Football

[D1511]

Add also: the initialism "EPL"

'XG' is similarly preposterous

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In Scotland, I believe the four leagues in the top echelon are now officially known as:-
Scottish Premiership
Scottish Championship
Scottish League One
Scottish League Two

I cannot believe that the powers-that-be would for one moment asking advice from the supporters of the teams in those leagues when the time came for the renaming process.

The current Scottish set-up has always seemed odd to me, not so much the naming but having four divisions of only ten teams with everyone playing each other up to four times. Leaving aside the weird split they have in the Premiership, having fewer, bigger divisions would feel more sensible. Maybe not two lots of twenty, as there would be even more one-sided games in that top flight than there are in the current one... but three divisions of sixteen teams (with the addition of eight teams from the Highland/Lowland leagues) would allow a conventional 30-game regular season (each team plays all the others twice) and allow for a decent winter break. I feel like that would be a "happy medium" between the current set-up and one that's just apeing the English system.

I'm sure those more familiar with the quirks of Scottish football will be able to put me right on some of my misconceptions here...

 

[THC]

The current Scottish set-up has always seemed odd to me, not so much the naming but having four divisions of only ten teams with everyone playing each other up to four times. Leaving aside the weird split they have in the Premiership, having fewer, bigger divisions would feel more sensible. Maybe not two lots of twenty, as there would be even more one-sided games in that top flight than there are in the current one... but three divisions of sixteen teams (with the addition of eight teams from the Highland/Lowland leagues) would allow a conventional 30-game regular season (each team plays all the others twice) and allow for a decent winter break. I feel like that would be a "happy medium" between the current set-up and one that's just apeing the English system.

I'm sure those more familiar with the quirks of Scottish football will be able to put me right on some of my misconceptions here...

While I am not sure that the Scottish professional football structure could ever be accused of aping the English set-up, branding apart, I broadly agree with you. I think three tiers of sixteen is about right, with three regional tiers (Highland, Lowland East and Lowland West) feeding into the third national tier. Straight promotion and relegation too; no more Club 42 play-off nonsense. Although that has brought in a long-needed refresh in the lower tiers, it is not coming quickly enough. One more thing; please no more 'B' teams in the pyramid. And I type as a Celtic fan with a 'B' team in the Lowland League. It stifles progression for ambitious non-league clubs and wannabe returners and distorts the competition. No need.

THC

 

[AlterEgo]

'XG' is similarly preposterous

xG is a complete scam and used even in the lower leagues, despite it being calculated on the abilities of Premier league players.

 

[43096]

Let's not forget Johan Cruyff please. He genuinely changed the way the game was played with Rinus Michels, and then went on to create the modern FC Barcelona.
And the Dutch national team of the 1970s was a thing of genuine beauty.
(I'd urge anyone interested to seek out a Dutch film simply called "Nummer 14" which shows his balletic visionary genius in all its glory. Wonderful.

Thank you for adding Cruyff to the list. Without Cruyff the Barca of the 2000s wouldn't have happened. Messi would have been sent back to Argentina as too small, too weak to succeed without Cruyff's rebuilding of the Barca identity. In Pep Guardiola’s words, "Johan Cruyff painted the chapel. And Barcelona coaches since merely restore or improve it."

There are great players and there are great coaches. But rarely do great players make great coaches. Cruyff was not only that, but reshaped an entire club for a generation or more. He has a very real claim to be the most influential person in football we have seen.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

While I am not sure that the Scottish professional football structure could ever be accused of aping the English set-up, branding apart, I broadly agree with you. I think three tiers of sixteen is about right, with three regional tiers (Highland, Lowland East and Lowland West) feeding into the third national tier. Straight promotion and relegation too; no more Club 42 play-off nonsense. Although that has brought in a long-needed refresh in the lower tiers, it is not coming quickly enough. One more thing; please no more 'B' teams in the pyramid. And I type as a Celtic fan with a 'B' team in the Lowland League. It stifles progression for ambitious non-league clubs and wannabe returners and distorts the competition. No need.

THC

In some ways, the way the Scottish play-offs work with one team from the higher tier isn't too bad- with the leagues only having ten teams in total it's almost certainly preferable to having the entire top half of the table either promoted or in the play-offs... though as the English system is what I'm most familiar with, the idea of a relegation play-off is a bit odd (and a little intimidating given my team's recent showings apart from a couple of outliers in 2017 and 2022!). Though it seems to work in Germany.

