Loderingo

Another great win. On to Hull.

Sorry left 2 clubs out: L2 South (24 clubs) - Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay, Yeovil, Swindon, Newport, FGR, Cheltenham, Eastleigh, Aldershot, Maidenhead, Woking, Crawley, Dover, Barnet, Boreham Wood, Bromley, Dagenham , Ebbsfleet, Sutton, Orient, Colchester, Stevenage, Cambridge L2 North (24 clubs) - Carlisle, Barrow, Morecambe, Fylde, Chorley, Oldham, Salford, Stockport, Macclesfield, Crewe, Wrexham, Hartlepool, Bradford, Halifax, Harrogate, Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Mansfield, Chesterfield, Notts County, Port Vale, Walsall, Solihull, Northampton

It's an interesting idea. In Germany and France they have 3 national leagues before splitting into regional leagues. In Italy and Spain they have 2 national leagues before splitting into regional leagues. We have 5 national leagues before the split happens with conference north/south. In fairness our travel times are probably smaller than in some of the other countries. I think there was an idea mooted around for a while of merging league 2 and the conference and re-arranging into league 2 north and south. One of the issues with regional leagues is that it becomes a lot harder to get promotion e.g. for Italian Serie C there are 3 regional leagues so the winner of each one goes up automatically and the 3 second place teams play off for one spot If you merged the current L2 and Conference into 2 regional divisions you would get the following: L2 South (23 clubs) - Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay, Yeovil, Swindon, Newport, FGR, Cheltenham, Eastleigh, Aldershot, Maidenhead, Woking, Dover, Barnet, Boreham Wood, Bromley, Dagenham , Ebbsfleet, Sutton, Orient, Colchester, Stevenage, Cambridge L2 North (23 clubs) - Carlisle, Barrow, Morecambe, Fylde, Chorley, Oldham, Salford, Stockport, Macclesfield, Crewe, Wrexham, Hartlepool, Bradford, Halifax, Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Mansfield, Chesterfield, Notts County, Port Vale, Walsall, Solihull, Northampton Lots of derbies in there. Poor old Northampton would have to travel North rather than South

What a complete shambles. It feels like sadly Bury are going to be kicked out, which would be a tragedy for a club that has a decent history. I feel that Bolton will limp on but you might as well put (R) by their name in the league table now. If Bury get kicked out I hope the EFL stump up to cover the lost match revenue as it is a lot for clubs like Burton and Accrington

Cyprus has a population of less than a million but their league is ranked 4 places better than Scotland in the UEFA coefficient.

Just found out that UEFA are planning to split the Europa League into Europa League and "Europa League 2" (final name not decided), with teams from the weaker leagues being hived off with 7th in the Prem into the latter. They want to give teams from the weaker leagues a chance to go further in Europe. Sounds ideal for Celtic!

According to the UEFA coefficient Scotland is the 19th best league in Europe (behind Serbia but ahead of Norway), while the Romanian league is ranked 30th best. So a pretty poor result. Celtic's problem is that their own league is so uncompetitive that they can't step it up when they get to Europe.

Good result and off the mark

I’ve gone for 7th-9th. I’d be disappointed if we didn’t make top half with all the talent we have but I’m worried that a lack of experience (only 3 players over 30) might see us fall short of the top 6.

Doesn't sound good for poor old Bury. If they are kicked out, I'm guessing it is too late to reprieve Plymouth who finished 21st last year so they'll just play with 23 teams.

Welcome Han. May the force be with you!

It’s a shame that the Class of 92 didn’t take over Bury rather than getting yet another Greater Manchester team into the league. In other countries like Belgium the solution is mergers but I guess that would never happen here.

Thanks for the positive response to my earlier comment. As LondonBristolian says we all meet new people all of the time and when you are gay you have to decide how open to be. Generally I am more likely to be open with women than men and have got quite good at talking about my partner indirectly without using “he”. As I said before, I think the reason why we need to see some footballers come out is to break down stereotypes. A few years back I was at a birthday party and there were some big burly builders though so I was cautious around them. Then one of them mentioned that they were in fact a gay couple and we had a good old chat afterwards. They lived in the countryside and had dogs - so unlike the gay stereotype. I think they were involved with some group supporting LGBT people in construction. A lot of stereotypes are hard to shake e.g people think of HIV and still think of the tombstone from the 80s. Actually it can’t be cured but with medication, people can now live a normal life and it has become a disease that can be managed like diabetes. Also around half of new diagnoses are now in straight people.

Sounds like very positive news. As a gay man myself, let myself explain why this is really important. I only came out when I was 29, and part of that was that I couldn’t identify with the stereotype of a limp-wrested promiscuous hairdresser/air steward. What I’ve learned is that gay men are really just a subset of men and that you don’t have to conform to some set identity. That’s why it would have really helped me if there had been more gay role models in sports. Hopefully one day we will get to the stage where sexuality becomes as boring as if you are left-handed or right-handed but we are not there yet. And no I do not look at other men in the showers at the gym. I’d be terrified of getting beaten up!

Surely flags aren't that expensive? Unless they are made from silk...