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I'm sickened - though not entirely surprised - to learn that the Cockwomble himself, Neil Doncaster, is, along with Longmuir, up for interview for the Chief Exec (or whatever the office title is) for this new body.

This man has consistently proven himself to be a fork-tongued shyster of the highest order, and should have been hunted out of Hampden months ago, much less offered the opportunity to lead this new structure going forward.

It is lunacy, verging on criminality, to let him near the post (in my opinion).

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I'm sickened - though not entirely surprised - to learn that the Cockwomble himself, Neil Doncaster, is, along with Longmuir, up for interview for the Chief Exec (or whatever the office title is) for this new body.

This man has consistently proven himself to be a fork-tongued shyster of the highest order, and should have been hunted out of Hampden months ago, much less offered the opportunity to lead this new structure going forward.

It is lunacy, verging on criminality, to let him near the post (in my opinion).

It's impossible to even consider the possibility that everyone in the SPL can be unaware how the bulk of Scottish fans feel about Doncaster. I come back to the view that the SPL chairmen think he's brilliant or possibly he makes them look good in comparison. Disregarding fans is of course the norm in Scottish football so no surprise there. Let's see if anyone among the chairmen has balls.

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I'm sickened - though not entirely surprised - to learn that the Cockwomble himself, Neil Doncaster, is, along with Longmuir, up for interview for the Chief Exec (or whatever the office title is) for this new body.

This man has consistently proven himself to be a fork-tongued shyster of the highest order, and should have been hunted out of Hampden months ago, much less offered the opportunity to lead this new structure going forward.

It is lunacy, verging on criminality, to let him near the post (in my opinion).

Fully agree Drew, him and Regan should be no where near a top job in the new setup, Longmuir is the only one that has came out of the last year or so with any sort of credibility left. It should be a clean sweep and new, younger faces all connected with football, we were on the right idea when Gordon Smith was made chief executive of the sfa (obviously not with someone as outspoken and bonkers as Smith was).

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I've always found the demonization of Doncaster strange as I presume everything he does is with the full knowledge and backing of the SPL's member clubs.

Lack of competence, as demonstrated by yesterday's hiccup, is a far stronger case against him.

Someone analysed it a bit on P&B during the big Rangers discussions. He appears to have been employed on the strength of the commercial deals he could broker - with the TV deal being the 'jewel in the crown'. Then, when you analyse the TV package the Scandinavian leagues negotiated, it makes Doncaster look like an amateur.

I'm also still convinced that a lot of the 'armageddon' predictions filtered down to SPL chairmen from Doncaster & Co giving out unsubstantiated messages of death if Rangers weren't saved. I see no other reason for SG to pass on this scenario of job cuts and sponsors leaving in droves to St Mirren supporters at those two meetings. What had SG to gain by giving Saints fans such an unpalatable message? - Nothing. All it brought him was grief, and grief from his own fans. Why would he invite criticism from his own fanbase unless he had been given such messages of gloom from those within Hampden who actually deal with big sponsors such as TV companies?

On balance, I think the probability is that Doncaster spread the gospel of gloom. One thing is absolutely certain - he's one of these corporate psycho-babble bullshit merchants, who talk about football as 'the product', and speak in such terms as delivering a quality product going forward in the marketplace, with a focus on achieving deliverables.'

For this alone, he deserves to be beaten over the head with big sticks.

Doncaster? Just say no.

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  • 5 years later...
On 6/12/2013 at 4:39 PM, shull said:

Has been voted for and will begin next season.

Insanely a lot of the inputed money will be wasted in making Clubs full time, meaning Gate Prices will remain sky high.

Opening up the 3rd Division to new Clubs is a great idea.

Come on The Lie !

So... How do we think this change has worked so far. The original post was made almost 5 years ago. 

Not just the Premiership but the other leagues as well. 

I like it but like many would ideally like to have a larger top league and play each other twice. 

Good to bring in fresh blood at the foot of the league structure but wouldn't want to see us dropping out! 

Edited by St.Ricky
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9 minutes ago, St.Ricky said:

So... How do we think this change has worked so far. The original post was made almost 5 years ago. 

Not just the Premiership but the other leagues as well. 

I like it but like many would ideally like to have a larger top league and play each other twice. 

