Football Thread 2013/2014

[o]

Time for the new thread as we await the start of the new season in a couple of months.

I see they have seeded the teams for the league cup, and regionalised it, I'm excited as Mansfield Town have not been in this for a few years, so a juicy tie at home please!!!

FOOTBALL
Here are the seeded and non seeded teams for the southern teams in the Capital One Cup first-round draw:

Seeds - south: 1. AFC Bournemouth 2. Birmingham City 3. Brentford 4. Brighton 5. Bristol City 6. Charlton Athletic 7. Crawley Town 8. Ipswich Town 9. Leicester City 10. Leyton Orient 11. Millwall 12. Milton Keynes Dons 13. Peterborough United 14. Queens Park Rangers 15. Swindon Town 16. Watford 17. Yeovil Town

Non seeds - south: 18. AFC Wimbledon 19. Bristol Rovers 20. Cheltenham Town 21. Colchester United 22. Coventry City 23. Dagenham and Redbridge 24. Exeter City 25. Gillingham 26. Newport County 27. Northampton Town 28. Oxford United 29. Plymouth Argyle 30. Portsmouth 31. Southend United 32. Stevenage 33. Torquay United 34. Wycombe Wanderers

The seeded teams for the first-round draw of the Capital One Cup are revealed. The first round draw, which takes place on 17 June, is seeded based on the final league positions of teams from the 2012/13 season, and then split regionally - north and south.

Seeds - north: 1. Barnsley 2. Blackburn Rovers 3. Blackpool 4. Bolton Wanderers 5. Burnley 6. Crewe Alexandra 7. Derby County 8. Doncaster Rovers 9. Huddersfield Town 10. Leeds United 11. Middlesbrough 12. Nottingham Forest 13. Notts County 14. Sheffield United 15. Sheffield Wednesday 16. Tranmere Rovers 17. Walsall 18. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Non seeds - north: 19. Accrington Stanley 20. Bradford City 21. Burton Albion 22. Bury 23. Carlisle United 24. Chesterfield 25. Fleetwood Town 26. Hartlepool United 27. Mansfield Town 28. Morecambe 29. Oldham Athletic 30. Port Vale 31. Preston North End 32. Rochdale 33. Rotherham United 34. Scunthorpe United 35. Shrewsbury Town 36. York City

[Panda]

Is it just the first round that's seeded and regionalised?


Meanwhile, the Scottish Football League's members voted 23-6 in favour of merging with the SPL this morning. The 12-10-10-10 structure will remain in place but the second tier clubs will get a greater share of the money.

The Scottish FA has given the green light to a new Lowlands League that will sit below the fourth tier, alongside the Highland League. The plan is, the two league champions will face each other at the end of the season, with the winners facing the team that finishes bottom of Division 3 for their place in the Scottish League. However, the new promotion/relegation system isn't expected to be introduced until the 2014/15 season.  The Lowlands League will be made up of clubs from the East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues, plus clubs from the junior system.

[Shireblogger]

That Scottish non-league re-structure is long overdue, and is probably a good thing. But it may spell the end for some long suffering Division 3 teams that struggle along on attendances of 250-350 per match.

[Thor]

It's about time they put a pyramid system in place. They'd be better off splitting 3 ways rather than 2 though. It will be interesting to see who is selected for it.

[Panda]

I'm in the process of putting together a version of the Scottish pyramid for the alternative structure thread and I've been toying between having 2 or 3 divisions at the top level. I ultimately went with 2 but with a bigger geographical footprint for the north division than the Highland League has, as the proposed system seems to leave the north-east of Scotland somewhat isolated.

Assuming the Highland League line-up remains as it is, and the Lowland League has an equal number of teams the make-up could look something like this, based on taking the top 6 from the East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues, and the top 3 from the East and West junior regions. (Again, I'm not sure how the north region fits into this)

That would give a Lowland League line-up of:
Whitehill Welfare (1st in East of Scotland)
Stirling University (2nd EoS)
Spartans (3rd EoS)
Gretna (4th EoS)
Edinburgh City (5th EoS)
Lothian Thistle (6th EoS)
Dalbeattie Star (1st in South of Scotland)
St. Cuthbert Wanderers (2nd SoS)
Wigtown & Bladnoch (3rd SoS)
Threave Rovers (4th SoS)
Heston Rovers (5th SoS)
Newton Stewart (6th SoS)
Linlithgow Rose (1st East Region Superleague)
Bonnyrigg Rose (2nd ERS)
Bo'ness United (3rd ERS)
Auchinleck Talbot (1st West Region Superleague)
Petersfield (2nd WRS)
Clydebank (3rd WRS)

Of course, there may be restrictions based on ground and facilities and some teams may not want to move up due to the extra costs involved, but that it what things could look like, in theory.

[Panda]

There will apparently be a maximum of 16 clubs in the Lowland League and the line-up will apparently be decided next Monday.

[Paddy]

week til fixtures are released.

[Thor]

Threave Rovers, Spartans and Preston Athletic are apparently already selected as they have FA licenses.

What I haven't seen anywhere is whether the Highland clubs will have to apply to retain their places? Does that mean any club in the North not in the Highland league will have no chance of being selected? It all seems very rushed, I can see why they're not allowing promotions from it immediately.

