JohnRobertson

certainly have but saves time i will however try and be more eloquent in future :33:

Aye come on Robbo... Try your hardest to give us an unbiased prediction ! Also what's better Barry Wilson's mums cakes or the pies at Victoria Park ?? I can't comment on Jessies cakes, but her scones are to die for. (Off topic, I know, but it's lovely to see Bobby and Jessie and ICT games these days. I hope it's only time before their 'boy' is back with us in some capacity - he's certainly found the back of the net for QoS) ROBBO - I agree totally about the abuse you Kyle has been getting. By all accounts, and what I have seen so far, he's a pretty decent keeper. At his age he can only develop further, so I think we should consider ourselves lucky to have him. Kyle is a good young keeper and will improve his game as he gets more experience as said previously i would urge ALL fans to get behind ALL players regardless of their allegiances in a younger life and he also will have to adapt to some of the more light hearted banter there is nothing wrong with that indeed most players enjoy a bit of banter with the fans when warming up as long as its deemed fun and acceptable

tough to answer that one to be honest as not my team/players etc and not fair to terry or maurice for me to question there team or signings plus whio i might bring in or leave out so although likke you guys/girls out there have your thoughts i do too but not my place to reveal sorry about that but sure you can see where i am coming from

Aye come on Robbo... Try your hardest to give us an unbiased prediction ! Also what's better Barry Wilson's mums cakes or the pies at Victoria Park ?? Hi Jailender As said think Caley will pip this one 2-1 with home advantage helping them just think that there pace up front and wide areas might just give them the edge thought Boyd looked suspect at full back as normally centre half although Gardyne may cause problems in the hole plus wood and vigurs and watt will want to show what they could do as well but caley big and strong at home dont lose many goals and pace up top and wide see me going for home win i sit outside so not given the delights of the food and no way am i going to diss Jessie s cooking superb!!!!

iv seen county couple of times and not bad to be fair bit more direct with gary wood up front and dont play as much football as they used to but still some dangerous players they should have beaten Airdrie more comfortably but missed a few chances against Raith they looked very very tired maybe due to midwek extra time game but not quickest at back could be there weak point it will be tight but reckon caley 2-1 and 8 points from tose 4 games is a decent return i would say

ha ha ha ha as has been said many times by learned football men "all the best players/managers are in the stand" whats it like? its a roller coaster of emotions its amazing experience and no better feeling when you see what you have planned all week come to fruition on a saturday however when it goes wrong it is the lonliest job in the world as you cant do anything about it on the pitch and the fans have a go when it looks like players have never seen each other before or set plays go wrong or look as never been practised plus you have to deal with ALL the players problems and i mean all of them as yo notice when haed is down and they aint focused. you get times like the 1-5 county result and think you are the most hated man in Inverness and i know for that night and prob next few as weell that i was thats when you have to have faith in your own ability and that of the players at that time i was couple of months into job going through messy divorce and only knew abot 3 people and it was tough going but then you bounce back with victory over them 10 days later and then beat celtic and day like winning challenge cup semi s at hampden winning the title etc make up for it trust me when i lose i lose hard takes me whole weekend to get over it but althogh hurting planning ahead on how to improve myself the players and the club for the next game plus you have the long drives to england on wet windy winters nights to see youth reserve and 1st team games checking out players as for football manager problem is its just reality game you fed computer computer plays game unfortunatly yhere is manager and real opponents to deal with and human error impossible to replicate that plus you dont get dodgy decisions from officials despite all that throw me in there again tomorrow

Hi Harry to be honest i think this role is a bit of a poisoned chalice if you get things right its a well he should do as thats what he is paid for attitude and if it goes wrong you get blamed for evverything so as said tough job but think we could as earlier said maybe streamline the 3 associations will it happen?turkeys voting for xmas scenario i would reckon

