Jambo'ness

And if the above is true, why do you keep banging on about it? Are you scared that if next season's EoS proves successful, the west will turn senior too and Junior football will be all but gone, not dead, integrated into something that should have been done years ago? Or, as I suspect, you are just a troll getting a thrill from every red dot you get. Oh and spare answering that i'm a deluded soul.

A lot will depend on their performance, as in any grade of football.

We have just had our worst season in a decade and the main reason was that the players we had targeted at the start of the season chose to play in what they believed was a higher league, be it EoS or LL. Our area has been decimated by clubs moving and so staying would have meant an even weaker choice of signings this summer. In your Tayside bubble everything seems fine. I'm pleased if it works out for you but your money was hardly going to be spent in Dunbar for example, so no major earth tremor down here.

Could strip it by half if the 'Egyptian' contributions were removed.

Is that permanently, or just a one-off game?

Shambles? Remember we have been playing in the Superleague, such a wonderful institution it didn't even have fixtures planned for more than a month ahead (if you were extremely lucky). Many weeks in the past we have been sat idle because of the Junior Cup and its precedence over everything, then left with a huge catch up at the end of the season. Now that's what I call a shambles.

If you can't see that the promises offered to the east clubs was a pile of tosh, then you are blind. TJ was making the same promises to the east regarding tier 6 as he has to the west. Only difference being the west have shown less interest. Paranoia, no. Realisation of lies, yes

Going by the assumption you are Isa in disguise, you are viewing matters from a 'west' perspective. You have little truck with the complaints over TJ & his band because, by and large, things have gone well for your club. Clubs in the east have always been treated as second class by TJ & co. Some clubs realised they had, at best, been told half-truths and decided that moving to EoS was the only way forward. Many clubs moving have no pretentions to be in the SFL but they now know that the opportunity is there, if circumstances change, for advancement. Sitting smugly on the sidelines, thinking that all will be better for the west is optimistic but as I have already stated, TJ will try a damned sight harder for your region.

It would be remiss of any centrally based Superleague side not to move now. The league as we know it now has gone.

The club will realise the benefit. Match sponsorship and hospitality can be planned ahead at last.

Aint that the beauty of football

Tonight's news should give a boost to everyone involved with the club, including fans and kids teams. It will take a lot of hard work but the thought of such matches is really exciting.

I'd rather my team was mid-table and mediocre in the EoS than be under the rule of TJ and Co. I'm not slating Junior football, it's been great but the leadership has been horrendous and is one of the main reasons I'm glad to see us leave.

Simply put, the SJFA aka TJ does not give one toss about the clubs in the east. He is only concerned with his western empire and is happy to let the east be an experiment so he can keep the backing of his west cronies.

I agree the SJFA have not acted as from my personal circumstances just now is we don't know what or where we are playing next season. My club and players have worked their arses off all season on and off the park to gain promotion. We have now done that instead of celebrating we don't know what's happening it's very frustrating You are unlucky that this is the year of major change.. Last year Nitten were 'lucky' to be saved because Kelty left. This year has still been a success for you. The record books will always show that. Major change was inevitable but the ostriches at the SJFA stuck their heads in the sand, probably hoping Kelty would crash and burn.

Fair dos, Again, personally speaking, I feel that the farce that is the leadership of the SJFA has caused a lot of this. They have done nothing to honestly re-assure clubs. All they have said have turned out to be, at best, half-truths. When you have no trust in the leadership but can't realistically change it, then you are left with one alternative. Get out!

Until we all know the final figures of who is in what grade, we will not know a thing, rumours aside, about how it will be made-up.

The childish comments are certainly coming out now. If would be nice, although well-nigh impossible, if people could think of the future of the game in this country, for the good of the game. Instead we have petty squabbles developing all over. Name-calling and protectionism are of no help.

Whilst I agree with the latter part of your post, I have to take issue with the accusation of 'snobbery' from fans of 'bigger' clubs. I can only fully speak for myself but I and every other Bo'ness fan I have spoken to wants change. Naturally we want the best deal we can get but there is a realisation that due to our committees short-sightedness we may have missed the boat as it left the harbour and now have to catch up on a wee tug boat.

The natural preference for most clubs would be to have access to a League in their geographical area. This is where the SFA have to step in and create a pathway for clubs north of the Tay to be able to ultimately get into the Highland League. After all, you wouldn't expect to see Torquay United in the Northern Premier League, so why would Carnoustie (for example) be suitable to join the EOS. I'm sure all of this has been done to death but now clubs are waking up and smelling the coffee.

Are the catchment area's rigid? Not entirely, certainly in the past and of course Clydebank were interested earlier this season

A **** sight nicer than TJ's SJFA.

Although it would affect my club adversely, I agree with you. The ones who made the deadline should start in a higher place than those now applying in panic. However, let's face it, the EOS would desperately like to have a league with Bonnyrigg, Bo'ness & Linlithgow in it, a huge feather in their cap and so will accommodate accordingly.

The majority of the committee at our club were against moving, citing one main reason. They did not want to lose the gate money from a game with their foes over the flints. If Linlithgow choose to go, our committee no longer have that excuse to fall back on (not that I felt it held any substance). They are probably talking to each other more than you realise, because yes, if one goes so will the other. The danger being that they will wait for each other and end up doing nothing. Events over the last few days have probably tipped the balance. Nearly every centrally based Superleague side is now/have conducted meetings. It's a shame that panic has caused clubs to sit up and take notice but the ends justify the means.