Roy - Summer switch would cost us fans

CALLS for Junior football to become a summer sport have been dismissed by the chairman of the East Region's biggest club.

Musselburgh manager David McGlynn stated in the Evening News last week that he believed the game will eventually become amateur due to money becoming an increasing problem for most clubs.

That prompted the following post on www.edinburghnews.com: "This is one level of football that would benefit from playing a summer league. Time to wake up boys. Playing in direct competition with the senior clubs is just asking for a slow death."

But David Roy, chairman of Linlithgow Rose, insists a move to summer football would be a big mistake, saying he reckoned that would drive away fans rather than attract more along to games.

"There's been talk of summer football for the last 10-12 years but, personally, I think that would be dreadful to watch," said the veteran Prestonfield official.

"The pitches are hard and fiery in the summer months and you only need to listen to people who come along to early-season games to know that would be a mistake.

"They get the wrong impression about the standard of the Junior game. It has improved a lot due to the fact teams actually try to play football rather than resorting to a big punt up the park. It is unfortunate that we are now being hit by bad weather for the second winter running but, for more than a decade before that, we had mostly mild winters. I'm certainly not a summer football man."

McGlynn's comments also prompted a response from someone connected with South Division side Dalkeith Thistle.

"Clubs should be able to live within their means," said that post. "Most clubs don't rely on their gate receipts to keep afloat but instead incredibly hard-working committee members work tirelessly on other fund-raising activities.

"At Dalkeith we simply will not pay the over-inflated wages players want. We now have some fantastic facilities and our players are as well treated as any Super League club. However, it is virtually impossible to get out of a division with only one promotion spot available without buying your way to success. This is entirely wrong."