LongTimeLurker

Have seen him described as a Manchurian Candidate.

Got too close to China tends to be the speculation on that.

Seems unlikely that could happen through a change to the Club 42 playoff rule but we don't know all of the ramifications yet.

^^^again only for the benefit of those who have not been following. Six months after the SFA and Brechin City didn't get their way this has been reported to have happened:

True to an extent on the first part which is why the getting invaded and initially severely beaten angle was mentioned. My understanding is that most of the weapons the Tigrayans have at this point had to be captured from the Ethiopian army since the conflict started and are not a direct legacy of the earlier era of dominance. The significance of their latest victories around the city of Dessie and how it tips the balance appears to be that they have now captured a massive fuel depot and a large WFP warehouse with famine relief supplies. The Oromo were actually the key driving force behind forcing the Tigrayan led coalition government that favoured ethnic federalism out of power in Addis Ababa a few years back but seem to have subsequently been sidelined by an attempt to wind back the clock to an Amhara dominated unitary Ethiopia similar to what was the case under Haile Selassie and Colonel Mengistu. They seem to have belatedly realised that wouldn't be good news for them and have decided that they would have been better off sticking with the Tigrayans.

^^^for the benefit of anyone who hasn't been following what's happening on this. Here's the background to what Brechin City were trying to do with SFA help as recently as six months ago: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/lowland-league-clubs-unanimously-reject-24210716

How a rebel army from a landlocked territory on the brink of famine like Tigray can go from being invaded by the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies and driven out of all the larger cities and towns to the brink of victory against an enemy with a much larger population and stronger economy is completely bizarre. Either they are getting a lot of help on the sly from a superpower (no prizes for guessing who) or the Ethiopian side is spectacularly inept.

Think people get that but clubs the size of Golspie Sutherland have done it so it isn't mission impossible and is something most WoS members should be aspiring to do eventually given the obvious benefits.

Welcome to my ignore list. Don't have time for this.

...and Yoker obviously. Short answer is yes. BSC Glasgow did licensing based on a groundshare at Maryhill.

Try learning some manners. I have sourced the real facts. The pyramid was looking like it was finally done and dusted, but your club's decision to lobby behind the scenes for the right to pick and choose which tier 5 league to play in has led to a rule change that may turn out to have wider ramifications in the years ahead than are obvious right now.

Stop wasting my time. You know perfectly well what the reasons are for Brechin City preferring the LL to HL.

Which part of this do you view as being inaccurate and made up in my head? Brechin City were very vocal about wanting to be relegated to the LL rather than the HL earlier this year and the SFA board were trying to get the LL to agree to it even after the playoff games against Kelty. Now six months later the SFA appear to have been able to get the Club 42 playoff rule changed to remove the boundary completely by linking it to rule changes the LL needed to accomdate the OF colts. https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/international/brechin-sack-manager-but-blocked-from-lowland-league-bid-after-spfl-relegation-3255139 https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/lowland-league-clubs-unanimously-reject-24210716

You have already described how it could be done in terms of the LL constitution in a recent post, so why are you wasting my time with this? We'll see what unfolds over the next few months and whether Brechin City in the LL is still part of the SFA board's agenda at this point. What any of us post on here won't make a blind bit of difference.

What on earth are you even on about with that? Brechin City were very vocal about wanting to be relegated to the LL rather than the HL earlier this year and the SFA board were trying to get the LL to agree to it even after the playoff games against Kelty. Now six months later the SFA appear to have been able to get the Club 42 playoff rule changed to remove the boundary completely by linking it to rule changes the LL needed to accomdate the OF colts. It doesn't really matter if a couple of guys posting on P&B are enthused about a Brechin City vs Lochee United league fixture in the HL, the powers that be appear to have other ideas where what happens to former SPFL clubs from Angus is concerned.

That seems to have been sorted out. The LL appear to have agreed to remove the boundary between the HL and LL in the Club 42 playoff rules in exchange for getting the rule change approved to have a non-colt team that doesn't win the league as the champion in the playoff if the need arises. Suspect the colts will still be around next season if that's confirmed to be the case.

Should be easy for Maryhill to get licensed?

Don't think he ever had as high a transfer fee as Colin Cameron but Andy Walker played for Baillieston in the Junior Cup final with the two goals from Lexie Shields.

Not sure House of the Dragon is going to be up to much having read the book. Different narrative style from ASoIaF with no point of view characters so the writing material doesn't have the high quality dialogue in it that made the first few seasons of GoT so great. It's written as a history book a long time after the events, which is an interesting concept as the reader has to decide what is factual and what is myth in a history is written by the winners sort of way. The directing team will have to bring it to life and do a much better job than Benioff & Weiss did when they moved past the book material.

Blackpool vs Fleetwood might be a good analogy in England. Unlikely to get too heated because most Fleetwood fans will have also supported Blackpool to some extent in the past even if only to a like to see them do well level.

Don't doubt what you say in bigger picture terms globally but Vlad likes to maintain the notion that the Donbas conflict is a local revolt against neo-Nazi Banderites rather than an invasion. If I was of military age and from Donetsk some of the drone footage the Ukrainians are putting online of the DNR's trenchline right now would definitely seriously impact my enthusiasm level for going anywhere near them.

In Brechin's case because they train in Grangemouth (assume that's still the case?) and have tended to be a Central Belt team in recent times in player recruitment terms. Think that's the norm for Angus SPFL clubs with the possible exception of Montrose when they were finishing close to bottom. The concern rightly or wrongly appears to be about what happens if they move to a more local based squad in an HL context. This has been explained in many newspaper articles and interviews. Having Craig Levein and Andy Kirk on board does not point to a low budget community approach but more of the same in an effort to bounce back ASAP. Not sure the HL is actually easier to get out of at this point although it probably will be 5 to 10 years down the road. There are still several well-funded clubs near the top even with Cove out of the picture now.