Results - Sunday 1 September

Polska Legend II wrote:

New teams are always questioned about which division they want to go in, and don't always necessarily get what they want. I still maintain the league get the bulk of the decisions right.

3 up 3 down will never work because too many clubs have different agendas and ideas. You could easily promote a top 3 at the end of a season in May but you may have 4 resignations between then and the start of a new season (or even once a constitution is announced) which makes it nigh on impossible.

My own personal opinion is that the league got it very wrong with Willowbrook, who will have won Div 1 by Christmas and are a Premiership outfit. I wonder if there had been 10 teams in Div 1 it might have been easier to put them up to the Prem.

I don't agree with banning players as very often it is not their fault a club folds. On the subject of double promotions, I always think it is too be avoided, but Willowbrook aside, I don't think there is much difference in Div 1 or 2 this year because there is a vaccuum of sides. Oakfield won their league by 15 points or so last season and I can see why they had a double jump.

I am of the opinion that Div 7 should be scrapped and everyone generally pushed up next season. I do worry that we will keep struggling to fill the higher divisions - it used to just be a Premiership problem, but now Div 1 looks a bit of a struggle but saying that, traditional 'lower league' sides such as NPE (now Div 2) and CPR (now Div 3) are up and coming so there is still quality rising to the top.

Many hours of meetings and discussions are spent each year by the committee trying to get it right and it is the hardest job of all, but overall I think they get it about right. And you only have to look at other leagues to see how bad things could be!

To put it into context, we had more games being played this Sunday than another league had clubs. That is all.

Polska legend II wrote:

Fishandchips wrote:

I'd say for every side that struggles with a double promotion theres one that doesn't.... ourselves and Saff lounge went from Div 5 to 3 and finished 3rd and 4th so promoted again, St Marks i think did the same jump last season and were top 3 again.

we haven't changed much since that Stokes cup final all those years ago Malc, brought in 1 new signing this summer and a couple of new players last season but generaly just direct replacements for players we lost, the core of the side is still the same lads - a bit less playing time for the oldies like me though

you'll hold your own easily. you could be the next Moshdock!

This week will be a big test for us against Oscars (or whatever they are called now), should show us just how competitive we can be

Fishandchips wrote:

Polska legend II wrote:

Fishandchips wrote:

I'd say for every side that struggles with a double promotion theres one that doesn't.... ourselves and Saff lounge went from Div 5 to 3 and finished 3rd and 4th so promoted again, St Marks i think did the same jump last season and were top 3 again.

we haven't changed much since that Stokes cup final all those years ago Malc, brought in 1 new signing this summer and a couple of new players last season but generaly just direct replacements for players we lost, the core of the side is still the same lads - a bit less playing time for the oldies like me though

you'll hold your own easily. you could be the next Moshdock!

This week will be a big test for us against Oscars (or whatever they are called now), should show us just how competitive we can be

Cobblers FC.

My opinion is ifyou run a football team your natural ambition should be to go as high as you can get whether that be a single or double promotion! Peoe say they don't have players for a double promotion so does that mean you were just goin to settle to be a mid table club if you had a single promotion as you wouldn't be able to get the players to challenge??course you wouldn't you try and get the players to get promoted again so why would you be able to get the players 12 months later if you won promotion again!! As a manager you have a responsibility to try and get the best players you can into your team! I think we won div 1 reasonably comfortably last season but myself and Jules have still worked tirelessly this summer to get better players so we can push on in the prem when we could have just settled for mid table! Why would anyone want to do that?

Blackie wrote:

Fishandchips wrote:

how would you have filled the prem/ div1 this season then Blackie based on your above comment....

The problem now is the number of teams in each division has gone completely out of sync mainly due to resignations.

How about rebalancing the divisions (average about 12 a division, less for the prem) and make it a straight 3 promoted and 3 relegated. In the event of a resignation the league should announce immediately the impact on the divisions in terms of a potential change in the number of teams promoted/relegated. ie 'as a result of x resigning, only 2 teams will now be relegated from division 3' for example. Something that's transparent for all to see.
 
How can it be right that a team that finishes 5th gets promoted or a team that finishes 3rd gets bumped up 2 divisions? As I've said before, it makes a mockery of promotion and relegation.

On the assumption the league will never implement a separate division for all the new teams in their 1st season and to enable re-balancing of the divisions further, new applications should be offered not just to join the Alliance but to also state which division the new team is applying to join.