Well said Excellent point hope these idiots might finally keep their mouths shut now. Don't mind the anti-County songs when he warms up I think that can be seen as light-hearted banter but not the some of the personal abuse he was getting. Following on from TM4TJ's question earlier, as one of the few countries to have a six star rating for our grass roots level football how do we still manage to come up short against teams from countries where very little is spent on this kind of projects. ba we do very well at most youth ages up to and including u19 but then start to struggle from u21 onward as most or at least some of our unger 21 dont play regular first team football celtic res rangers res english team reserve players plus agai facilities you drive through most towns abroead and they have community pitches that would put most spl and certainly all 1st div teamms to shame

Not sure I follow here. Are you including a split after playing each other once home and away as that would leave 26 games and then play each team in the top/bottom 7 home and away once to get 38 games? sorry yes thats what i would do also have bottom down top up and play offs similar to rugby league eg 4th place travel to 3rd winners travel to 2nd winnners travel to 2nd bottom all one off games can you imagine the crod interest and increse last year with Partick Dundee Livi Pars QoS Morton all possible qualifiers for play off spots last seaso would have saw dunfermine v dundee (5-6k crowd) winners to partick(5-6k crowd) winners to st mirren crowd same again? the 4 regional league winners would play off in semi and final with the winner able to challenge for the bottom of division 1 if they coulf fill the full time plus stadium criteria if not bottom woulsd stay in league does not stop ambitious teams from progressing and allows junior clubs etc to join thir regional league and give more than half the first division something to play for

What have i done to upset you Mac?xxxxxxxx

Hi BIRDOG apologies for being so long in getting back to you as 1 was in Zagreb AND 2 some people dont feel i have a right to answer questions anyway tough a i do never hid from anything in my life!! fans showing displeasure is part and parcel as what is seen as a dissapointing result eg ayr 0-0 and i dont think you would hear any manager saying any different to be honest and pretty sure that without getting to big for their boots and sounding arogant theplayers would also be pretty fed up so would not take the booing from the fans to much to heart.good players will always use as motivitation and stay mentally strong as they realise it was 2 points dropped and it really would not affect them.personal abuse can depending on the players mental strength can get to them at times certainly not one off stick but regular abuse or cat calls will see certain players perhaps go into their shell and not play to the best of their ability the players i can assure you (99%) of them really do hurt and really do feel they have not only let the fans down but also themselves and that is a big let down when you know as a player you had the opportunity to do something about it on the pitch that hurts and it does hurt players when they think that the fans think they dont care or have not tried their best every players tries it sometimes is not your day and every player loves and appreciates as in all walks of life when they are encouraged so please keep encouraging as much as possible especially whe a player is not having a good time of it i have left players out/taken players off when i thought the crowd was affecting him and ultimately the team but they should be strong enough to shrug it off managers are generally perfectionists in that we want like the fans the full package ie play really well make lots of chances score lots of goals and keep clean sheets(though you guys might want a 5-4 now and again it does nothing for the managers heart rate)its about getting the right balance example i know lots of fans hanker for the pele days when Caley swept through the divisions with lots of goals for and against and got to the point where they were established 1st div club when pele left and donald and i came in our thoughts were one on;y premier league!! we worked out that by keepin goals column in high figures but getting goals against down would give us real chance not rocket science i know but we had in our opinion have to change from a back 3 man marking to a back 4 and 4-3-3 formation not as cavalier but effective and ultimatly successful there lies the differfence find the right balance!!! if a player is not playing well the occassional bit of get your finger out is ok and agreed with by manager constant stick the manager will protect his player as valued member of team so dont think by saying that he thinks fans out of order he does not agree with you !! he has to man manage the player and trust me you have to be a mum dad brother sister doctor psychiatrist psychologiist the whole shooting match to keep your players focused so to end that one yes stick whe warranted not a problem constant abuse will see player head drop eventually an d will affect him and team without going to much into it can i just add i feel it is terible the stick that young KYLE ALLISON is receiving no matter what team he supports he give his best for caley and i can assure you if that was me and continued i would be thinking vary seriously about playing for those supporters GET BEHIND HIM PLEASE

