Lowland League General Discussion

[Hampden Diehard]

6 hours ago, Deanburn Dave said:

These rumours will not go away.

The reality is that the SPFL2 teams are not for budging as they like the current "safe" setup. 

Aye and all the SPFL teams bar three are happy to support the league 2 teams and not simply roll over for them. But we'll see how long that lasts.

[Spyro]

19 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

The divide between T3-T6 (only some T6 leagues) is largely artificial for part-time clubs.

Fair point. Was typing while not really thinking tbh, but the gulf between the top and bottom of both our tier 5 leagues is ridiculous at the moment and needs sorted. I get your point though, if a butter flaps it's wings in China, then a championship team in Scotland falls 4 divisions and the same can be said lower down. Dunipace, Crossgates and Blackburn being a good examples in the east of teams going the other way. 

As much as its malanged, the 10 team leagues with playoffs and potentially 2 up 2 down means every game is worthwhile. There's far too many meaningless games at tier 5 at the moment with teams either just treading water or getting scudded most weeks without fear of the drop... but I suppose this should EVENTUALLY sort itself out once everyone finds their true level

Edited October 23, 2022 by Spyro

[FairWeatherFan]

4 minutes ago, Spyro said:

There's far too many meaningless games at tier 5 at the moment with teams either just treading water or getting scudded most weeks without fear of the drop... but I suppose this should EVENTUALLY sort itself out once everyone finds their true level

This is the complaint from the ex-SPFL sides. Including Brechin City once largely out of a title race. Nothing to play for after that point. Due to little risk of relegation.

There's not much that can be done at the top end of T5. A bottleneck does have to happen somewhere. Same is true for fitting T6 leagues into their single T5 league. Otherwise we'll be trading in the "pyramid" for a cylinder. The hopes with a more fluid system is that the title fights would kept things interesting at the top, while 3 relegated at the bottom would give meaningful for another set of teams.

 

 

[craigiemack]

It genuinely baffles me that people want bigger leagues. The LL is an absolutely abysmal league to be apart of. The Shires attendances are dwindling and its because we are literally playing for absolutely no reason. In the SPFL 6/10 league positions have a positive/negative result meaning that almost every team will still have something to play for until well into April and the middle of the table teams can often be playing for playoffs at both ends at the same time. That attracts people to games and makes a much better spectatcle. If the LL was a 10 team league it would be one of the most exciting in Scotland.

Edited October 23, 2022 by craigiemack

[FairWeatherFan]

31 minutes ago, craigiemack said:

It genuinely baffles me that people want bigger leagues.

Doubt they'd adopt the LL's approach to relegation.

[big al]

2 hours ago, craigiemack said:

It genuinely baffles me that people want bigger leagues. The LL is an absolutely abysmal league to be apart of. The Shires attendances are dwindling and its because we are literally playing for absolutely no reason. In the SPFL 6/10 league positions have a positive/negative result meaning that almost every team will still have something to play for until well into April and the middle of the table teams can often be playing for playoffs at both ends at the same time. That attracts people to games and makes a much better spectatcle. If the LL was a 10 team league it would be one of the most exciting in Scotland.

Spot on.

Cowden had a poor start, then got a couple of wins and realistically look to have too much to worry about a relegation fight. 19 team league (which in itself is absurd) means league season over in September/ October. The complete opposite of the SPFL leagues. 
The current LL set up is abysmal.

The only plan to attract more fans and interest into the league seems to be get the B teams in. Says it all really. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by big al

[craigiemack]

2 hours ago, big al said:

Spot on.

Cowden had a poor start, then got a couple of wins and realistically look to have too much to worry about a relegation fight. 19 team league (which in itself is absurd) means league season over in September/ October. The complete opposite of the SPFL leagues. 
The current LL set up is abysmal.

The only plan to attract more fans and interest into the league seems to be get the B teams in. Says it all really. 

Every team in the league from Spartans in 4th to Hearts in 16th have nothing to play for and its only October, they won't win the league and won't be relegated. If Shire win a couple games in the next month then we'll be safe (although we're 99% safe already) We've also been knocked out the Scottish and South Challenge Cup so we won't play a game that really matters until the LL Cup in April. How can clubs attract fans when there is literally nothing riding on games?

[Pyramid Watcher]

42 minutes ago, craigiemack said:

Every team in the league from Spartans in 4th to Hearts in 16th have nothing to play for and its only October, they won't win the league and won't be relegated. If Shire win a couple games in the next month then we'll be safe (although we're 99% safe already) We've also been knocked out the Scottish and South Challenge Cup so we won't play a game that really matters until the LL Cup in April. How can clubs attract fans when there is literally nothing riding on games?

What size of LL would you like to see?

[FairWeatherFan]

7 hours ago, craigiemack said:

Every team in the league from Spartans in 4th

You mean the team that's 3 points behind OG Broomhill and 4 points with a game in hand over EKFC?

Don't think they'll have quite the defeatist attitude.

[DiegoDiego]

Every team in the league from Spartans in 4th to Hearts in 16th have nothing to play for

Hearts never had anything to play for.