In answer to your question Lee, I don't know how I would have filled the prem/div 1 this season - but I'd like to think forward planning over the last few years would have avoided this problem in the 1st place

Maybe if players were more loyal and stayed with the team they signed for in the first place,(maybe you might even be one of these types) then teams wouldn't be folding, ruining the tables, and cocking up everybody elses efforts, in surely what is the worst unsportsman like behaviour for all to see, if you only open your eyes to what effect this has on the alliance and all their hard work, chickens chickens chickens and more chickens.

dezza wrote:

My opinion is ifyou run a football team your natural ambition should be to go as high as you can get whether that be a single or double promotion! Peoe say they don't have players for a double promotion so does that mean you were just goin to settle to be a mid table club if you had a single promotion as you wouldn't be able to get the players to challenge??course you wouldn't you try and get the players to get promoted again so why would you be able to get the players 12 months later if you won promotion again!! As a manager you have a responsibility to try and get the best players you can into your team! I think we won div 1 reasonably comfortably last season but myself and Jules have still worked tirelessly this summer to get better players so we can push on in the prem when we could have just settled for mid table! Why would anyone want to do that?

thats fine in a candy coated world, but we all know who the team folders are, and even if you make it up to the prem with them, they will probably let you down in the end, and then it will be bye bye team, never mind settling mid table.

Hellboy wrote:

dezza wrote:

My opinion is ifyou run a football team your natural ambition should be to go as high as you can get whether that be a single or double promotion! Peoe say they don't have players for a double promotion so does that mean you were just goin to settle to be a mid table club if you had a single promotion as you wouldn't be able to get the players to challenge??course you wouldn't you try and get the players to get promoted again so why would you be able to get the players 12 months later if you won promotion again!! As a manager you have a responsibility to try and get the best players you can into your team! I think we won div 1 reasonably comfortably last season but myself and Jules have still worked tirelessly this summer to get better players so we can push on in the prem when we could have just settled for mid table! Why would anyone want to do that?

thats fine in a candy coated world, but we all know who the team folders are, and even if you make it up to the prem with them, they will probably let you down in the end, and then it will be bye bye team, never mind settling mid table.

Agree but you don't have to go for those players you know their names so you know who to stay clear of, lets be honest everyone knows I know all the old car breakers players and lounge and could probably have picked most of them up but we didn't we only went for the ones we thought would be reliable an not upset our team! Some of the players that we could have signed last season were rely good but despite all the temptation we knew we couldn't rely on them either turning up or their attitudes bein right, I can't cope with "superstars" on Knighton park on a Sunday morning! There are good players out there who are reliable

Polska legend II wrote:

New teams are always questioned about which division they want to go in, and don't always necessarily get what they want. I still maintain the league get the bulk of the decisions right.

3 up 3 down will never work because too many clubs have different agendas and ideas. You could easily promote a top 3 at the end of a season in May but you may have 4 resignations between then and the start of a new season (or even once a constitution is announced) which makes it nigh on impossible.

My own personal opinion is that the league got it very wrong with Willowbrook, who will have won Div 1 by Christmas and are a Premiership outfit. I wonder if there had been 10 teams in Div 1 it might have been easier to put them up to the Prem.

I don't agree with banning players as very often it is not their fault a club folds. On the subject of double promotions, I always think it is too be avoided, but Willowbrook aside, I don't think there is much difference in Div 1 or 2 this year because there is a vaccuum of sides. Oakfield won their league by 15 points or so last season and I can see why they had a double jump.

I am of the opinion that Div 7 should be scrapped and everyone generally pushed up next season. I do worry that we will keep struggling to fill the higher divisions - it used to just be a Premiership problem, but now Div 1 looks a bit of a struggle but saying that, traditional 'lower league' sides such as NPE (now Div 2) and CPR (now Div 3) are up and coming so there is still quality rising to the top.

Many hours of meetings and discussions are spent each year by the committee trying to get it right and it is the hardest job of all, but overall I think they get it about right. And you only have to look at other leagues to see how bad things could be!

