Scottish Leagues For Next Season

[kompressaur]

Good points Beanie. Surely though any team with a bit of ambition would jump at the chance? I say they sort it out and give eveyone a chance and make the bottom of the third a bit more interesting. They cn get rid of Celtic and Rangers from the SPL too if they want just to make it interesting

From a stenny fan on Pie and bovril forum-

Hot on the heels of the signing of Big Jim Mercer we have snapped up left sided player Joe McAlpine from Forfar. He agreed terms last season but went to Raith at the last minute to get full-time football. Good signing, has a quality left peg and should do a job for us at left back or left midfield.

Didnt your boys get some ok cup results last year Stephen? Played Berwick near enough every week mind.

[Beanie]

Originally Posted by kompressaur

Good points Beanie. Surely though any team with a bit of ambition would jump at the chance? I say they sort it out and give eveyone a chance and make the bottom of the third a bit more interesting. They cn get rid of Celtic and Rangers from the SPL too if they want just to make it interesting

No complaints there

No doubt, there's plenty who'll be interested in joining the Third to go with the decent number that wouldn't. Some sort of Junior/Amatuer Superleague might be the way to go, but I've got no idea about the feasability or desire for that.

[crowie]

There already are Super Leagues at junior level. A North, East and West Superleagues have been on the go for a few seasons now.

Don't know who amalgamated for the North but East is Tayside, Fife and East Region teams. West is Glasgow and Ayrshire.

The thing is the Junior FA made an ass of these leagues. Take the East for example, was originally a equal set up of Tayside, Fife and East region sides, 4 from each. Now its 3 each from Tayside and Fife and 6 from the East. Not sure how the promotion works, think its bottom 3 down and then 1 up from each of Fife, Tayside and East Division 1's. But you have the season near ended and you now have another 2 Fife sides down and 1 from the East. Means next year you will have 6 East, 2 Fife and 4 Tayside.

This obviously unbalances the underlying leagues. At the moment there are 9 sides in Division 1 in the East, 10 in Division 2. This means, with such little numbers they have ridiculous seasons. Lad at my work plays for West Calder, last season their league season finished in February, this season its just finished, they end up having to "make up" cups at times, last seasont they brought in a Supplementary Cup to give teams some games!

They are now discussing merging the underlying leagues to try and even things out but that would mean the smaller sides who survive on a shoe string would face ridiculous trips, teams from East Lothian having to go as far north as Montrose and such like!

There needs to be a whole overhauling of the Scottish Football set up. I would think a merging of the SFA and the SJFA and forming one massive pyramid.

I think that any junior side with any sort of aspirations at all would enjoy the prospect of being able to work their way up the leagues, possibly facing the OF in a cup game or whatever. However I doubt it will happen, too many little men in the SJFA clinging on to their little bit of "power" which they would lose if there was any merger.

Teams like East Stirling have survived for too long being poor but with no threat to their league status. A shake up from bottom to top may well shake a few clubs out of their slumber.

[Beanie]

Good post crowie - some good info there. I know what you mean - my friend plays for Ballingry Rovers, and in the league there are teams who have played 7 or 8 games more than others. Some teams end up cramming in 3 games in 5 days.

Just to go back to the SPL for a mo...Ladrokes and William Hill have released their odds for next years SPL.

Laddies go 5/6 on each of the Old Firm, with Will Hill at 1.66 for Rangers and 2.10 for Celtic. If I could be bothered having some of my limited funds tied up for a year, Celtic might well be worth a nibble at that price. Now that Petrov is staying, with a decent transfer budget, I'm not sure I'd have them at much over evens, if at all.

Ladbrokes also have odds for the title for the other 10 - useless from a betting prospect obviously, but maybe gives a hint as to how they rate the teams next season.

Celtic 5/6
Rangers 5/6
Aberdeen 150/1
Hibernian 150/1
Hearts 200/1
Dundee Utd 1000/1
Inverness CT 1000/1
Kilmarnock 1000/1
Motherwell 1000/1
Dunfermline 2500/1
Falkirk 2500/1
Livingston 2500/1

As an early guide, IMO that confirms that some bookies will have Livi as a team primed for a relegation scrap, and Killie as another safe mid table proposition, and so if odds are released for top 6/relegation, they may well show some good value. All depends on the summer transfers really though.

