LongTimeLurker

Looks like game over for this behind the scenes pressure though:

The league cup format appears to be at the discretion of the SPFL board so an old pals act by the blazers to apply pressure on behalf of Ken Ferguson and Brechin City is certainly possible in this context even if it wasn't possible for them to cancel the 2020-21 Club 42 playoff outright. https://spfl.co.uk/admin/filemanager/images/shares/pdfs/SPFL Rules and Regulations 16-Mar-21 (MASTER COPY) CLEAN.pdf The Competition shall be contested by all Clubs in the League in the relevant Season and by the champion club of each of the Scottish Highland Football League and the Scottish Lowland Football League ("Recognised Leagues") in the immediately preceding season, subject that, in the event that a Club shall have been relegated from the League through the Pyramid Play-Off Competition at the end of the immediately preceding Season then such relegated Club, in substitution for the relevant champion club of the Scottish Highland Football League or the Scottish Lowland Football League in the immediately preceding season, which shall have been promoted to the League and which will be a Club competing in terms of this Regulation 4.2, shall be eligible to participate in the Competition. The Board may, if it considers appropriate in any Season or Seasons, alter/vary whether any of the classes of participant Clubs or clubs identified in this Regulation shall be invited to and shall participate in the Competition in any one or more Seasons and to make such changes to the rounds of the Competition and the balloting for such rounds as it shall consider appropriate. If the structure and/or participants in rounds and/or categories or numbers of participants in the Competition and/or rounds of the Competition shall be altered by the Board then the Board will give written notice of such change(s) to all Clubs and any other person or club with an interest in knowing such changes.

Could be genuine. This was threatened in early 2020 as well and a recent report concerning the HL AGM in the P&J made it clear that Brechin City have not been in contact with the HL yet suggesting they are not reconciled to that being their destination for 2021-22.

Showed that placing too much power in the hands of a leader is a bad move if said leader turns out to be a paranoid psychopath. Communist ideology can still claim to be an inheritor of the more utopian application of the Enlightenment in terms of being driven by scientific reason and concepts of certain inalienable rights as can the more pragmatic approach of modern western liberalism that tries to temper the worst aspects of capitalism rather than replace it. Things calmed down again in the Soviet Union post-Stalin under Khrushchev and Brezhnev to something closer to what was really intended before its final collapse in the late 80s once it had become abundantly clear that utopian applications don't work. By the late 60s a large portion of the elites in Communist countries were already aware that the system wasn't working out as intended and was never going to. It's not at all clear how the 18th century Enlightenment ties into 19th century imperialism though as the UK elite were still largely opposed to it at that point. Ditto with Germany under a militarist Prussian kaiser when the Namibian genocide was being carried out shortly before WWI. The Nazi Fuehrerprinzip was a complete rejection of Enlightenment thinking so the Holocaust is better described as being the culmination of that opposition.

Think they were just Jubilee Athletic at that point and if they were ever referred to as Dunfermline it was a Glasgow Rangers type thing done by the media rather than the club itself but it's been a while.

...which if the chat on Fitba North about Brora dialing back a bit financially is accurate isn't necessarily mission impossible. Next couple of years are a window of opportunity for a few clubs before WoS clubs start entering WoS in a big way and now Kelty are no longer around.

What do Enlightenment notions like liberté, egalité, fraternité have to do with imperialist values?

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/first-look-at-plans-to-build-550-homes-near-aecc/ Bridge of Don Thistle would become near neighbours of Hall Russell United (lower left) and Hermes (middle left).

Playing their games at Aberdeen Sports Village should give them the inside track on licensing. Aberdeen Uni, Burghead Thistle, Deveronside, Hermes, Longside and Montrose Roselea are others that can't be too far away from being able to do it.

Just saw that: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57277708 ...Lagan Valley MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson - who ran against Mr Poots for the leadership - Lord Dodds, Economy Minister Diane Dodds and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson did not wait to hear Mr Poots' speech - they left the building... Looks like some sort of realignment of Ulster Unionism is coming soon.

Home and away might be pushing it if the games all had to be on weekends for transport reasons. They could do a three game format with each team getting one home game and one away game. Take it to penalties each time after a draw to try to make sure there's a tiebreaker.

Do they not have Carlisle and Cumbria to tap into for players? Main reason I had for not selecting them. Gone in next 10 years though I would have thought.

Hopefully with the way 3G cages are being used there will finally be a way back for Baillieston.

If their financial benefactor loses interest the Shire are prime candidates in the next 5 years never mind 10 now the parachute payments are gone. Most of their squad will soon be out of contract so who they start signing for next season will be an indication on that. I wouldn't be 100% confident that even tier 6 would prove to be their natural level long term if nobody is pumping money in. A lot would depend on how generous the terms are on using the Falkirk Stadium.

