I haven't wasted too much time getting to grips with the new Champions League format, any lingering interest I had in the competition now firmly ended by the 'Swiss Model' that has been introduced this season.
Surely if a tournament structure needs explaining in some detail then it loses some of its atractiveness, especially when the changes are so clearly being made in order to accomodate the wishes of the continent's major clubs.
If it was confined to the Champions League then it wouldn't bother me so much but the impact of extra matches in Europe has already been felt domestically, with the scrapping of FA Cup replays and a seeding system now in place for the League Cup which led to a farcical Third Round draw last week.
Hopefully the impact in terms of people getting out to midweek matches lower down the footballing scale will be minimal, keep following on X for games that may be of interest.
Although I could probably be classed as a traditionalist/dinosaur (take your pick), I have sadly gotten out of the habit of buying a local newspaper. Here in Sheffield like many areas, The Star is a shadow of its former self.
But I did pick up a Carlisle News & Star on a Monday, while travelling to Scotland a couple of weeks ago, and it had a cracking inside back-page report on the weekend's game between Carlisle United and Barrow.
Jon Colman delivered the kind of 'final verdict' on Saturday's action that I used to love when reading either a Saturday Pink or Coventry Evening Telegraph on a Monday when I was younger and his writing on the Brunton Park club is well worth a follow.
Up in Scotland, I caught a game at Strathspey Thistle and also saw the Jags' in North of Scotland Cup action at Clachnacuddin a few days earlier.
There is a sense of space and openness around many Highland League grounds but Grant Street Park, home of Clach, is in a warren of tight streets just away from Inverness city centre and exudes history, Clach having played there since 1886, and atmosphere.
An excellent article on the BBC website from 2020, when the club were forced to temporarily leave their traditional home, gives a flavour of what Clach mean to their local area.
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