stanley

Giffnock SC gone from the Caley 1st Division. Down to 26 teams.

You can take another one off that list as Castemilk Dynamo have folded. Of the 19 teams who finished last season in the Central Scottish, only 12 are left in the Scottish Premier (three have folded and four have moved to other leagues). LEAFA down to 37 with Balerno folding.

The Scottish Premier AFA seems a bit unstable at the moment. Already lost 8 or 9 teams from the Central Scottish or Scottish AFL (either because they folded or joined other leagues). Every clash between former Central Scottish and Scottish AFL sides ended in the Central Scottish team hammering the opposition as well. 27-0 and 12-0 are crazy results. Interesting to see how the season goes.

Maybe they can change their name back to Shettleston after this saga ends and pretend it had nothing to do with them...

Although they lost, that seems like a better scoreline for Edinburgh Uni than might have been predicted based on last season.

Pumpherston as well.

Livingston United are in the Alex Jack Cup draw. Another team to add to the loss list?

Steve Clarke had the Scotland squad watching videos of Celtic B v Gretna before the Norway game for inspiration. The only reason we managed to win.

I don't normally want clubs to go out of business (Old Firm aside) but won't be shedding any tears if BSC Glasgow/Alloa/Cumbernauld/Dumbarton/Open Goal Broomhill/Broomhill are gone from the leagues for good. A total farce of a club.

I don't think it would. It would just delay the inevitable of them reaching the Lowland League whilst blocking promotions spots for various teams on the way up (e.g. imagine Rangers and Celtic B getting promoted each season in the WoS and leaving only promotion spot for regular teams). I think it would also help their case for promotion to the SPFL. "We've worked our way up fairly through promotions and should be entitled to more promotions like any other club". At least them being in the Lowland League (which should never have happened in the first place) has the whole no promotion/relegation rule clearly in place for them. My problem with B teams is not only about them buying their way into the Lowland League, it's that they shouldn't be in the pyramid in the first place.

Second most bizarre after Rossvale trying to change to Caledonian Thistle.

You can see the lineup for the new Scottish Premier AFA here: https://scottishpremierafa.leaguerepublic.com/fg/1_890462462.html 13 team Premier (10 from Central Scottish, 3 from Scottish AFL) 16 team First (4 from Central Scottish, 10 from Scottish AFL, BSC Glasgow and Hamilton Bohemians join) 6 teams gone (Drumchapel & Dunipace to Caley, Third Lanark & Glynhill Moorcraft to Saturday Morning, Garrowhill Thistle to Greater Glasgow, not sure about Holytown Colts).

Berwick Colts and Hawick Colts gone from the league.

No chance. The Lowland League would love no relegation.

Although I'm glad there is one less B team in the Lowland League, I'm not going to celebrate the news too much. The statement isn't what I'd call positive in terms of long-term prospects and they are clearly still looking for something more than the Lowland League and have the backing of some of those running the game.

If the WoS are not able to manage any more clubs then something should be done below the WoS to give clubs an opportunity. That would likely require the SFA to take some kind of ownership and care about anything other than the Old Firm so I wouldn't expect anything to happen soon.

Those leagues have a set number of clubs but have relegation (albeit inadequate) in place and leagues below them. The WoS fourth division is the bottom of the pyramid with no route in other than by being accepted at an AGM. Different argument entirely from the number of clubs in the SPFL.

Sure but, whatever the case, it seems odd to have a vote between two teams rather than admit them both and it's hard to know what can change between now and next season other than potentially a WoS team going up and an EoS/SoS team coming down, reducing the bottom tier to 15 clubs. I have no idea what the connection is between this and the rigid boundaries or why it's being brought up. Yes, it's possible that a few applicants could have changed the situation but, other than splitting the bottom tier into two divisions, I don't there's a lot of options if more than a couple of new clubs are accepted.

The post stated that the club met the requirements but only club was alliwed in heavily suggesting they wouldn't go beyond five divisions of 16. Could be wrong information of course but that is what people are reacting to.

St Patrick's might be careful about what they put out online if they are hoping to get into the WoS in the future. Absolutely bizarre to be turning clubs away from the pyramid despite them meeting the requirements. The 80 club rule also doesn't work given how the leagues work with numbers changing based on Lowland League promotion/relegation. Won't do the WoS any favours when arguing for automatic promotion to the LL although they are separate issues.

Why did this banjo country joke become a thing in every post? Tired of reading it already.

Kilsyth Athletic v Giffnock is the final R1 tie.

Surely it wasn't a vote with only one team allowed in? What would the WoS do if a west-based side gets relegated from the Lowland League and an EoS team goes up? Kick a team out of the league to keep it at 16 teams in each division? Couldn't they look at having two leagues in the bottom tier in the future if they have too many clubs?

East Stirlingshire have been in the league for seven seasons and last season was, by far, their worst season so I'm not sure about the "having been in this league either a season or a couple of seasons, should now be settled and know what is required to get out of the Lowland League" claim. If anything, it might even get harder for the ex-league teams over the years as the Lowland League gets stronger and they move further away from being an SPFL club.

Are we expecting only Glenafton, Carluke and Creetown as newly licensed teams?