[ekok]

Hi craigiemack, everyone entitled to opinion, but with every team having 22/ 23 games ( Celtic 25) still  to play I think your " seasons over for most teams"  shout is premature to say the least.

Any team going on a run would see significant movement,  which in turn would put pressure on others. Even the normal spread of results will see interesting scenarios develop at top and bottom. 

Agree we should have more movement in and out of the league, that would spice things up, let's hope something comes from the Pyramid Review, long long overdue. 

[newcastle broon]

58 minutes ago, ekok said:

Hi craigiemack, everyone entitled to opinion, but with every team having 22/ 23 games ( Celtic 25) still  to play I think your " seasons over for most teams"  shout is premature to say the least.

Any team going on a run would see significant movement,  which in turn would put pressure on others. Even the normal spread of results will see interesting scenarios develop at top and bottom. 

Agree we should have more movement in and out of the league, that would spice things up, let's hope something comes from the Pyramid Review, long long overdue.

 

Aye Im sure only the die hards of Boness and Gala in midtable will be optimistic to go on runs and make 16 points up on Rangers B right enough and its only October!

Be a lot better league without the B teams,that's the biggest con here the fact you're heading for a false champion.

Should never have been allowed to happen.

 

 

 

 

[Gordon EF]

20 hours ago, Spyro said:

This... 

We are a small country with far too many teams in the "league" system as it is. England has around 10 times the population and has 92 teams in the top 4 tiers. 

Having EK and Gretna, or Fraserburgh and Speyside Thistle in the same tiers, in such a small country, is f**king madness tbh

This is all over the place. In the English system you have Stafford Rangers and Morpeth Town in the same league (Northern Premier Division, Tier 7). Both clubs tend to get a few hundred fans through the gate.

The distance between East Kilbride and Gretna is 80 miles. The distance between Stafford and Morpeth is 220 miles.

Why is it madness that East Kilbride and Gretna are in the same league but you want to hold up England as an example when it has even more extreme distances at an equivalent level?

[FairWeatherFan]

10 minutes ago, Gordon EF said:

Why is it madness that East Kilbride and Gretna are in the same league but you want to hold up England as an example when it has even more extreme distances at an equivalent level?

Don't think that's anything to do with distance. It's the difference in quality.

[Pyramid Watcher]

32 minutes ago, newcastle broon said:

 

Aye Im sure only the die hards of Boness and Gala in midtable will be optimistic to go on runs and make 16 points up on Rangers B right enough and its only October!

Be a lot better league without the B teams,that's the biggest con here the fact you're heading for a false champion.

Should never have been allowed to happen.

 

 

 

 

What size of LL would you like to see?

[newcastle broon]

6 minutes ago, Pyramid Watcher said:

What size of LL would you like to see?

Not as odd a number as 19 for sure!

That's my point 3 extra teams should never been put there.

I never stated 16 was/wasn't enough.

What would you like to see?

You're the one who keeps asking.

 

 

[Pyramid Watcher]

1 hour ago, newcastle broon said:

Not as odd a number as 19 for sure!

That's my point 3 extra teams should never been put there.

I never stated 16 was/wasn't enough.

What would you like to see?

You're the one who keeps asking.

 

 

I’ve asked twice .

16 would be ok provided the promotion/ventilation is correct, which it’s not. To reduce from 16 would need somewhere for the excess teams to go, which mean the LL would be passing the problem on to someone else. 

[invergowrie arab]

The LL are already comfortable with teams finishing 4th being nominated champions. 

They could have an end of season playoff tournament to decide their champions to keep things interesting.

Maybe the team that finished 8th could be champions or they could hold a raffle. 

[newcastle broon]

1 hour ago, Pyramid Watcher said:

I’ve asked twice .

16 would be ok provided the promotion/ventilation is correct, which it’s not. To reduce from 16 would need somewhere for the excess teams to go, which mean the LL would be passing the problem on to someone else. 

16 is fine if champion club got automatically promoted along wi champion of HFL wi 2nd 3rd 4th in both leagues having a play off of some kind with bottom 2 of SPFL.

Bottom 3 relegated replaced wi champions of West East and dare i say it South (until they give up their tier theyre here to stay) with 4th and 5th bottom in a play off of some kind wi runners up of  East West and South.

That would keep it a wee bit interesting for LL teams who as Craigiemack has pointed out have virtually nothing to play for. Plenty teams chapping the doors in the South wanting in,not so much the North so for all it is it would never happen. 

[Brazilianlex]

6 hours ago, ekok said:

Hi craigiemack, everyone entitled to opinion, but with every team having 22/ 23 games ( Celtic 25) still  to play I think your " seasons over for most teams"  shout is premature to say the least.

Any team going on a run would see significant movement,  which in turn would put pressure on others. Even the normal spread of results will see interesting scenarios develop at top and bottom. 

Agree we should have more movement in and out of the league, that would spice things up, let's hope something comes from the Pyramid Review, long long overdue. 

Anyone heard from Ian Maxwell yet ?

There is no pyramid review. It was an empty promise to get the Colts in, unfortunately half the Clubs bought it.