Yes we did win our league by a lot of points but we very rarely thrashed teams and this was proved against fairfield who came to our ground on minus points at the time and nearly beat us narrowly losing 1-0! I agree the league do get the majority of decisions correct on new teams, but i feel a double promotion for any club is crazy unless they know of lots of new signings like ST Marks, as if they have signed the players mentioned on here they will easily compete but ourselfs and NRI were never in talks with new players of that quality, and I believe the league doing things like this is leading to more clubs folding than necessary! Also on the double promotion thing i feel the jumps in quality between the higher divisions is a lot different to the jumps in quality between the lower divisions

dezza wrote:

My opinion is ifyou run a football team your natural ambition should be to go as high as you can get whether that be a single or double promotion! Peoe say they don't have players for a double promotion so does that mean you were just goin to settle to be a mid table club if you had a single promotion as you wouldn't be able to get the players to challenge??course you wouldn't you try and get the players to get promoted again so why would you be able to get the players 12 months later if you won promotion again!! As a manager you have a responsibility to try and get the best players you can into your team! I think we won div 1 reasonably comfortably last season but myself and Jules have still worked tirelessly this summer to get better players so we can push on in the prem when we could have just settled for mid table! Why would anyone want to do that?

I fully agree with what you are saying dezza but we didnt have a manager through pre season as he was leaving after last season to run a team on sundays so there was no manager to get us new signings. We would look to recruit new players but we have lost a cple from last season including our top scorer and as of yet havent replaced them. I am just saying for some clubs a double promotion is a little too much as some clubs need time to adapt before pushing on again

I think the quality of div 1 this season though is very similar to that of div 2 last season jenko, because of the teams that have folded from prem and div 1, so really it is only a 1 div jump!! Willowbrook maybe the exception and standout team but there's a long way to go yet! I think most people thought Thurmo would run away with div 1 last season but it didn't happen and teams got results against us and Thurmo !! There's a long way to go yet before people say the divs are wrong

If you ignore the division number for a second and look at the sides you are in there against (ignore new sides) Fosse and Foxes were mid to lower Div1, Magna, Kilworth and Polska were mid to higher Div 2 and you and St Marks were the top of Div 3, i would say that is a pretty evenly matched division on paper......

NRI i think were an exception, personally i don't think the double promotion was a mistake at the time, they were just very unfortunate with injuries etc. had they had the full squad that won Div 3 I think they would have been very competitive at worst last season

Fishandchips wrote:

If you ignore the division number for a second and look at the sides you are in there against (ignore new sides) Fosse and Foxes were mid to lower Div1, Magna, Kilworth and Polska were mid to higher Div 2 and you and St Marks were the top of Div 3, i would say that is a pretty evenly matched division on paper......

NRI i think were an exception, personally i don't think the double promotion was a mistake at the time, they were just very unfortunate with injuries etc. had they had the full squad that won Div 3 I think they would have been very competitive at worst last season

Which is exactly the same as us then with 6 players away sunday and 4 of them long term injuries plus a cple have left which is going to leave us with a long hard season and after being there sunday if it continues like that I think we will do well to see the season out. I hope it improves in the next two weeks while i am away

if its any consolation Jenko Div 1 looks doable for your boyz this season with the exception of Willowbrook and maybe St Marks I don't think it's that strong now.

I can see you finishing 3rd and finding yourself in the Premier lol

Fishandchips wrote:

If you ignore the division number for a second and look at the sides you are in there against (ignore new sides) Fosse and Foxes were mid to lower Div1, Magna, Kilworth and Polska were mid to higher Div 2 and you and St Marks were the top of Div 3, i would say that is a pretty evenly matched division on paper......

NRI i think were an exception, personally i don't think the double promotion was a mistake at the time, they were just very unfortunate with injuries etc. had they had the full squad that won Div 3 I think they would have been very competitive at worst last season

I don't listen to what many players say on here, especially ones that run away from clubs when they (the club)are in trouble.

Hellboy wrote:

Fishandchips wrote:

If you ignore the division number for a second and look at the sides you are in there against (ignore new sides) Fosse and Foxes were mid to lower Div1, Magna, Kilworth and Polska were mid to higher Div 2 and you and St Marks were the top of Div 3, i would say that is a pretty evenly matched division on paper......

NRI i think were an exception, personally i don't think the double promotion was a mistake at the time, they were just very unfortunate with injuries etc. had they had the full squad that won Div 3 I think they would have been very competitive at worst last season

I don't listen to what many players say on here, especially ones that run away from clubs when they (the club)are in trouble.

not following you there Helly?

Thats because its not aimed at people like you. 

There's no perfect answer, I'm sure. If you submit a suggestion I imagine their will be a flaw somewhere if you then used that formula for the last 3 seasons.

As azzurri says, early days yet. Let's see in Nov/Dec how many teams are in wrong divs..

Not saying the league are right, more damned if they do and damned if they don't