Good to bring in fresh blood at the foot of the league structure but wouldn't want to see us dropping out! 

It will be fantastic as soon as Celtic & Sevco are booted tae feck  :byebye

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7 hours ago, shull said:

It will be fantastic as soon as Celtic & Sevco are booted tae feck  :byebye

Meanwhile, The Split, Play Offs and Changes at the Bottom End have worked and crowds are rising,  rather than falling. A resurgent Hibs and Hearts have expanded their grounds and Aberdeen and Dundee are moving to New and larger grounds.  There is a very competitive Championship, perhaps the most enjoyable of the league's.  The new format League Cup is coming to a media frenzied conclusion. The new format Irn Bruises cup doesn't please everybody but has provided interest for lower league clubs.  

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40 minutes ago, St.Ricky said:

Meanwhile, The Split, Play Offs and Changes at the Bottom End have worked and crowds are rising,  rather than falling. A resurgent Hibs and Hearts have expanded their grounds and Aberdeen and Dundee are moving to New and larger grounds.  There is a very competitive Championship, perhaps the most enjoyable of the league's.  The new format League Cup is coming to a media frenzied conclusion. The new format Irn Bruises cup doesn't please everybody but has provided interest for lower league clubs.  

The Play Offs are brilliant and have been a great addition.

The Scottish Cup is fine although I would scrap replays.

The Challenge Cup needs tweaked, Ban the Colts and add maybe more English League One or Championship Teams. Get it close to a larger Anglo Scottish Cup.

League Cup is good, although better in 2013. 

Top League is a joke with the Bigots involved, rest of the SPFL is okay.

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On 10/11/2018 at 7:16 AM, shull said:

(1) The Play Offs are brilliant and have been a great addition.

(2) The Scottish Cup is fine although I would scrap replays.

(3) The Challenge Cup needs tweaked, Ban the Colts and add maybe more English League One or Championship Teams. Get it close to a larger Anglo Scottish Cup.

(4) League Cup is good, although better in 2013. 

(5) Top League is a joke with the Bigots involved, rest of the SPFL is okay.

(1) - I agree with

(2)- I totally agree with you on this with the add-on that they play 30 minutes extra in the original tie and then go to penalties if still undecided

(3) - I don't think English League 1 would be interested - in some cases far too far to travel and Championship far too good a standard to be interested. I understand your desire to try something different, but it must be pretty marginal for both the Irish and Welsh teams currently participating however if you take the Pro 14 rugby they can make it work, but they do get crowds of 6,000+ plus they have TV agreements for that set up.

(4) - I quite like what they have done with the League Cup - at least they are trying to make it more interesting than just a straight knockout - remember when it was home and away over two legs........... Na don't fancy that again.

(5) - I have said for years that the top league would be miles better competitively if only the big 2 could find a more suitable platform for their supporters to vent their spleens! England won't take them now and the only hope might be a Atlantic League or a Northern Europe League, but the uefa model doesn't allow for such split offs and they would presently fight it tooth and nail. So unfortunately we are at present stuck with our ugly neighbours / sisters

Edited by The Original 59er
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10 minutes ago, The Original 59er said:

 only hope might be a Atlantic League or a Northern Europe League, but the uefa model doesn't allow for such split offs and they would presently fight it tooth and nail. So unfortunately we are at present stuck with our ugly neighbours / sisters

Would put my money on it,  if it was ever to happen the pair of them would try to establish themselves with a second string beginning in the lower leagues. :angry:

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On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 1:26 PM, pod said:

Would put my money on it,  if it was ever to happen the pair of them would try to establish themselves with a second string beginning in the lower leagues. :angry:

Yup though they would probably have to accept that they could never be promoted to the top league................... no doubt both would hope that they could dominate the set up with their reserve set up! :pirate

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On 10/11/2018 at 8:28 AM, Wendy Saintss said:

 


Only if your team is winning the league.

Otherwise it’s fcuking awful.

 

I don't agree Wendy.  The Championship is a very competitive league but do I want to go back there any time soon?  No.  The Premiership is nailbitingly tight.  

