving cup at Ibrox before the diddy club vs rangers b game. You only have to see the tweets from the likes of edubraves minded folks on twitter who’s ‘big team’ is Rangers to understand why they are such big proponents of this. Its absolutely embarrassing. 

Aye and the laughable reality is they'll instead be trudging out to somewhere like Dumbarton to watch their fraud squad get horsed in front of about 200. Prolly end up doing a Chick Young Only an Excuse and whipping a scarf out of their jacket on the sly tbh.

Edited April 20 by Benidorm

[Cornishman]

On 19/04/2022 at 13:41, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

It would be terrible if people started boycotting lowland league clubs sponsors…. 

I suggested just that, a while back... except I intimated that organising a 'ring-a-thon' (where a group of people organise a telephone bombing campaign), so the sponsor receives a different complainant's phonecall every five minutes or so, might be considered.

[Marten]

20 hours ago, welshbairn said:

The Highland League told Caley Thistle to do one, then changed the rules restricting loan numbers when Caley tried to sneak in the back door by lending Fort William 9 (eventually at least 11) players. Fort William were still shite.

Yes, I know that indeed. That's one of the reasons why I think more highly of the HL than the LL. I can't see them changing now, so in the (thankfully highly unlikely) case they would, I'd be more disappointed than when the LL voted for B-teams, just because I wouldn't expect that from them.

Edited April 21 by Marten

[Nowhereman]

22 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

As others have said, it's the damage to the pyramid that's the issue. If Dumbarton wanted to pay £40k and enter a reserve team in a league that a club like, for example, Clydebank are fighting tooth and nail to try and win promotion to then I'd be pretty disgusted by the club tbh.

I'm currently preparing myself to watch Sons attempt to maintain their third tier status again. When/if we go down then we can't just buy our place back in League One. The same goes for this.

Why should Rangers/Celtic/Hearts/Hibs or Annan Athletic, Forfar or whoever be able to buy their way into a league, overtaking a host of clubs who are battling to win a spot in that league?

You're not old enough to remember but Dumbarton did try to buy their way in to the old first division back in 1970. But the football authorities ruled it out as unfair

[TheScarf]

Absolute cunt of a league filled with clubs who need to not exist.  Get the LL to fuck out of the pyramid.

[RiG]

23 hours ago, Pyramid Watcher said:

There are a lot of comments on this and other threads from fans of SPFL clubs, and I would like to ask them a genuine question. What upsets you more, the damage to the pyramid or the fact that it is Celtic and Rangers who are involved? I’m not looking for a battle, just genuinely interested in people’s point of view.

As others have said the damage to the pyramid. I'm against Colts pretty much full stop irrespective of the sides involved. I also hate that the Colts have infiltrated the Challenge Cup (or whatever it is called now) and I refused to go to ICT games against Colt sides that were largely glorified friendlies.

[TheScarf]

The North Caley having Nairn County B in it is a fucking joke too.

[welshbairn]

23 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

The North Caley having Nairn County B in it is a fucking joke too.

That doesn't bother me, they're short of teams. Looks like Clach will be fielding a u20s team too since the North of Scotland u20 league died a death through lack of interest. 

[DiegoDiego]

I hope Fraserburgh win the playoff so that there's more turnover in LL membership. Eventually the clubs who roll over and offer their tummies to be tickled by the Old Firm will be papped out the bottom end of the league by those who have a bit more dignity.

[Spyro]

On 20/04/2022 at 17:07, Marooneye said:

Admission to tier five of B clubs is a digusting kick in the teeth for all the clubs at tier 6 and below that have worked hard to improve facilities and get licensed in order to progress.

And also against the SFA constitution saying that no B/reserve teams can compete at Tier 5. (Stranraer B being denied an opportunity to compete in the SoS/EoS playoff and the HL denying ICT for the same reasons)

Although they will use the “compete” and “guest club” as a workaround until it’s written out and let them run free into the national league.