Hi M4TJ Scottish football is behind in terms of some things thats for sure and needs plenty of work but to improve cant blame SCOTTISH football in general for thursday as hearts only had 2 scottish players starting the game but here goes SET UP FOR LEAGUE 14 team premier league may mean more meaningless games toward end of season but WOULD allow teams to blood the youngsters and give experience to them wouls also mean 38 games guaranteeing 19 home and 19 away games 10 team 1st div full time then 4 regional leagues(north south etc) if it can work for germany spain italy france regional leagues can work for us improved training facilities for teams lots of clubs still dont have indoor training or even dedicated training facilities relaxation on EU players only i watched Zagreb have team with 3 Brazilans 2 argentinia ns i chilean none internationalists but miles ahead in terms of ability in scotland you can only sign players aho have played around 70% of countries last 2 years of internationals cant be right surely the croatians give them passport after 2 years and bang they end up in germany italy etc if they stay 5 years croatia get an Eduardo reinstate reserve league where are at least a third of all spl players going to play this season? plus get one national body to run game not the three we have at moment

Hi GENTLEMEN and Ladies apologies but was in Zagreb last week with BBC not the best result but very good trip to see how they trained tactics used etc so just catching up with e mails etc now happy enough to answer questions if need be Kind Regards Robbo

no my contract with the bbc means i am unfortunatly unable to attend so i will be covering the county v dundee game but my best wishes go to the players and the coaches and i hope they continue to the final with an old firm double That is a shame. I am quite looking forward to it, and with a lot of the Rangers team out on loan to other clubs (including I think Fleck) then they have a real chance. Hopefully there will be a good crowd for it as well, especially the ICT lot. Another question: What do you think about the MLS? HI ews Sorry for late reply but was down the central belt with Orion yesterday MLS not convinced it is as strong as it should be given the investment ploughed in to it and also given the size of the country and its vision about being the best they can be at any sport i dont think it has really taken off. it will always struggle to push the hugely popular american football basketball and baseball and golf however i do beleive that below the main leagues american soccer league and the regional leagues below that there is a lot on natarul young american talent it is huge at grass roots level with more participating at this than any other sport and ther may well be a few gems to be un earthed given some contacts and scouting network there will always be the work permit problem for the american boys/men however with the huge mix of ex pats and european communities there will be a substantial number that could be obtained through blood line and european passports italian greek spanish portugese etc etc so worth taking a lok but not without its difficulties i would say cheeers robbo

up antil my full time job with orion i was regular attender to reserve games but dont get to many now i was at the last round v celtic and was delighted to se them get through i reckon young shane sutherland looks an exciting prospect and as a former striker i like to see forwards do well have a great weekend everyone and good luck to the caley lads in the cup and scotland v holland and i will be back monday if you need any other questions or anything else for that matter can i thank everyone so far for the questions and for taking the time to be involved robbo x

no my contract with the bbc means i am unfortunatly unable to attend so i will be covering the county v dundee game but my best wishes go to the players and the coaches and i hope they continue to the final with an old firm double