If enough of the HL clubs stayed united, there were not going to be enough licensed clubs to do a licensed tier 5 in the north so they had some leverage. Eventually they were allowed to stick with their existing format in tier 5 with nothing much really changing if they didn't try too hard in the Club 42 playoffs. Nothing was arranged below tier 5 with no compulsion for either BoD or Golspie to enter. From what I remember it was only really Cove Rangers, Deveronvale and possibly Inverurie that had any interest in the pyramid concept at the time. As recently as two or three seasons ago, the HL and north region clubs were still telling the SFA that they weren't interested in a north pyramid when the SFA tried to push the PWG process in a north context.

Relevant bit that makes that crystal clear: The play-off is set to be introduced from next season, which would mean the side which finishes bottom of the Highland League could find themselves up against either the North Super League champions, the East Super League champions or the North Caledonian League champions. It's a minor miracle that HL clubs have signed off on something that is highly like to bump at least a third of them into tier 6 over the next decade or two. Stewart Regan had to do some serious arm-twisting to get them to agree to be the tier 5 in the first place and at that point they very much wanted to keep their existing structure intact. There's obviously been a sea change in attitudes over the last decade or so in much the same way as happened with junior clubs in the central belt.

Think there's zero chance but that doesn't mean they won't still try.

More from the P&J https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/highland-league/3173770/new-highland-league-president-believes-relegation-play-off-introduction-will-be-historic-change/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social ...Talks have been ongoing between the league and the Scottish Junior FA to create a link between tiers five and six of the pyramid in the north of Scotland. The play-off is set to be introduced from next season, which would mean the side which finishes bottom of the Highland League could find themselves up against either the North Super League champions, the East Super League champions or the North Caledonian League champions. Looking ahead at what he hopes can be achieved during his time as president, Manson said: “We’re close to getting something sorted out with the tier below us. “Which would give us the option to go up and down...

Not sure what to make of this: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/highland-league-are-preparing-for-life-with-brechin-city-239290/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter ...“The rules state that in the event of a club north of the Tay being relegated from the SPFL, they join the Highland League, so we’re working on that basis,” he said. “The bottom line is, the rules state that’s what happens, so we’ll deal with it accordingly. “Now, if Brechin want to try and do something different, that’s entirely a matter for them. What we’ve got to do is have some sympathy with Brechin. ...“I’m sure they’ve woken up on Monday morning feeling terribly flat. That’s quite a harsh experience they’ve gone through, so you’ve got to give them time to lick their wounds. “Then we’ll deal with it in as sympathetic manner as possible.” If Brechin do indeed join the Highland League, it will see the division return to 18 teams... “We don’t know quite what the time pattern will be,” Houston said. “I wouldn’t want it to run too long, because we’re at the stage where a lot of the structural preparation for next season has to be put in place quite quickly. We’ll try and deal with it sympathetically, but we can’t wait forever. “It’s not a problem for us to go back to 18 teams, there’s no difference whatsoever in terms of scheduling for 17 clubs or 18 clubs.” Sounds like Brechin City are still up to something behind the scenes.

Pretty sure if you check back through parkcircus's posts you will find that they still need to be voted in by the existing members at the 2022 WoS AGM to be able to move up to Division 3 in 2022-23 and that's above and beyond meeting the league requirements.

think their best bet in Perthshire would be using the Tay so Scone and Luncarty are on the right side then some other criteria to have Breadalbane (potential future applicant) in with Dundee. PH postcode definitely best avoided:

Cumnock are known to have had their application in while they were still in the west region so there has been nothing stopping Broughty from getting the ball rolling.

Think having Kelty around will help boost interest in Cowdenbeath with derbies initially drawing 1000+ and that might help nudge them out of the drop zone for a year or two with a bit of a dead cat bounce effect. I'll go for Albion Rovers as the next to go instead. Coatbridge just isn't interested in them so they are usually there or thereabouts anyway. Moving forward there will be too many ambitious WoS premier and LL clubs in for the same players offering better terms than would have been the case previously and that will finally tip them over the edge now three weak links from the east have gone.

By 2022-23 premier is tier 6 and the conferences will have split based on final positions in 2021-22 into tiers 7-9. All development division clubs that meet league criteria and get voted in after next season will be tier 9 at that point. There might still be a development tier 10 if numbers suffice.

Next season is premier with 20 clubs, three conferenes under that and a development division under that for the 9 to 11 new teams. Season after that premier is 16 (?) and three divisions under that formed based on positions in the conferences. Third division might have to be split somehow if enough of the development teams gain full membership by then and move up into it. Development division may cease at that point depending on numbers.