1. Where’s the new sponsor? Think they have one now but f**k knows who they are as, leading onto point 2

2. Where all this new media attention? The website is shite and the podcast… well…

3. Crowds will be 200+ higher for OF games… great to see the old parkheid calculator making a comeback

 

Any more ways to they could have shafted the ACTUAL fans of teams at this level?

Edited April 21 by Spyro

[TheScarf]

The HL are completely against Colt teams and rightly so. The LL want the league to be filled with them. The fucking wankers.

[Cyclizine]

6 hours ago, TheScarf said:

The North Caley having Nairn County B in it is a fucking joke too.

Rather hypocritically, I don't actually mind this. The NCL historically was the Highland Reserve League. It's only in fairly recent years that a large proportion of its members (and indeed, champions) haven't been second XIs. Although a Tier 6 league, really the NCL is an amateur league with facilities to match - look how teams come and go each year. The NCL's depth is significantly smaller than the other leagues (bar the SoSFL) and winter footballing opportunities for those not at a Highland League level are limited. There's not really a functional U20 structure and there's no other local winter leagues. This isn't an attempt to disparage the league in anyway, the management and organisation is excellent and a credit to the committee's hard work. Somewhere, however, there's a line to be drawn between the senior game and the recreational level. In my opinion the NCL really straddles this divide.

Edited April 21 by Cyclizine

[FairWeatherFan]

Most people think of the English pyramid as not having B teams/Reserves sides in them. They do though. It's just the highest they can go is level 10 or step 10? One or the other and that's why no one notices.

The NCL & SoS, which tend to have reserve teams, shouldn't really be operating at Tier 6. They're only there because of how the Scottish pyramid has been cobbled together. So it seems like a false comparison to the full-time SPFL B teams that the OF and others are trying to start.

[parsforlife]

1 hour ago, Cyclizine said:

, there's a line to be drawn between the senior game and the recreational level.

Does it? As long as you follow a winter schedule and play fixtures as given then that’s enough 

[Ginaro]

2 hours ago, Spyro said:

And also against the SFA constitution saying that no B/reserve teams can compete at Tier 5.

That was in the LL rules, but of course it was changed.

[Cyclizine]

7 hours ago, parsforlife said:

Does it? As long as you follow a winter schedule and play fixtures as given then that’s enough 

In my view there is a difference between the higher levels of the game (senior, junior, perhaps the higher end amateur in the lowland area) where the focus is more about the club itself and the lower recreational levels where it's more about the enjoyment of the group of players. I don't think it's fair or respectful to the first teams to have reserve teams in their league at the higher levels, but I don't really have too much of a problem with them in the recreational levels. The NCL in my mind is a bit of both. Entirely hypocritical, I know. I don't like the idea of reserve teams in the pyramid, but if Pandora's box has been opened, then the natural place for them to start is at the bottom. 

Edited April 22 by Cyclizine

[craigkillie]

17 hours ago, Spyro said:

And also against the SFA constitution saying that no B/reserve teams can compete at Tier 5. (Stranraer B being denied an opportunity to compete in the SoS/EoS playoff and the HL denying ICT for the same reasons)

Although they will use the “compete” and “guest club” as a workaround until it’s written out and let them run free into the national league.

There is nothing of that nature in the SFA constitution. The Lowland League rules previously prevented B teams from being involved, but they have since been updated to allow this nonsense, and we've not yet had a test case to see what would happen if Stranraer B won the SoS. The Highland League doesn't have anything in its rules preventing B teams, but chose not to accept Inverness. I think they would have been able to if they'd wanted to.

[FairWeatherFan]

It's not been the 500 minimum they tried to convince everyone about but it helps explain why some of the clubs are happy to sell out to the OF.

[DiegoDiego]

Considering the stick they get from many for not being a "real" club and being lumped in with the likes of Broomhill and Caley Braves, East Kilbride averaging 157 sans OF is better than I imagined.

[craigkillie]

It's the sixth largest settlement in Scotland.