What a game.

[Llamaman]

Bonnyrigg back in Scottish Cup action today against Clyde so Ozymandias will be keeping an eye on that. Part timers Stranraer went to Ibrox last night to face Rangers, unsurprisingly they lost but they did pocket £250k to more than soften the blow. But the cup story of the weekend is in France where teams from their Overseas Territories are allowed to enter the competition. So J S Saint-Pierroice from the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean are away to French League 2 side SAS Epinal at lunch time today. A bit of a trip but then again The Darts are off down the M20 to Maidstone in the KSC on Tuesday evening, not a trip for the faint hearted.

[Ozymandias]

Bonnyrigg Rose will be my second result to look out for today Llamaman. There is another team in the Scottish cup today that are not even in the High/Lowland leagues. Can't say I've heard of them. Perhaps you can enlighten me?

[Llamaman]

Never heard of Broxburn Athletic? They are a Premier League team, well an East of Scotland Premier League team, the same league Bonnyrigg won last season to gain promotion to the Lowland League. If you want to see some out of the ordinary names for football teams have a trawl through the East of Scotland league tables for a bit of entertainment. Broxburn have Scottish Premiership opposition away to St, Mirren today, not one of the big uns but a win would be a feather in their cap and a day to remember.

[Ozymandias]

Damn, two 1-0 defeats. What a day.

[Llamaman]

Its a hattrick J S Saint - Pierroice flew all the way to France from the middle of The Indian Ocean to lose their French cup tie to SAS Epinal 1 - 0.
I hoped they enjoyed the experience, but I don't expect it was money spinning cup run after deducting travel expenses.

[Ozymandias]

Llamaman, what is going on up in Scotland. I see now that Rangers are putting through a proposal to have three divisions of 14-14-18. Funnily enough it involves a Rangers B and Celtic B and to sweeten the blow/proposal includes Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers/Rovers?
Why not go back to two divisions? Would it be so hard? And what about Bonnyrigg Rose?

[Llamaman]

It is better not to ask. So many proposals, each one has good points, but each one has detractors and none would attract enough support to pass it. The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) decided to end the season with Celtic as champions and relegations & promotions on points per game. This was agreed on a vote by the clubs and that would have been that if Hearts hadn't been bottom of the premier division and sent down to the championship. But Hearts have a rich owner and threatened legal action saying the divisions for 20/21 should stay the same as for 19/20. If it had been any of the others down at the bottom (St. Mirren, Ross County or Hamilton Academical) I expect the League's original plan would of gone through. This naturally pleased clubs that would have gone down but not those who would have gone up. Then Hearts suggested increasing the divisions by allowing promotion with no relegation. Naturally this wasn't self interest on Hearts part, claiming they were planning to suggest re-organisation before Covid happened So various options are being suggested, but as the new season is supposed to start 1st August time is running out.
The smaller clubs say no chance as they cannot afford the testing and as 90% of their income comes from match day takings they still couldn't afford it even with no tests. As for only having 2 divisions, very unlikely as the disparity among clubs right through the clubs would lead to lots of dead matches even with play-off places up for grabs. That's why small divisions and season splits were introduced to keep interest going for as many clubs for as long as possible in a season. Anyway the value of tv rights throughout the world are greatly enhanced by a guaranteed 4 old firm games a season. As much as I enjoy the Scottish game I think I will leave them to sort it out fr themselves.
For the perfect football fix in these strange times try watching live Bundesliga on Alba tv. Its the womens Bundesliga, with commentary in Gaelic and a bit of English from non-gaelic speaking co-commentators. What more could any football fan wish for?
As for Bonnyrigg they will stay put in the Lowland League.

[Ozymandias]

German/Gaelic? Think I'll give that one a miss.
I'm fed up with all the palaver of the Premier League, and all the pundits and presenters proclaiming how good it is that it's back to finish what they started. Money talks even as far North as Scotland (Hearts) and the old firm. All Riveting stuff.
While the rest of football suffer. The good stuff, like Non League.

[Ozymandias]

Anyway, Nice to hear your views Llamaman.

[Llamaman]

Calling Ozymandias, calling Ozmandias a little early Christmas present. The BBC Scotland Channels football chat show 'A View From the Terrace' handed out some awards in their final show of 2020 last night. The Scottish FA Cup goal of 2019/20 was won by George Hunter of Bonnyrigg Rose with a fine finish to a solo dribble which rounded off a good build up. It was just to much even for the mighty Buckie Thistle and Rose won the tie 2 - 1. Off course being Scottish football nothing is straightforward and the 19/20 Final hasn't been played. It takes place tomorrow afternoon between Celtic, looking to complete a quadruple treble, and Hearts desperate year with a bit of cheer. But this year I think any confusion can be forgiven. The awards were announced by former Hearts and Scotland manager Craig Levein, who in interviews and the recent documentary about Hearts comes across as rather dour and uninspiring was the exact opposite. Took the jokes against him very well, even making some of his own and came over as very friendly. Just shows how wrong the image of some people can be.