We Need To Talk About The Lowland League

[@scarv7544]

As someone who closely followed the lowland last season, I genuinely couldnt believe it when I seen the challenge cup place distribution.

[@CallumBlyth]

I was so confused by it as well

[@nana82576lll]

0:40 "What is the most unattractive football club name in the Scottish Highlands League?" "Keith."

[@scottflannigan3062]

First time I've seen your video, really like it. At last, talking about the lower leagues in Scotland, there is life outside Rangers and Celtic

[@bobsteele9581]

Another very interesting video Callum. I've been following the Lowland League since it's inception. So I'm very pleased to see a video telling it's story. What I would love to see now in Scottish football is the pyramid being opened up more, with direct promotion/relegation rather than playoffs to get into League 2, and to get into the Lowland/Highland leagues from the lower tiers.

[@CallumBlyth]

There definitely needs to be better opportunities for progression, some big teams in the non league game that could bring something to the spfl

[@LiamFromNewBarkTown]

Another top-class video from what's become Scottish football's best channel. Keep it up Callum, can't stress enough how appreciated your videos are giving some of the overlooked parts of Scottish Football the recognition they deserve. This is the true heart and soul of football in this country instead of it being about the old firm constantly.

[@CallumBlyth]

Thank you

[@alanprior7650]

Sam North (on Footy Adventures) also does a great job. From East Kilbride to Loch Ness FC and beyond.

[@LiamFromNewBarkTown]

@alanprior7650 Yeah he's very good too. Slightly different to this channel though with it more being the groundhopping side of Scottish Football rather than the more info based mini documentaries that Callum does. Both are great and give the true Football in this country the publicity it deserves 🤝🏻

[@Buffalo31]

Really great for someone to do a video on these leagues.

[@Beaveski]

Record keeping for the lower leagues can be all over the place so this video is great for consolidating it all into an easy to digest format. Would love to see a video on the SPL/SFL merger

[@RossParker1877]

"Established Titles but a football club" 🤣🤣🤣

[@CallumBlyth]

I have a way with words

[@maikotter9945]

@@CallumBlyth ein Beitrag des Sonnabendes, 4. Januar 2025 ~ -1° C; clowdy -----> ~ 30° F What about a "Keltish Cup", with may be 32 teams? ° outdoors, resp. indoors with team from ... Scotlands Mainland, Wales, Ireland, Orkney, Shetland, Hebrides, Cornwall, Devon, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Bretagne, Corsica, Basque, Navarra, Iberian Galicia The games would be on: Imbolc, Mabon resp. Saint Patricks Day, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, "Cailleach" [23rd of September], Samhain, Jul towards y´all: A happy new year 2025.

[@RandomDudeOYT]

Thanks man, as an American only way I’m learning about this stuff is through videos like this

[@alanprior7650]

'B' teams from the Prem are a joke. The SFA should be helping the whole game improve (meaning lowly clubs) not helping the big teams get bigger at the cost of everyone else.

[@MediaMushroom]

What can the SFA do to help 'lowly clubs' improve? And what does that have to do with B teams? Right now the B teams are paying large fees to play in a league in which they cannot win any trophies or promotion, and in which the level of competition is not high enough to reap any rewards through player development. You could argue that every other team benefits from playing against more difficult opposition which cannot actually compete with them for promotion while paying them money. It's no wonder Celtic and Rangers do not give youth players many chances in the first team, they are jumping up by 4 divisions. That'd be like Celtic and Rangers joining a super league with the top 2 teams from each of the top 4 leagues and having people wondering why they couldn't compete. The same reason Rangers got to a Europa league final and then became the worst performing team in Champions' League history, except that is technically only a difference of 1 division, not 4. The B teams should probably be moved up 1 division, with the league expanded so as not to disadvantage promotion opportunities for other teams. They can pay a higher fee to account for the increase in matches played, and they can be disallowed from participating in cup competitions, etc, and from promotion as they are now. They would probably be mid-table sides or lower, which would give more chance for upward development and increase the competitiveness of other teams playing against them. Not disagreeing that the SFA are shite and their mismanagement has been bad for Scottish football, and so has the conservative nature of most Scottish clubs, especially Celtic, and the financial crookedness of Rangers. But this has nothing to do with B teams. Should we just ban youth academies and see how Scottish youth develops without any significant financial resources/equipment/expertise/physios/sports scientists at all? In the event that Scotland becomes a socialist or communist country, maybe we can disband private youth academies and have regional, publicly funded development teams. But in the barely mitigated tory legacy of a capitalist hellscape in which we live, teams with significant financial resources are the only ones providing development opportunities. And admittedly doing a pretty poor job of it overall.

[@MBMackie89]

Instead of B teams we should be giving teams in lower leagues financial incentives for playing guys under 18, even as little as £100 per player per game would mean the world of difference to these clubs and would lead to a vast improvement in the quality of Scottish players throughout the entire league system.

