Sunday Mail (UK)

Pyramid scheme is ripping game apart and clubs are dying

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pyramid movers Scottish

fo football already and shakers need to has far too many pipe down. clubs pushing It’s all fair and their t faces up well that the likes of against a the Clydebank, Darvel window w of our

and Kilwinning Rangers appear senior game and being driven

to be keen to smash through by a ‘what’s in it for them’

the junior game’s glass ceiling mindset. but it’s an act of folly which is Meanwhile, amateur clubs based on good old delusion of are folding at a rate of knots grandeur. and here’s a message from a It’s not enough to see the pal of mine who had to release pig’s breakfast which has been a club statement on Facebook left behind in junior football’s a few weeks ago that sounded east region, with a host of clubs somewhat familiar.

jumping ship into the pyramid It read: “It is with a heavy

system and leaving those who heart that the committee have

remained demoted to glorified reluctantl­y agreed to close amateur status. the club down at the end of Junior football’s something this season. This is due totally which our game should cherish, to the running costs of the a level which retains a club. The falling income and connection with communitie­s. rising costs are not sustainabl­e

Scottish football’s a bit like our progressin­g into the SPFL weather, it’s one storm after and gaining entry to SFA another. membership and all of the

As soon as you say ciao Scottish Cup access which Ciara, it’s bonjour Dennis and goes with it. once again time to batten down The reality is far grimmer. the hatches. Fewer local derbies, more

This week junior football has long-distance travelling and been hanging heavy clouds over an avenue into a standard of our game. football which is a poor

Without meaning to bore the relative to the one they’re hind legs off you, here’s the leaving, never mind the rise in depressing drift. price of a pie and bovril.

The blueprint for a West of Lesmahagow, Shettlesto­n, Scotland League, running Dunipace and a few notable parallel to the East of Scotland others have all had the and South of Scotland Leagues pleasure of writing Gordon at the sixth level of Scottish Parks on their team-sheet football, has been outlined. so this writer has a personal

Then comes the bickering and insight into the workings of a a breakdown in negotiatio­ns junior club. within the Pyramid Working The unsung heroes, the Group, which includes volunteers and people who SFA supremo Ian s see their team Maxwell and the a as something ooa

East of Scotland of a lifeline and League, Lowland a reach out for League and Scottish s sense of

Junior Football c community. Associatio­n chiefs. Clubs which ooo

It’s enough to opt to operate make you scream for outside of the them to stop the bus. p pyramid system wwa a

At a time when will be left behind there’s a clear breakand it would ddj ju down in the delivery decimate the of community sport junior football in this country, the la landscape. Remember that? to the running of the club.”

Clubs which aim to squeeze Sadly Scottish football’s themselves into a sixth tier do pyramid is looking more and so with a pyramid pipe dream of more like a Ponzi scheme.

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SFA chief Maxwell is on Pyramid Working Group
BAD SHAPE SFA chief Maxwell is on Pyramid Working Group
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