[Panda]

It looks like the North Superleague might become a feeder to the Highland League and could eventually be merged with the North Caledonian League.

From what I've seen, it doesn't look like the Highland League itself will change at all. They've even already released their fixtures for next season.

[Panda]

Jun 12, 2013 20:34:07 GMT 1 Paddy said:

week til fixtures are released.

My team's fixtures were released last week

[Panda]

The Confederations Cup starts tomorrow with every game live on the BBC. The tournament isn't taken seriously in Europe (mainly because the European Championship is already the second biggest tournament after the World Cup) but the rest of the world see it as something of a big deal and it's nice to have something to watch on these summer evenings.

GROUP A
Brazil (hosts)
Japan (Asian Cup winners)
Mexico (CONCACAF Gold Cup winners)
Italy (Euro 2012 runners-up)

GROUP B
Spain (World Cup and Euro 2012 winners)
Uruguay (Copa America winners)
Tahiti (OFC Nations Cup winners)
Nigeria (African Cup of Nations winners)


It kicks off tomorrow night with Brazil v Japan. Quite looking forward to Spain v Tahiti on Thursday...

[suedehead]

That Spain v Tahiti match could prove to be very embarrassing if Spain take it seriously.

[o]

No highlights show, think I'd prefer that to live games, but might give some of them a look in.

[Razzle Dazzle]

poor tahiti

[Robbie]

Nice to see Newcastle are catching the early headlines for the new season ahead

Joe Kinnear: Ex-boss confirms Newcastle director of football role

Former Newcastle United manager Joe Kinnear has confirmed that he has been appointed as the Magpies' new director of football.

The 66-year-old, who managed the club during the 2008-2009 season, said he would be taking on the role of recruiting players.

"The deal is absolutely done," Kinnear told Sky Sports News.

"I signed the deal with owner Mike Ashley on Sunday. I intend to meet [manager] Alan Pardew this week."

Newcastle, who finished fifth from bottom last season, have yet to announce that Kinnear has been appointed.

The former Wimbledon manager said he wanted to make the team "far better", adding he would not interfere with team selection or tactics.

"I'm a very good judge of player and a good tactician," he added.

"Anything to do with football, I've been involved in. I intend to make Newcastle far better than they are now.

"I see a good player and know a good player. I have no other agenda. If I see players at the club right now and don't think they are good enough I intend to move them on."

Kinnear insisted "there will be no issues" between him and Pardew.

"I'm not picking the team," he added. "I'm there solely to make sure he gets the best possible team on the pitch."

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22928641


Somebody wake me, am I having a nightmare?

[Razzle Dazzle]

woo, stage one of undermine pardew so he walks away has been completed

[Panda]

League Cup 1st Round draw:

Bury v Crewe Alexandra

Shrewsbury Town v Bolton Wanderers

Middlesbrough v Accrington Stanley

Doncaster Rovers v Rochdale

Preston North End v Blackpool

Barnsley v Scunthorpe United

Tranmere Rovers v Mansfield Town

York City v Burnley

Notts County v Fleetwood Town

Sheffield United v Burton Albion

Oldham Athletic v Derby County

Carlisle United v Blackburn Rovers

Morecambe v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Nottingham Forest v Hartlepool United

Leeds United v Chesterfield

Huddersfield Town v Bradford City

Rotherham United v Sheffield Wednesday

Port Vale v Walsall

Gillingham v Bristol City

AFC Bournemouth v Portsmouth

Wycombe Wanderers v Leicester City

Brentford v Dagenham and Redbridge

Exeter City v Queens Park Rangers

Charlton Athletic v Oxford United

Southend United v Yeovil Town

Millwall v AFC Wimbledon

Swindon Town v Torquay United

Birmingham City v Plymouth Argyle

Stevenage v Ipswich Town

Cheltenham Town v Crawley Town

Bristol Rovers v Watford

Northampton Town v Milton Keynes Dons

Leyton Orient v Coventry City

Colchester United v Peterborough United

Brighton and Hove Albion v Newport County

[Thor]

Dalbeattie Star
East Kilbride Thistle
Edinburgh City
Gala Fairydean
Gretna
Preston Athletic
Selkirk
Spartans
Stirling University
Threave Rovers
Whitehill Welfare
Vale of Leithen are all accepted into the Lowland League.

Thats 3 from the South of Scotland League (although East Kilbride hadn't actually played in it yet) and 9 from the East of Scotland League

[o]

Tranmere away, piddle!
Newport got bloody Brighton away!

[suedehead]

Jun 17, 2013 18:06:35 GMT 1 Thor said:

Dalbeattie Star
East Kilbride Thistle
Edinburgh City
Gala Fairydean
Gretna
Preston Athletic
Selkirk
Spartans
Stirling University
Threave Rovers
Whitehill Welfare
Vale of Leithen are all accepted into the Lowland League.

Thats 3 from the South of Scotland League (although East Kilbride hadn't actually played in it yet) and 9 from the East of Scotland League

Disappointed not to see Auchinleck Talbot in there.  They easily have the best name