welshbairn Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 3 minutes ago, craigkillie said: But one of them is Brechin, and if they're now a single postponement away from having to play twice in the same midweek to finish on time. They should really have made better use of their much vaunted pitch covers, a lesson for next season. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 52 minutes ago, craigkillie said: But one of them is Brechin, and if they're now a single postponement away from having to play twice in the same midweek to finish on time. Should have thought of that before doing a hair-trigger postponement of their homer v Fraserburgh back in January because of ‘rain’, shouldn’t they. Pitches are fine now so all will be done in time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmic Joe Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 I'm going to say Buckie Thistle will beat Spartans, then lose to Elgin City. Although I'm not going to bet my house on it. Largely because it belongs to the council and I would get the jail. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 2 hours ago, welshbairn said: True. If the Junior's website is correct though, as it is about half the teams still have 9 games to play. Could mean the bottom HL team having to twiddle their thumbs for maybe a month to wait for a play off, and possibly the NCL champions too. P.S. Most of the grounds don't have floodlights either, so little opportunity for catching up midweek. You don't need floodlights in April. Midweeks are scheduled from next week onwards. The obvious answer for Midlands League is to bin off at least one of the cups, play them as end of season tournaments or double up nominated League games as Cup games As well as having 3 teams in the big Scottish there's the Junior Cup, East Region Cup - effectively a League Cup and the Quest East&North combined Cup. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 (edited) 13 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said: The obvious answer for Midlands League is to bin off at least one of the cups, play them as end of season tournaments or double up nominated League games as Cup games I've thought that for the various Highland League cups too, have some competitive football during pleasant spring weather instead of finishing in April to fit SPFL requirements for the pyramid. The Scottish Cup final isn't till June after all.. Edited April 9, 2023 by welshbairn 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 Elgin going down to Buckie would be a bit of a disaster for Brechins title aspirations for the following season IMO. You’d imagine Elgin would have a decent pool of players to pick from. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 16 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Elgin going down to Buckie would be a bit of a disaster for Brechins title aspirations for the following season IMO. You’d imagine Elgin would have a decent pool of players to pick from. If Elgin came down they’d tank for a couple of seasons minimum. Possibly a lot longer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'Kelly Isley III Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 12 hours ago, Cosmic Joe said: I'm going to say Buckie Thistle will beat Spartans, then lose to Elgin City. Although I'm not going to bet my house on it. Largely because it belongs to the council and I would get the jail. My Edinburgh contact tells me that Spartans are a pretty decent outfit, so it could be quite a bunfight. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stag Nation Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 44 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Elgin going down to Buckie would be a bit of a disaster for Brechins title aspirations for the following season IMO. You’d imagine Elgin would have a decent pool of players to pick from. You'd imagine that if they had they wouldn't be relegated ... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 After being relegated they would be able to sign local players that don't fancy midweek travel to the central belt. In a Highland League with no Caley or Thistle around who is left to challenge them at this point? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 23 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said: After being relegated they would be able to sign local players that don't fancy midweek travel to the central belt. In a Highland League with no Caley or Thistle around who is left to challenge them at this point? The clubs with long-standing relationships with Ross County and Inverness, the clubs with more money, the clubs better positioned to be attractive to players located further south. Brora, Buckie, Formartine, Brechin, Inverurie, to name a few. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 You might be a wee bit biased on this being from Lossiemouth. Brechin's problem is how long they can sustain paying extra to central belt players of the necessary calibre to do all the travelling. Four more midweek games to accomodate having Elgin aboard wouldn't do them any favours from that standpoint. If they don't do it this season they need Elgin around like a hole in the head. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdinburghBlue Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 4 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said: My Edinburgh contact tells me that Spartans are a pretty decent outfit, so it could be quite a bunfight. I've seen them. some decent football but lightweight. My prediction is that Brechin or Buckie will win the north-south playoff, but probably lose to the SPFL 2 side. This isn't one of those seasons where the bottom side is well detached from the others - indeed there's a fair chance that the side finishing bottom will do so with the highest points total since the SPFL moved to the four league setup, and (perhaps except Elgin, if their freefall continues) will be 'battle-hardened' from the relegation dogfight. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 2 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said: You might be a wee bit biased on this being from Lossiemouth. Brechin's problem is how long they can sustain paying extra to central belt players of the necessary calibre to do all the travelling. Four more midweek games to accomodate having Elgin aboard wouldn't do them any favours from that standpoint. If they don't do it this season they need Elgin around like a hole in the head. No bias. Just countering the idea that Elgin would somehow be a desirable venue for 'local players', something Elgin screwed up on day one of the SFL when they cut almost all the boys who'd finished the (then) last SHFL season at the club. The club has almost wholesale ignored players in the north for various reasons - for a long time, Elgin were completely outmonied by enough clubs to make trawling the north a total waste of time - and whether they're set up to attract them now remains to be seen. The novelty of playing for Elgin in a regional league won't excite players as much as the money they can get elsewhere in the north. Whether Brechin can continue to do whatever it is they're doing into a third season in the SHFL is of much debate just now, but they'll forever be better placed to attract talent from a bigger part of the country than Elgin ever will. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 6 hours ago, jamamafegan said: Elgin going down to Buckie would be a bit of a disaster for Brechins title aspirations for the following season IMO. You’d imagine Elgin would have a decent pool of players to pick from. If they had a decent pool of players to pick from they wouldn't be in this position. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmic Joe Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 On 10/04/2023 at 15:55, Jimmy Shaker said: No bias. Just countering the idea that Elgin would somehow be a desirable venue for 'local players', something Elgin screwed up on day one of the SFL when they cut almost all the boys who'd finished the (then) last SHFL season at the club. The club has almost wholesale ignored players in the north for various reasons - for a long time, Elgin were completely outmonied by enough clubs to make trawling the north a total waste of time - and whether they're set up to attract them now remains to be seen. The novelty of playing for Elgin in a regional league won't excite players as much as the money they can get elsewhere in the north. Whether Brechin can continue to do whatever it is they're doing into a third season in the SHFL is of much debate just now, but they'll forever be better placed to attract talent from a bigger part of the country than Elgin ever will. When I had a chat with an Elgin City director at the start of the season, he said they were now recruiting more young local players. East Fife adopted a similar strategy recently. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Feet Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 On 10/04/2023 at 12:49, LongTimeLurker said: You might be a wee bit biased on this being from Lossiemouth. Brechin's problem is how long they can sustain paying extra to central belt players of the necessary calibre to do all the travelling. Four more midweek games to accomodate having Elgin aboard wouldn't do them any favours from that standpoint. If they don't do it this season they need Elgin around like a hole in the head. Most if the players are not central; Dundee, Perth, Fife and of course Brechin. Think we have two from Glasgow area. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dav nan Gael Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 At Glebe Park tonight, City absolutely annihilating Broch. 4-0 at HT and fully deserved. "Fuckie" must be some outfit if they can win the HL title ahead of Brechin as City are a very slick outfit on this showing . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dav nan Gael Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 Must about a 1000 or so in Glebe Park tonight !! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 42 minutes ago, Dav nan Gael said: At Glebe Park tonight, City absolutely annihilating Broch. 4-0 at HT and fully deserved. "Fuckie" must be some outfit if they can win the HL title ahead of Brechin as City are a very slick outfit on this showing . Brechin have been shite for weeks. They also love the long ball to the opposition goalkeeper for 90 minutes tactic. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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