:think

[gazman]

As usual we will speculate all summer and the books will bring their prices out about 2 weeks before the season kicks off.A couple of independents up here issue prices towards the end of June and they are good for aguideline.Will post when available.Last year they were knocked over with 10/1 Brechin.

I am interested in the Gretna price.Last years 11/10 was a mortgage job but this year they may just want to go up.I see Skybet had Morton at 4/1 and as they are likely 2nd favs it points towards Gretna being around 7/4.

Its certainly far easier picking them in Scotland ,Sunderland Yeovil and Luton showed that last year.Falkirk Brechin and Gretna were all very backable.You can teams normally eliminate around half the teams and the likes of Ayr in Div 2 and clyde in div 1 can already be disregarded.Look forward to reading all your tips as we enter the twilight zone for footie followers

[david]

some of this might be repeating stuff already psoted but this update was in the sunday herald a few wweeks back. ( check me out reading the broadsheets..... sorry for late posting, its taken til now to be able to fold the page )





have shortened some of it but the actual info is still there.



aberdeen.

new this week
withdrew contract offer to lee miller after failing to agree terms. turned attnetion to killis kris boyd - bifd £150k already but turned down. agreed a £250k fee for barry nicholson but negotiations between player and dunfermline are stalling the deal. still interested in steve lovell (dundee) and jamie smith, danny griffin (stockport)

early business
jamie langfield has signed a pre contract agreement, scott morrison has left for dunfermline

problem areas
lightweight up front, hence interest in a target man

budget
bggest for a number of years. enough cash for 2 modest fees

on the way out
noel whelan, lubomir blaha, thorarinn kristjansson, markus paatelainen, mikko paatelainan (relations of mixu?), fernando pasquinelli, phil mcguire, markus heikken all released. david preece, steven craig and derek adams are all on transfer list.



celtic

new this week
andy obrien target to replace bobo balde. gordon strachan has mentioned 4 targets already discussed with martin oneill and has indicated would like to retain services of craig bellamy. also wants neil lennon and jackie mcnamara to stay, fresh talks likely. bid for derek riordan rejected by hibs but specualtion overm oves for antti niemi and kevin phillips remains. momo sylla and rab douglas both signed for leicster. ulrik laursen next out.

early business
paul lambert left ot become livvy manager.

problem areas
fresh legs in midfield needed plus defence needs shoring up.

budget
£15m cash injection should provide funds

on the way out.
bellamy unlikely to stay. joos valgaeran and stephan henchoz will depart



dundee united

new ths week.
lee miller signed for £225k. david mccracken and tony bullock ofered new deals. nick colgan returned to barnsley after loan deal.

early business
none

problem areas
short of depth partuclarly a back and on left side.

budget
uefa cup money will help eddie thompson who has pledged one 'big' signing.

on the way out
scott paterson released. andy mclaren linked with morton


falkirk

new this week
kenny milne signed for partick and alan gow from airdrie. pedro moutinho, alan ferguson and darren hill agreed new deals. interest in lee bullen (sheff wed) and jack ross (hartlepool)

early business
russell latapy, marc twaddle, andy lawrie, andy thomsonm neil scally, ryan mcstaym darren barr, daryl duffy, ian mcsween all under contract.

problem areas
fresh legs in defence needed plus more quality all over

budget
wont break the bank for new players.

on the way out
kevin james and mark campbell left. colin marshall, jjohn henry, phil creaney, james sharp, brent rahim all released



hearts

new this week
limited due to absence of headcoach, christophe barra signed new deal. graeme weir likely to follow. saulius mikoliunas, deividas cesnaukis and marius kizys looking to make deals permanent

early business.
graeme weir, micheal stewart, mark burchill and joe hamill offered new deals

problem areas.
defence and keeper solid but rest of team difficult to tell what it will look like just now.

budget
looking to cut wage bill this term

on the way out
kevin mckenna, phil samp, tepi moilann released. pat kisnorbo and ramon pereira left on bosmans. neil jancyzk joins saint johnstone.