i am not here to disrespect anyone who went before and trust me i know all the hard work that went on before i arrived and understand only to well why the club could only bring in so many players at this time in partivular the work of a certain MrBeaton who was and still is one of the most important figures in youth football in inverness currently with his work at clach and also his work in the park leagues summer leagues etc if it is indeed correct that Duf and Wood started in the Elgin set up they finished at Caley and i would praise the fact that the youth set up now have the scouts in place to get the players into our system as regards to Danny the reason he spends a considerable amount of time fund raising is that to the best of my knowledge the entire youth system up to but not including the full time youths is to be self sustainable!!! no money directly from the club therefor to keep every team/coach plus office expenses and travel expenses he has to raise it and second point of not having enough money to run a team in the first division ross county,dundee,st johnstone,livingston,dunfermline,all run youth teams as said earlier its about priority in youth or 1st team and i have no issue with that and certainly no issue whatsover with what went before indeed nothing but praise i am merly stating in my opinion at the time one of the most important things was to set up a good well run youth system to attract and keep the best young talent i knew danny well from uefa pro license course saw what he had in place at county and wanted him not only to replicate it but better it at caley i beleive he has delivered that system and that caley will benefit long term i wish to place on record here and now at no point have i or would i disrespect anyone from the previous set up as ultimately it was far harder then without doubt merely pointing out that this was an area of the club that we could improve on and build thats all paramount to everything then and now was the 1st team making the premier league as youngsters i beleive want to play for their local team and this will continue with participation in the spl the current across the board youth set up was started 5 years ago and could not and would not have been a success with all those who worked previously fact i beleive the current set up is run or used to be under team ict to raise all monies to self sustain the running i applaud the fact that the previous set up produced fraser,munro and to lesser extent ridgers and low all who have played 1st team football merely stating that the system is now in place to hopefully start producing a reglar stream of new talent and i am certain had this been in place from clubs inception we might have had many more who knows but now we do have it and lets enjoy it Thanks for coming back John. I think you hve probably hit the nail somewhere near the head when you mention scouting system. It is my belief that this is the key to our future because I can assure you that ICT will NEVER be in a position to field squads of 16 - 18 LOCAL boys at U12 to U17 level. It is vital that we have football people scouring the North, East, West, Islands and Central belt for talent which could be developed. However, it is more important that these kids are coached by people who have played the game at a reasonable level. John Beaton and Co put in huge amounts of time and effort into Clach and ICT before it, but they have very little practical football experince. I know being a talented and experienced footballer does not make you a good coach but surely it must help. It is my opinion that not enough former players put enough back into the game and help these kids develope. I personally wish the ICT Youth Development Programme avery success but with the amount of self-generated money being pumped into it, it HAS to be. If Danny has 5 to 6 boys coming from the U17's to the U19's and they do well where do they go from there? There will be no reserve team so they will go out on loan to Elgin. If we retain our SPL status it will become more and more difficult for them to play 1st team football for ICT so we will see very little return for our Youth Development investment. In your day, you had a reserve team made up of first team squad players, the 3 or 4 full-time Skillies and kids from the U17's playing most Saturdays against the FREE highland league team - maybe this is where we will have to go back to - who knows. We then get into the debate of is it worth having 15 or 16 full-time U19 players with no "intermediate" step to the 1st Team? I could go on and on all day but I won't bore you. you are certainly not boring me and as we have discussed it can only help to try and get it right to me you could probably sumit up as abit like the chicken and egg argument if you dont have it how can you bring through good local talent and if you do have it what is the route forward surely if it can work for teh likes of hibs and hearts it can work for caley!! this is were we must make use of our location and target the boys from perth upwards to wick and as far east and west as w can i agree that alot of fottballers dont put enough back in i really do i find it disappointing that despite my background knowledge and credentials i cant seem to find a job with clubs(i have offered to do youth) with the sfa (so despite having the top pro licensei cant get a job ahead of their community coaches) it makes you wonder why i trailed over europe and britain and considerable expense when in real terms the badges are worthless as they still allow teames to employ managers and coaches who have not got relevant badges and if your not backed by the assosciation what chance do you have i see in the youth set up now that we are starting to get players recognised and being selected for the international squads at the younger age groups and really do have high hopes for the future and on another answer it may well be that the best way forward for caley may well be to enter a :B side in my proposed regional league?? who knows but healthy debate might one day see us get it right