 

[dangie]

I’d guess Scottish coach companies Sat Navs have a hard job of finding never mind navigating to some of the clubs

 

[61653 HTAFC]

xG is a complete scam and used even in the lower leagues, despite it being calculated on the abilities of Premier league players.

It's only a "scam" in the sense that it could be used to artificially inflate a player's transfer value. It is a flawed statistic though, and seems to be used primarily by people who want to sound like a sophisticated analyst on the Internet.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Sep 2023 ==

While I am not sure that the Scottish professional football structure could ever be accused of aping the English set-up, branding apart, I broadly agree with you. I think three tiers of sixteen is about right, with three regional tiers (Highland, Lowland East and Lowland West) feeding into the third national tier. Straight promotion and relegation too; no more Club 42 play-off nonsense. Although that has brought in a long-needed refresh in the lower tiers, it is not coming quickly enough. One more thing; please no more 'B' teams in the pyramid. And I type as a Celtic fan with a 'B' team in the Lowland League. It stifles progression for ambitious non-league clubs and wannabe returners and distorts the competition. No need.

THC

My "aping" comment was more aimed at myself, for fear of accusations that I wanted the Scottish League to be more like the English one simply because that's what I know best.
I recognise that England is the outlier in Europe in having the top five levels of the pyramid being nationwide, and in having as many as 24 teams in those leagues. Such a system wouldn't work in Scotland without a few tweaks because the population is so much lower, transport away from the Central Belt and East Coast is more difficult.

 

[Haywain]

I think three tiers of sixteen is about right, with three regional tiers (Highland, Lowland East and Lowland West) feeding into the third national tier.

It appears that the majority of Scottish League clubs are happy with the current set up. Significantly, there are few matches where there is nothing to play for, even at the end of the season, and there are no financial cliff edges between divisions. And whilst there might be some ambitious clubs in the Lowland League area, there are very few such clubs in the Highland League.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It appears that the majority of Scottish League clubs are happy with the current set up. Significantly, there are few matches where there is nothing to play for, even at the end of the season, and there are no financial cliff edges between divisions. And whilst there might be some ambitious clubs in the Lowland League area, there are very few such clubs in the Highland League.

Is that because over the years, quite a number of Highland League teams have already gained access to the top echelons of Scottish Football?

 

[Haywain]

Is that because over the years, quite a number of Highland League teams have already gained access to the top echelons of Scottish Football?

It may be, but the rest have little interest in the level of travelling that would be involved in playing in a national league.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Never complain about the standard of premier league reffing.

At todays Halifax game the ref stuck his arm out to give a throw in, and inadvertently forearm smashed Luke Summerfield in the throat. Summerfield instinctively brought up his arms and brushed the ref’s arm/chest. The ref sent Summerfield off for assaulting a match official

To be so arrogant and out of touch not to immediately think “whoops, my fault” probably nearly sums up why some of these people decide to be referees

 

[75A]

Bloody hell.
I remember being at a rugby match @ Northampton when a Saints player did that to a referee, end result, they both laughed and hugged each other.

 

[Cletus]

Never complain about the standard of premier league reffing.

At todays Halifax game the ref stuck his arm out to give a throw in, and inadvertently forearm smashed Luke Summerfield in the throat. Summerfield instinctively brought up his arms and brushed the ref’s arm/chest. The ref sent Summerfield off for assaulting a match official

To be so arrogant and out of touch not to immediately think “whoops, my fault” probably nearly sums up why some of these people decide to be referees

I saw a video of that on twitter. Completely idiotic by the referee.

These incompetent non-league refs soon get promoted to the Football League.

 

[DarloRich]

Well, while i have been away on holiday darlo have:

Lost
Got thrashed
Drawn
Slumped to the foot of the league
Sacked a manager
Got beat again giving away ANOTHER soft goal.

Picked a hell of a day to quit drinking!

 

[Haywain]

Well, while i have been away on holiday darlo have:

Lost
Got thrashed
Drawn
Slumped to the foot of the league
Sacked a manager
Got beat again giving away ANOTHER soft goal.

Picked a hell of a day to quit drinking!

Welcome back!

 

[DarloRich]

Welcome back!

Cheers! I am sure being away has done my football related stress good!

For some of it we were "off grid". I had to find a paper for the results. Like the olden days

 

[GS250]

Talking of Non League players.....I see Harry Maguire is embarrassing himself for England again.

We clearly have a set of players who could win Euro 2024. Do we have a manager who can pick the best 11?

