for the fa to answer

[JohnC]

The point is I wish people would stop bleating about a Midland League without having the faintest clue about how the pyramid works, or the geography of this country, or where the extra clubs would come from.

Are you Bobble in disguise?

What about smaller leagues play each other 4 times as in the Scottish leagues. Less travel and likely to attract more away fans.

[The Reasonable Man]

Ever heard the saying "Familiarity breeds contempt"?

Rushall 4 times aseason? No thanks!

[lutleyyeltz]

Oh dear! We win our division and there's a euphoric feeling around all things Yeltz.
Fast forward three weeks and there's a cloud over next season already. As our 'reasonable friend' opines - the LC don't sit down and work out what's best for Halesowen Town F. C. Someone is always going to feel hard done by, whatever decisions are implemented.
Let's enjoy the summer and look forward to a season of good football and the renewal of hostilities with our nearest and dearest( )
I have a feeling of dejas vu about returning to where we were before we had to drag ourselves out of the dark hole that we naively fell into and regained our respectability.

P.S. The FA ain't going to change anything - have they ever?

[Ricardo]

Hi bbnow - if my mind is not playing tricks on me then we used to pick up the likes of Ben and Asa and Macca from Tamworth services. On reflection my anger at not going north started this post so my words probably didn't come out totally right so I apologize for that. I don't want to sound ungrateful either I am not because when the final whistle blew at Belper I was so happy to have the words "Premier League" attached to our name, and I am sure that the likes of Coalville, Leek, and our old friends from Merthyr etc would love to swap places with us, but when like me I have been to Chippenham 6 or 7 times, Weymouth the same Banbury about 8 or 9 times, and that ground down the road shed loads, when I was looking to take my girlfriend on footballing weekends away to the likes of Marine and Whitby, and nice local days out by train or car to the likes of Buxton and Matlock, then it is going to be a pretty boring season for me, win lose or draw, and a few of the golden oldies. Call me selfish if you want but that is how I feel, and I feel really disappointed.
Saying that I do have some new grounds to go to but far far less than in the north and not as many as I was planning to go to (work and midweek permitting).
I will end this message by saying that when we won the league I am sure that there was many a fan of Northern League clubs looking at us winning the league and putting us down to have a trip to us. Also we had started to get a rapport with some of the fans of the Northern League clubs, Belper, Curzon Ashton, and now that has been taken away from us and them too. Madness.

[RaidenYeltz]

Some saft comments here, don't know about anyone else but I follow Halesowen Town FC. I don't care how many times we play a team or where. I couldn't give a toss if we played a team, once, twice or 38 times over the season, as long as we win and there's decent company and beer. Do people get bored of going to the Grove, year in year out?

Jesus Christ.

[lutleyyeltz]

Ricardo - lighten up a bit - you'll be looking for a gas oven next!

[Ricardo]

Sorry Lutley you are right - sorry for that it is just that is how I feel at the moment, when the fixture list comes out I am sure I will be a little bit happier as to seeing the dates when we play these teams in the south, but for now I am sure that a lot of older fans feel the same as me going back to the same old places which we have done to death, or as Andy said in a previous thread Clacnacuddin anyone?

[BBNOW100]

Lutley - No, the FA won't change anything, they never do and never will. It's like a ref changing his mind... Makes him look more stupid.

"Reasonable" Man - Yeah I agree with all that you said. In reality it wouldn't be a "Midlands" league but at the end of the day I'd rather visit a ground multiple times than see the/a club fail because the expenses are too high or they're not getting the gates they need because of all the travelling. A "Midlands" league wouldn't just be for the benefit of Halesowen. It would be to the benefit of most clubs at this level in the "Midlands".

[RobYeltz]

The solution seems fairly sensible to me.

Smaller leagues, maybe 16/18 teams per league. Clubs would then give league cup competitions more importance.

No reason either why a Champions League format competition couldn't be introduced towards the end of the season either with the top teams from each region competing against each other. Of course these would need to be played on Saturdays.

[Capinjazz]

anyone else wish we had a close season for the forum!