Good answer !! Thanks John.... I hope TB is reading this!! Just quick one for you all out there here a said earlier is my thoughts on changing Scottish footbal all crticism is welcome but i reckon it would provide much needed stimulus scottish premier league 14 teams scottish premier league championship 10 teams scottish regional league 1 2 and 3 promotion relegation champions from championship up bottom premier down as usual then our own play offs 4th in championship play 3rd one off game at 3rds ground as 3rd finished higher the winner would travel to play 2nd and the winner of that would travel to second bottom of the premier league in a one off game with the winner taking its place in the spl think about it as the leagues are right now st johnstone up falkirk down 4th dunfermline travel to3rd dundee sell out crowd say dundee win travel to partick crowd 5k plus winners travel to caley crowd 5k plus excitement would be brilliant and would give real sense of a chance to the ist div teams as even if you finish 4th you still have a slim 3 away wins required chance to get to the spl and gives all teams in the division something to play for at this moment 6 teams could make the play offs just say premier was celtic,rangers,hearts,dundee utd,aberdeen,hibs ,well,hamilton,st mirren,killi,caley,falkirk,st john and partick championship dunde,livi,pars,queens,county,clyde,airdrie,morton,ayr and raith premier teams play each other twice(26games) then split 7+7 and play home and away again (38) games same as moment and takes away the stupid thing of 20 home/away games or 18 home/away games you are guaranteed 19 home and 19 away games simple championship would continue to play home and away twice (36 games) as would the 3 regional leagues regional leagues would be north montrose,forfar,brechin,arbroath,cove,inverurie,elgin peterhead,fraserburgh and huntly central east,east fife,cowdenbeath,berwick,gala,stenny,spartans,lochee,tayport,linli thgow preston thletic central west stirling,queens park,albion,dumbarton,annan,stranraer,pollock, killwinning,alloa,auchinlek most have tried to apply in past but atleast we would have pyramid system all 3 league winners plus challenge cup winners would play off home and away to meet in final winners playing bottom of championship in one of game at championship teams ground and if they met championship mcriteria so many seats etc this wouls assure that only teams with a wish to improve their stadium etc could come up if a team won the challenge cup and the regional division they would proceed to play off final direct only regional teams compete for challenge cup advantages 2 extra teams in spl more safety allowing use of more home grown talent plus more excitement to the 1st division plus we retain more full time teams and we retain the new look 3 divisions in the regional leagues allowing young managers/coaches and players opportunity to play in the senior game what you reckon have thought about writing to spl and sfa have it all typed out John- some great ideas and even some Jambos i work with liked it, however someone asked about the regional leagues. If a team who was promoted from one of the regional leagues, was relegated...would they simply fall back into the league they came from. If so would this not cause a number problems thoughts? as said earlier if someone was relegated say airdrie as example they would simply play in the west region and if a north or east region team went up you would simply play with one team less or invite another team in its not a bad thing for onre league to have 11 and another 9 as geographicaly its impossible to get it 100% plus i think it would allow all clubs to find a relistic level to compete say a tem like east fife or stirling albion peterhead with ambition and stadia in place made they could go up where as a team say like berwick or elgin may feel that they dont have the stadia the money or the attraction to go into a full time league it is flawed when it comes to exact regional leagues but the highland league would then become a pyramid league for the north region etc

i am not here to disrespect anyone who went before and trust me i know all the hard work that went on before i arrived and understand only to well why the club could only bring in so many players at this time in partivular the work of a certain MrBeaton who was and still is one of the most important figures in youth football in inverness currently with his work at clach and also his work in the park leagues summer leagues etc if it is indeed correct that Duf and Wood started in the Elgin set up they finished at Caley and i would praise the fact that the youth set up now have the scouts in place to get the players into our system as regards to Danny the reason he spends a considerable amount of time fund raising is that to the best of my knowledge the entire youth system up to but not including the full time youths is to be self sustainable!!! no money directly from the club therefor to keep every team/coach plus office expenses and travel expenses he has to raise it and second point of not having enough money to run a team in the first division ross county,dundee,st johnstone,livingston,dunfermline,all run youth teams as said earlier its about priority in youth or 1st team and i have no issue with that and certainly no issue whatsover with what went before indeed nothing but praise i am merly stating in my opinion at the time one of the most important things was to set up a good well run youth system to attract and keep the best young talent i knew danny well from uefa pro license course saw what he had in place at county and wanted him not only to replicate it but better it at caley i beleive he has delivered that system and that caley will benefit long term i wish to place on record here and now at no point have i or would i disrespect anyone from the previous set up as ultimately it was far harder then without doubt merely pointing out that this was an area of the club that we could improve on and build thats all paramount to everything then and now was the 1st team making the premier league as youngsters i beleive want to play for their local team and this will continue with participation in the spl the current across the board youth set up was started 5 years ago and could not and would not have been a success with all those who worked previously fact i beleive the current set up is run or used to be under team ict to raise all monies to self sustain the running i applaud the fact that the previous set up produced fraser,munro and to lesser extent ridgers and low all who have played 1st team football merely stating that the system is now in place to hopefully start producing a reglar stream of new talent and i am certain had this been in place from clubs inception we might have had many more who knows but now we do have it and lets enjoy it