[@thesacrisant]

Here in Belgium since S 2022/23 clubs from the first 2 pro leagues could enter their U23's into the semi and professional leagues level 2 to 5. We have 9 levels , from lvl 6 to 9 (100% amateur) had already many U23 teams in it due to many clubs folding or merging. Personally i fully support this. The U23s (named "Club Next") from my favorite club "Club Brugge KV" are currently 7th in the 2nd lvl.

[@CallumBlyth]

It’s definitely a cultural thing, it’s something that seems to be accepted by those on the continent where as in the UK and Ireland these ideas are hugely unpopular, especially for fans of clubs at a lower level

[@ja1295]

Only issue is that it takes the places from a proper mens team and ruins tge competitiveness if the lower leagues

[@cameronhutton2811]

Even the fact the league is 11 years old this could have been a 30 minute video

[@albertmiller2electricbooga897]

I have no idea what is going on in the Lowland league cos I'm a Tottenham fan in Australia, still clicked first thing opening the app cos I know it's gonna be juicy (and well told by Alfraidd McPotts-Airmer)

[@scottflannigan3062]

I didn't know this stuff either, and I live Scotland the MSM are only interested in Celtic and Rangers

[@alastaircreelman]

Just look around Europe and you'll see proper pyramid systems in place and working well. The Lowland League was not formed on sporting merit and several clubs have parachuted into it out of nowhere - Cumbernauld, Caledonian Braves, Broomhill. A proper pyramid structure would have say 2 regional League Twos, 4 regional leagues on tier 5, 8 leagues at tier 6 etc. This works fine here in Sweden for example as well as many other countries.

[@depekthegreat359]

LONG LIVE LOWLAND LEAGUE FOOTBALL,GOOD FRIENDS!!!🎉

[@billytompkins6633]

For a long time whenever I watched footyadventures the term Juniors confused me immensly as in England junior football is for kids under 16

[@CallumBlyth]

Yeah it’s weird, there’s a reason why I need to make something on it

[@littlematchgirl374]

Another thing can the SPFL instead of deducting points for entering admin they add 15 points for entering admin? Meaning Inverness and Dumbarton are chasing for promotion?

[@CallumBlyth]

As much as it would be funny the points deduction is meant to be a deterrent so there would definitely be clubs taking the piss

[@PMCKnivesAndTools]

Good video about a league that really annoys me. "Broomhill" ground sharing at my club, Dumbarton, really pees me off, but we're a basket case club behind the scenes as well. If you ever feel like a VERY deep dive into shady goings on, maybe there's a video in the criminal misbehaviour at DFCs ownership.

[@CallumBlyth]

I’m basically waiting on the police investigation to finish before I get into the mess that is Dumbarton, don’t worry it will come eventually

[@PMCKnivesAndTools]

@CallumBlyth wise decision. Happy to add some background information if you need it, I'm involved at the club somewhat

[@6991cg]

Cards on table im a celtic fan so the idea of our B team playing regular football is appealing. I would prefer a 10 team B team league on its own but i dont think too many other teams can afford it. Theres many other countries that have b teams in lower leagues but the academy pathway at celtic seems broken atm. Unrelated, do you know a chanel called umproving scottish football? i think you two would have a great chat about stuff like this.

[@CallumBlyth]

I have heard of them actually but mainly through Twitter, if I remember correctly there used to be a separate reserves league which should probably be brought back

[@mboothy]

13:00 "it's the complete opposite" - well that's just not true is it, last season's stats show that most of the B team away games are above the average attendances for each of the other clubs

[@jamesneilson4614]

I've been drinking so give me some pardon if i come off like a prick (dont mean to) its only really two things, That your thumbnails are to to much like HITV Sports (can't remember the name on the channel ) that's why i and i think alot of others clicked it (i sent this video to my mate saying its like HITV but scottish) and then your ending point. You have to mind the price difference between the Bronze License and the Entry, I don't know how much it is but i have to think it may be about double that. Expect from that lad its a cracking fking video

[@CallumBlyth]

You don’t come off like a prick don’t worry, you make good points

[@kanguerjack5131]

Honestly with how dominant rangers and Celtic are every season, and the fact they don't sign as much Scottish players or young players from Scotland and would rather get them from a broad, a B team sounds good. If they aren't gonna use it to promote talent, cause again they are dominant (Celtic and rangers, not the B team) then they have so many opportunities to test them out if they're good or not, cause honestly the Celtic academy used to churn out some many good prospects, it may be down to the higherups or the board, but if they're just gonna ignore the B team players its just unfair for other lowland clubs to lose out on promotion just because they lost to an spl B team.

[@laurencemaccarthaigh1130]

Good to see someone mention how Beith have been robbed if only briefly

[@CallumBlyth]

Yeah I remember it being a really strange situation surrounding the ownership of the ground

[@laurencemaccarthaigh1130]

@CallumBlyth yeah was very strange then it would cost the club 20k to get the floodlights that are needed for the licence

[@albertmiller2electricbooga897]

Any tier of a sports league having reserve teams immediately cheapens it for me, I just feel bad for, say, Tweede Divisie fans having to put up with half-baked performances from under 21s that they know would rather be in the first team or on loan

[@gordon1545]

I agree but it's not rare, it happens it great leagues like Spain. I really don't want it here and I don't think it helps but some people go on about it like it's the fall of civilisation.