 

[KashmireHawker]

In news which is totally bizarre but absolutely brilliant at the same time: LaLiga have today announced that they are this season sponsoring Clwb Pel Droed Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Football Club, who are in Wales 5th Tier and have the longest name for a club in the world, representing Europe’s longest place name.

As part of its partnership with CPD Llanfairpwll FC, the new LALIGA ‘LL’ logo will emblazon the front of the Club’s home and away shirts in a move that will help the North Wales Coast West Division One side continue to challenge on and off the pitch.

Following the introduction of LALIGA’s new brand positioning from the 2023/24 season, Spain’s leading professional football league is set to bring "The Power of Our Fútbol” to North Wales with a range of initiatives to take place across this season.

THE TWO BIGGEST NAMES IN WORLD FOOTBALL JOIN FORCES AS LALIGA BECOMES FRONT OF SHIRT PARTNER OF CLWB PÊL DROED LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH FOOTBALL CLUB

The agreement will see LALIGA introduce its new ‘LL’ brand logo across the club’s blue and black vertical striped home kit and all white away kit.

www.laliga.com

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Great stuff... but the phrase "new brand positioning" needs to go the way of the dodo. Not sure if that's the responsibility of the journalist or the Spanish league's public relations department, but flogging's too good for whoever it was!

 

[Howardh]

Tim Traveller - who is mentioned in a locked thread, has covered the steam railway passing through a lower league footy ground in Czech; which makes me wonder in UK pyramid football, which goal is closest to a working rail line, and I reckon it's Atherton LR but there's a chance there are some closer.
Anyhow, this is an image of Atherton's ground adjacent to a line; https://www.google.com/maps/@53.5307899,-2.4836025,201m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
and Tim's video here

 

[Mcr Warrior]

...which makes me wonder in UK pyramid football, which goal is closest to a working rail line, and I reckon it's Atherton LR but there's a chance there are some closer.

Possibly worthy of its own separate trivia thread. Was going to go with Ramsbottom United's Riverside Stadium, which is situated alongside / in close proximity to the East Lancs Railway, but reckon that Atherton Laburnum Rovers' ground is indeed nearer to a working rail line.

Higher up the UK football pyramid, both the Chelsea and Manchester United stadiums are sited quite near to working rail lines, indeed the latter ground, until recently, had its own (operational on matchdays) station/halt.

 

[Haywain]

Higher up the UK football pyramid, both the Chelsea and Manchester United stadiums are sited quite near to working rail lines, indeed the latter ground, until recently, had its own (operational on matchdays) station/halt.

Exeter City's St James Park is very close to the adjacent railway, such that it affects the shape of the stands on two sides.

Shrewsbury Town's New Meadow is very close to the railway and on one visit there we were treated to a passing steam train during the early stages of the match! In Scotland, Ayr United's Somerset Park and Raith Rovers's Starks Park both used to be a treat for trainspotting football fans.

 

[SJL2020]

I think it's been mentioned before, but Manchester City's Hyde Rd ground had railway track that passed next to one of the corner flags (North East corner). The track ran in front of the only corner stand, known as the Lad's Stand.

The railway track served Galloway's Boiler Works but connected to the main railway north of the ground.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A couple of pedantic points- the ground that Tim Traveller visited is in Slovakia not Czechia, and he does mention Manchester City's old Hyde Road ground in his video.

 

[Drogba11CFC]

Moneyfields used to play at a ground that backed onto the Portsmouth Direct Line - they currently groundshare at Havant.

 

[75A]

There are lots of 'Council' type pitches you can see right next to the West Coast way line in the Southwick / Shoreham area and then later in the Portsmouth area, I'm guessing they're probably military.

As you leave Alton on the Watercress line heading south you look down onto sports pitches.

Then of course there's Stamford Bridge that backs onto the line between Chelsea Bridge & Kensington Olympia.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When Bolton Wanderers played at Burnden Park. there was a railway line that ran immediately past one end the ground.

 

[1D54]

As there was at the old Somerton Park home of Newport County.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

As there was at the old Somerton Park home of Newport County.

Indeed, although the nearest railway lines to the far end of the Newport Co. stadium, were just sidings, I believe.

Bank Street, Clayton, the former home of Manchester United FC before their move to Old Trafford in early 1910, had a mineral railway running at the back of one of the goals, with the coal-fired Stuart Street electricity power station (built c. 1900) on the other side of the line. The locality was described as "...the grimiest, most polluted, and most densely populated area of Manchester".


1909 OS map showing the proximity of the former Bank Street, Clayton football ground to the nearby railway line.