of course its acheived theseguys are the first of the conveyor belt we now have all the best young talent in the area playing for caley and not being taken down the road we have great coaches at all levels and the best head of youth in scotland with danny the fact we are keeping them here in our teams and competing on a level playing field is testament to that this is the start the fact we dint have car loads of boys going south to play for other teams and more importantly wanting to play for caley"!!! we have acheived that by keeping them here and bringing them through our system look at the local park even from arriving 5 years ago the young boys and girls are predominately wearing caley tops 5 years ago it was celtic rangers and aberdeen these guys are the firs off the production line started 5 years ago and they have made the first team how many have been clamouring for duff and vigurs to play recently??? 5 years ago these lads would have been playin down the road and recently the appeal of our youth set up has seen 30r 4 lads snub aberdeen and they were local aberdeen players to come to caley!!! as said set up conveyer balt of young talent acheived its in place

I wasn't sure how that'd work either. Suppose the most obvious way is if the 30 "regional" teams are divided up on a season to season basis, so each year the teams are split into 3 regions based on location. Would probably mean every now and then a side on the "border" of 2 regions moves from one region to another, but on the whole it'd probably work. I have never asked you a question before, but how do you decide on who must / go stay. A lot of the players are preforming badly, at the crunch, so were you to have the chance to manage a team again, would you envisage a Good youth structure and giving them a chance , not the whole match but maybe the last 10 mins, or would you stick with the older players? as a manager you are looking for players to show you something through the whole season and depending on your league position or division you have to prioritise most fans at every club are not really bothered about youth set ups all they want is the first team performing and doing well as a manager you have to decide your priority is it looking after your job and the first team only or trying to build the club as a whole? at caley and livingston i concentrated mainly on first team but with a big input into a strong youth set up as finances dictated this for long term at hearts and county the youth set up was fine so could look at 1st team only as to players as said earlier young lads have to show something that they can improve and become part of your 1st team squad to keep them on some simply dont get the chance due to an outstanding 1st team player in their position ultimately do you keep a young lad on knowing he may never feature or release him to flourish elswhere some you get right some wrong Barry Robson the perfect example if i owned or was chairman of lower league club i would love to say to my manager just get the best young talent in and nurture them sell them on as long as you attempt to play good football even at bottom of 3rd you get managers getting slaughtered by their own fans cos they are bottom