hibs

new this week
rejected bid from celtic for derek riordan. reports linking david mccracken with club denied by mowbray. ian murray signed for rangers.

early business
ivan sproule and amdou konte tied up on longer deals

problem areas
need a centre half

budget
swelled by european qualification

on the way out
stephen dobbie to st johnstone. alen orman contract not renewed. paul fenwick contract terminated


inverness

new this week
reports of bid for tam mccmanus unsubstantiated

early business
most of squad earned new deals. craig dargo offered 2 year deal.

problem areas
craig brewster looking to retire from playing

budget
should be able to add 2 or 3 players

on the way out
no-one



killie (wooooohooooooooooooo!)

new this week
kris boyd offered extension to contrasct until 2008.

early business
£150k bid for boyd by aberdeen turned down. english clubs looking

problem areas
either boyd or freddie dindeleux leaving would leave huge gaps.

budget
cutbacks needed with departure of jamie moffat

on the wayout
craig dargo released. dindeluex offered contract extension but prefers to return to france. craig samson, lewis sloan, robbie cochrane, andy griffin, scott johnstone, steven masterton and neil mcgregor all released


livingston

new this week
ludovic roy (gk) signed on a free. number of players signed 1 year extension to contract.

early business
none

problem areas
more attacking options

budget
unclear. chairman loathe to repeat previous mistakes

on the way out
derek lilley and ryan harding to morton. deals for hassan kachloul and pascal nouma expired. goran stanic, eric deloumeaux, ferenc horvath, gabor vincze, atilla kriston contracts expired. burton obriend and david mcnmee yet to agree new deals.



motherwell

new this week
none

early business
gordon marshall, phil odonnell and scott mcdonald offered extensions

problem areas
need a goalie for competition

budget
improving but unlikely to have cash for fees

on the wayout
gerry britton, alex burns and barry john corr all released.





rangers

new this week
dragan mladenovic returned to real sociedad after loan spell

early business
linked for laurent robert for £2.5m. andre bergdolmo (dortmund) and paulo andre considered. also efstathios tavlaridis (lille) and triainos dellas (free agent). ian murray signed from hibs

problem areas
2 left sided players needed and a central defender if marvin andrews (miracleman ) doesnt recover

budget
mcleish promised cash for 3/4 players

on the way out
shota arveladze, bojan djordjic released. greg vignal loan deal finished. will listen to offers for michael ball, peter lovenkrands and mo ross.




hth someone
david

[MickeyPaul]

Nice work David.

[kompressaur]

did you type all that David? If so then a big from me mate. I really am on a scottish football holiday.

[david]

aye. couldnt find a link. thats why i abbreivated it and the spelling is a bit off

oh, and the wooohhooooooooo after "killie" wasnt really in the article

[Parahandy]

Jackie Mac off to Wolves after frantic calls to his mobile telling him of an improved offer. Seems the board were having a bit of bother prising open the infamous biscuit tin. Must have been a bent 1952 penny wedged under the lid.

And their telling the fans they're very keen to broker a multi million deal for Bellamy. Aye right

On the brighter side, if press reports are to be believed Celtic will be able to field about 5 goalkeepers, which should go some way to sorting out last season's defensive weaknesses

[Beanie]

At this rate we'll be lucky to get everything sorted over the Kachloul case to get the season started

Dundee unhappy with the decision, and threatening action against Livingston and the SPL, either through a further SPL investigation or through the courts. Livingston appealing against the £15,000 fine and threatening action against the SPL. Livi Chairman Flynn threatening legal action against the Dunfermline chairman etc etc etc

You couldn't make it up

[Parahandy]

Flynn and Yorkston love the publicity, while Dundee could go under and must clutch at any straw that's faintly in reach. Looks like it could go to the courts and if it does it could drag on. If it does it could cause chaos.

[Beanie]

Good point. I thought at the time it was one of the reasons I thought Flynn got involved with Livi, as buying into an SPL club is some of the cheapest publicity you can buy. Despite less than 100,000 usually going to games each week, it covers atleast the back 3 pages of most papers in the country, and gets a good 5 minutes of every regional news show.

[MickeyPaul]

Fixtures 05/06

[kompressaur]

Stenny looking good

Im gonna mnake a seasonal start on Monday.