[@sakshamsharma5429]

I thought scottish football's issues were only limited to the top 4 tiers but damn, seems like it is a complete basket case below as well

[@CallumBlyth]

Almost as bad as my attempt to pronounce your name 😂

[@superab10]

Hearts have had three players come through but the B teams aren't working for them.🧐 I actually do think B teams shouldn't be in the system tbf, but considering we're working the kinks out ourselves we're at least trying to make it work and it's probably been average results rather than good.

[@CallumBlyth]

@superab10 more of a dig at Celtic and Rangers to be honest but Hearts have always had a consistent pipeline of talent so I must applaud them for at least doing something with it

[@gordon1545]

Conflating the issues of the B teams and the SPFL Trust Trophy is wrong. It's just whataboutery. And talking about the Lowland League like it's one entity, and not a rolling collection of 16 very different clubs that changes membership every year, means you missed the wider significance. B team membership isn't preventing anyone else from playing in the Lowland League - its membership was capped at 16 before they joined, and will return to 16 once they're inevitably booted out. I hate the B teams but it didn't prevent anyone from being in the Lowland League and didn't skew fairness inside the Lowland League or elsewhere in the pyramid. The SPFL handing out relatively lucrative cup places to four teams that hadn't earned them interfered with fairness inside the Lowland League and directly disadvantaged the four clubs you mentioned. That's worse, and unconnected. The league's membership was different when they voted to admit the B teams. They're not the same people. Now Albion Rovers, Linlithgow Rose and Broxburn are in the league the voting weight is different, and will likely change again next season when another club comes up from tier 6.

[@CallumBlyth]

Interesting points, it does seem that with Linlithgow, Albion and Broxburn having voting rights the B Teams may not be allowed back in from next season.

[@WillieHardmeatOfficial2024]

Only in Scotland, what a mess the pyramid is

[@nickymaccrimmon3615]

Dundee and Angus teams werent in the north juniors they were in the east

[@CallumBlyth]

Oh yeah it was the east region north league or something like that. It’s because they’re now a feeder of the highland league

[@nickymaccrimmon3615]

@CallumBlyth yeah, the east region north was a tier below east superleague which in theory went from Montrose to Berwick. Lochee, Tayport and Carnoustie were all in the east super at one time or another.

[@alanfox691]

In my view Scottish football from top to bottom is the self-preservation society personified in football It is all about self-interest & always has been as far back as I can remember. I dont care if we are talking about Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, Caledonian Braves, or Albion Rovers, the story is the same it's all about self-interest by every club thought Scotland at every level. I am an extremely moral person. I knew what is right & and wrong & and having B teams in the pyramid at all is fundamentally bankrupt in every moral sense there is. There is absolutely zero need for the clown league that is the Lowland League to exist at all. The winners of The Highland League should face off in a playoff format against the winners of the different top flight regional leagues we have within Scotland Then, for example if wee end up with Brechin City V Clydebank, the winners of the playoff over two games would go up & the bottom of the club in League 2 Forfar Athletic at this point would be relegated to the North Regional Premier League & either Brechin City or Clydebank would take their place that would be fair. I personally feel we have far to many clubs for the size of population we have in Scotland. That, to me, would be the right way to go about things morally league wise. In terms of The Challenge Cup it needs binned all together it's a complete mess.

[@Rovers1882]

The league is a laughing stock a lot of the time, the clubs in the league lecturing about sporting integrity are the same ones who vote for the B teams to remain in the league, hilarious irony 🤣

[@CallumBlyth]

@@Rovers1882 it’s like something happened during Covid that seemed to turn them into lunatics

[@gordon1545]

No, they're not the same ones who voted for B teams. The league has a different membership from just two years ago with the addition of Linlithgow Rose, Broxburn and Albion Rovers, and the loss of Edinburgh University and Vale of Leithen. This changing membership is starting to show in the league acting differently as a whole. Next time membership of the B teams is voted on they'll be out - the SPFL knows this, which is why they've added a six-game league stage to the SPFL Trust Trophy. You can't blame the good Lowland League clubs for the crappy behaviour of the bad ones.

[@gordon1545]

@@CallumBlyth Money happened. The OF came along with their chequebooks and the Lowland League clubs that don't represent real communities took the cash. They're nobodies who are flattered by the attention of the big boys.

[@CallumBlyth]

Yeah I’d seen that, came out about 2 hours before this was released

[@Rovers1882]

@@gordon1545it was mainly aimed at clubs like Cumbernauld Colts, Broomhill etc

[@callumatkins6891]

They need to kick B teams out

[@CallumBlyth]

Seems like that’s what might happen soon, I believe they vote on it every season and with more teams coming up through the pyramid, they will be voting against (probably)

[@Ryandunbar1996]

Caledonian braves are anything but a sham. They are a good club run by good people like Chris. Great little community club that are doing good things. As someone who had ties to the club. Im quite angry with that

[@mboothy]

What community?

[@Ryandunbar1996]

@mboothy what do u mean what community...you know what I mean