Good answer !! Thanks John.... I hope TB is reading this!! Just quick one for you all out there here a said earlier is my thoughts on changing Scottish footbal all crticism is welcome but i reckon it would provide much needed stimulus scottish premier league 14 teams scottish premier league championship 10 teams scottish regional league 1 2 and 3 promotion relegation champions from championship up bottom premier down as usual then our own play offs 4th in championship play 3rd one off game at 3rds ground as 3rd finished higher the winner would travel to play 2nd and the winner of that would travel to second bottom of the premier league in a one off game with the winner taking its place in the spl think about it as the leagues are right now st johnstone up falkirk down 4th dunfermline travel to3rd dundee sell out crowd say dundee win travel to partick crowd 5k plus winners travel to caley crowd 5k plus excitement would be brilliant and would give real sense of a chance to the ist div teams as even if you finish 4th you still have a slim 3 away wins required chance to get to the spl and gives all teams in the division something to play for at this moment 6 teams could make the play offs just say premier was celtic,rangers,hearts,dundee utd,aberdeen,hibs ,well,hamilton,st mirren,killi,caley,falkirk,st john and partick championship dunde,livi,pars,queens,county,clyde,airdrie,morton,ayr and raith premier teams play each other twice(26games) then split 7+7 and play home and away again (38) games same as moment and takes away the stupid thing of 20 home/away games or 18 home/away games you are guaranteed 19 home and 19 away games simple championship would continue to play home and away twice (36 games) as would the 3 regional leagues regional leagues would be north montrose,forfar,brechin,arbroath,cove,inverurie,elgin peterhead,fraserburgh and huntly central east,east fife,cowdenbeath,berwick,gala,stenny,spartans,lochee,tayport,linli thgow preston thletic central west stirling,queens park,albion,dumbarton,annan,stranraer,pollock, killwinning,alloa,auchinlek most have tried to apply in past but atleast we would have pyramid system all 3 league winners plus challenge cup winners would play off home and away to meet in final winners playing bottom of championship in one of game at championship teams ground and if they met championship mcriteria so many seats etc this wouls assure that only teams with a wish to improve their stadium etc could come up if a team won the challenge cup and the regional division they would proceed to play off final direct only regional teams compete for challenge cup advantages 2 extra teams in spl more safety allowing use of more home grown talent plus more excitement to the 1st division plus we retain more full time teams and we retain the new look 3 divisions in the regional leagues allowing young managers/coaches and players opportunity to play in the senior game what you reckon have thought about writing to spl and sfa have it all typed out Hi John, have already contacted them, the uneven split isnt fair, my suggestion was a 14 team league but splits in to top 6 bottom 8, 7 and 7 means 2 teams don't play each week, slightly less games in the top 6 but bigger crowds and more space available for so called european fixtures, should in theory get further in the cups and more games in the bottom half= more income. Just now its 38 games, or, top 6 plays 36 games and has bigger crowds bottom 8 plays 40 games, with smaller crowds = 2 extra midweek fixtures + setanta coverage? top teams will play more games due to cup runs domestic and euro anyway everything is fair again with a balance between home and away matches, eg We could be playing hamilton 3 times at home this season if hibs finish in the top 6 or hibs 3 times at home if motherwell go up As you have also mentioned this has a positive effect in lower leagues, the standard is a lot higher in div1 now, if 2 teams come up, then 2 go up from div 2 which helps the existing 1st div clubs maintain fulltime football as the 2 new teams are more likely to go down again at the end of the season. yes i understand one team would be spare but at end of long season clubs would see it as a blessing plus i cant see the sense or fairness and the league agreeing to a system that sees some teams playing 40 games and others 36 but unless we throw these things about we wont get anywhere

Come on Robbo! We haven't brought through a first team regular since Grant Munro. Most of our 'local' players have been Pele signings from the Highland League and Aberdeen rejects. Most of them are getting on a bit now having served the club well for a number of years. Brewster tried to bring through a few youngsters but that all went a bit t1ts up and one of Butcher's first acts was to sideline them. your missing the point caley stan our youth set up only started 5 years ago when we had only 4 full time youth players!!!! the conveyor belt is starting to show fruit now with the likes of Duff Vigurs Wood breking through terry has left them out at the moment as in this present scenario nearly every team in our position go for experienced players thats why falkirk brought in Elvis until Danny started the youth set up we had very few quality young players as the club was not geared up for it fraser low munro were the only local lads to come through recently but we now have a great youth team in the semi of the cup competing on an equal footing with the best of scottish football and almost all especially at the younger age groups doing exceptionaly well mark my words get down and see the u13 u 14 sides these lads are top quality and if you look at the changes from top to bottom the club is in a particularly healthy state look beyond the first team look at years ago who had top youth academy?? it was hearts and look how many good local players and scouted ones came through!! then 10 years ago hibs overhauled there set up and look at that now its a long process and not often seen but the 3 lads previously mentioned are the first shoots of what is going to be a very strong crop of talented and at last mentaly tough young local players

Not a bad idea, but what happens if Ross County finish bottom of the Championship and lose to Berwick in the play-off final? What regional league do Ross County go into? The North would still have it's 10 teams since no one was promoted and obviously being relegated to the Central East league defeats the purpose of a regional system. i take your point completely but this is where your pyramid system would kick in it would not really matter county would join the north division and make it 11 teams you just rejig the fixtures and if no one from the east of scotland league or the east junior league wanted to join you would simply play with 9 teams of course ther wil be ocassions like this but also would as in your scenario berwick have the criteria to join the championship as that would be set at a reliastic say 3000 seats with minimum 5000 capacity in that case they would not be able to go up we need to see which clubs generally want to improve while still allow a good league set up for them to flourish in time everyone would find their level but thats the kind of feed back i need

i would leave captains armband with grant as i reckon he is well respected by players read previous post for certain others