Edited by St.Ricky
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure if anyone who follows the Juniors noticed but an in principal agreement was reached this week to incorporate the junior super leagues into "tier 6" of the SPFL pyramid. This should stop the mass defections from the junior ranks like we have seen in the East over the last couple of years in a bid to join the pyramid system. The nuts and bolts of it are still to be decided but there will be promotion and relegation from the junior super leagues to the highland /lowland leagues. How long before a "junior" club makes the 4th tier now that at the top level of that sphere the club's now embrace the possibility of making the league's proper ?

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2 hours ago, Ayrshire Saints said:

Not sure if anyone who follows the Juniors noticed but an in principal agreement was reached this week to incorporate the junior super leagues into "tier 6" of the SPFL pyramid. This should stop the mass defections from the junior ranks like we have seen in the East over the last couple of years in a bid to join the pyramid system. The nuts and bolts of it are still to be decided but there will be promotion and relegation from the junior super leagues to the highland /lowland leagues. How long before a "junior" club makes the 4th tier now that at the top level of that sphere the club's now embrace the possibility of making the league's proper ?

Hope this comes through. There are some very good sides in those leagues capable of holding their own.

We sort of have a Tier 6 right now, EoS League and SoS League. So would the Juniors play off against those leagues or become a step below? 

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On 10/29/2018 at 10:11 AM, Ayrshire Saints said:

The EoS is long gone - tier 5 (ie below the third division) is the Highland and Lowland leagues which currently play off versus bottom of Div 3. The Junior Super Leagues will be tier 6 with promotion / relegation  from the tier 5 level

Quite bluntly Scotland is far too small a country and as a internal footballing nation to have multi-layered football with different structures / league management committees and competitions that are not interlinked.

Of course many will say that many in the Junior set up don't want to get into the established Scottish League set-up, and I know for a fact that many in the Highland league would say the same - they couldn't face the travel or the investment needed to become competitive.

Some have grabbed the opportunity such as Ross County, Livingston, Peterhead, Edinburgh City and Annan to name a few and it would be great to see a regional setup at lower levels below Tier 4 which then led to a play off at the end of the season for two up, two down. However of course those that reached that point would have to declare that they wanted into the top 4 tiers and be prepared to invest as well as receive financial help to reach the required level. 

One can but dream......................... :cloud9

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That's

2 hours ago, The Original 59er said:

Quite bluntly Scotland is far too small a country and as a internal footballing nation to have multi-layered football with different structures / league management committees and competitions that are not interlinked.

Of course many will say that many in the Junior set up don't want to get into the established Scottish League set-up, and I know for a fact that many in the Highland league would say the same - they couldn't face the travel or the investment needed to become competitive.

Some have grabbed the opportunity such as Ross County, Livingston, Peterhead, Edinburgh City and Annan to name a few and it would be great to see a regional setup at lower levels below Tier 4 which then led to a play off at the end of the season for two up, two down. However of course those that reached that point would have to declare that they wanted into the top 4 tiers and be prepared to invest as well as receive financial help to reach the required level. 

One can but dream......................... :cloud9

That is exactly what we have got albeit one up one down !!!

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25 minutes ago, Ayrshire Saints said:

That's

That is exactly what we have got albeit one up one down !!!

Maybe I'm a little adrift of the exact detail of what we now have, but what I had in mind is that all lower leagues beneath the top 4 tiers are rationalised and include the Junior ranks as well, and they play in their areas in a further tiered system to the point where there are champions of north, south, east and west.

At the end point of the season the champions of each area then play off against each other to find either one or two that get promotion to the bottom tier of the 4th level, and one or two drop out of the bottom league, no matter which area they belong to.

If that is what now exists, great, but I got the impression that the Junior ranks were still adrift from that structured setup. :unsure:

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12 hours ago, The Original 59er said:

Maybe I'm a little adrift of the exact detail of what we now have, but what I had in mind is that all lower leagues beneath the top 4 tiers are rationalised and include the Junior ranks as well, and they play in their areas in a further tiered system to the point where there are champions of north, south, east and west.

At the end point of the season the champions of each area then play off against each other to find either one or two that get promotion to the bottom tier of the 4th level, and one or two drop out of the bottom league, no matter which area they belong to.

If that is what now exists, great, but I got the impression that the Junior ranks were still adrift from that structured setup. :unsure:

You describe exactly what was agreed last week. This is exactly what is happening.

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