LongTimeLurker

The WoS and SJFA had to mutually agree before that happened. If you think the EoS and SJFA will do that anything like as easily then you haven't been paying attention to what has been happening over the last few seasons. Where exactly would SJC games fit into an already very busy programme of EoSFA cup competitions and EoS league fixtures?

It would take rule changes at the upcoming SJFA AGM to make that possible so probably not.

...technically you won't have it until it is rubber stamped at the AGM.

The main issue on this is when you have clubs like BSC Glasgow, Edinburgh South and Syngenta playing for years on end away from what is alleged to be their home area with little or no proposect of ever actually doing so generating little or no spectator interest at a level that is supposed to be semi-professional and not just about direct participation.

In a similar sort of way most of the Lowland League as constituted at the moment is likely to get emptied by top clubs from the old west region juniors. A decade down the road I suspect even the likes of Bo'ness United and Bonnyrigg Rose are going to be one relatively poor season of form away from tier 6 if they don't quickly take advantage of the headstart they have right now and emulate Cove Rangers and Edinburgh City. Up to now it's been not too far off 50:50 whether Club 42 goes down (the penalty shootout involving Cowdenbeath and East Kilbride was a tossup that could easily have gone the other way) but there isn't that much more of the really low hanging fruit like East Sirlingshire and Berwick Rangers left now. Over the next decade I think a lot will probably depend on whether or how soon rules changes are made to open up promotion from below in an LL context so the strength in depth at tier 5 improves as quickly as possible. Clydebank sustained fulltime football in the past and could do so again if their WoS club became established in the SPFL and it would be interesting to see how far a club like Irvine Meadow could rise if they got the wind in their sails. Brora Rangers would be well advised to get the job done this season before Darvel arrive on the scene as another village club with a sugar daddy that can tap into Glasgow rather than Inverness for local talent chasing the biggest available paycheque.

Haven't they been an Aberdeen team for decades? Used to get told that they aren't a Keith team so why would I care about them by people I knew from Keith when I mentioned that Hamilton Accies don't have the greatest track record in Scottish Cup games against them. Think we'll probably see a few Edinburgh City eclipsing Berwick Rangers type scenarios over the next decade or two if relegation starts to get implemented. https://keithfc.com/charlies-poems/2020/12/12/the-scourge-of-hamiltonnbsp-accies-1980nbsp-annbsp-anbsp-that

No and yes. Newtown Park is owned by the people of Bo'ness and run by a community trust so it wasn't possible for Bo'ness United to block this from happening. Bo'ness Athletic had been claiming to be part of a Bo'ness United pathway previously so relations between the two clubs are liable to be frosty. Think it was always blindingly obvious that Linlithgow Thistle had bigger ambitions than that given the way a Lithgae Rose tribute act also emerged in the east region at the same time but it wasn't nipped in the bud at the point when it would have been easier to do so and a lot of people seem to have believed they would act as a feeder.

Kelty for having the cojones to move to the EoS a few years back and really getting the pyramid going. If I was going to put money on it I think Brora are more likely and will have a bit of an edge through hosting the first leg midweek and having played Scottish Cup games more recently than anything Kelty have been able to do.

Think it's more a DUP thing than a general Unionist one. Worth bearing in mind that the DUP has a relatively small membership heavily skewed towards Free Presbyterians. https://sluggerotoole.com/2021/04/28/who-can-save-the-dup/ ...Another key issue with the party is that it is too small, with less than 750 members and falling, this is both dwarfing its opportunities of promoting talent from within and building a party unreflective of Unionism and Northern Ireland. As long as membership reflects the fundamental Free Presbyterian church, then the DUP cannot reflect Unionism or articulate Unionist issues or even issues facing mainstream Northern Ireland...

My recollection on that is that the format of the Challenge Cup is at the discretion of the SPFL board and colt team participation in that context didn't require a membership vote. https://spfl.co.uk/admin/filemanager/images/shares/pdfs/SPFL Rules and Regulations 16-Mar-21 (MASTER COPY) CLEAN.pdf 2Title The Competition shall be known as The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup (“the Competition”) or by any other title, including by branding, naming, sponsorship or the like, assigned to it from time to time by the Board. 3Board Powers 3.1The Board shall have full power to conduct, operate and control the Competition in terms of these Regulations and where a circumstance is not provided for in these Regulations, the Rules or in the Laws of the Game the matter shall proceed as determined by the Board.

The main problem with a Brechin and the SPFL board were in cahoots all the way through narrative is why Brechin City would have needed to send the letter after Ken Ferguson had already stepped down that got leaked and reported about in depth by STV and the Daily Record: I seriously doubt that most full-time clubs care in the slightest whether Brechin City are in the SPFL next season or not. The interests of the full-time clubs will tend to dominate in SPFL board terms. Having colt teams in the Challenge Cup being an example of how the full-time clubs can set the tune in a way that lower division clubs and their fans are not keen on. Looks to me more like it took an immense amount of lobbying behind the scenes by Brechin and Cowdenbeath to push things to arbitration rather than it being something that was carefully choreographed all the way through by Ken Ferguson and the SPFL board.

Pains me to do this but definitely agree (with a grace period factored in), which is why Letham getting knocked back looks like the wrong outcome relative to Syngenta in particular. Maybe the leniency this year was partly to make sure there would be no issue with Bo'ness and Grangemouth teams suddenly winding up in an emerging Highland League feeder.

...toys out the pram over the logistics of going to Brora midweek imminent if Kelty don't win the first playoff.

Gavin Robinson (no relation to Peter) is probably going for a subliminal level Ian Paisley style image with his posture and hairstyle in that stock photo. There are a lot more DUP MLAs than MPs so I guess that's a big part of what makes Edwin Poots the bookie's favourite. Think who they could really have used being a candidate are Emma Little-Pengelly or Nigel Dodds but neither holds elected office right now.

He's probably the lastest to mistakenly assume you are a Rangers supporter based on your username.

Not so far, but too soon to get paranoid about it IMO.

You are slipping. There was an SPFL=senior leagues reference on the last page that you haven't responded to yet. Agree it's not looking good for Brechin, but contrary to what was in their letter to the SPFL the greater recent match practice they will have should be a net advantage rather than a problem. Brora and Kelty could effectively be in preseason form next week.

Have access to a transcript you can show us or are you just making that up to fit your preferred narrative?

The other way around would be a bigger problem.

We'll probably never hear all the gory details but Brechin City may well have burned the bridges that they needed to keep intact to have any hope of winding up in the LL catchment in future with what happened last year on the playoff. They had a legally valid get out of jail card due to the lockdown last year but using it and not volunteering to participate in a delayed set of playoffs through a spirit of Corinthian fair play severely antagonised at least one and probably both of the tier 5 leagues.

Who was being naive. There was nothing in the rules that could stop it this year so although the directors of Brechin and Cowdenbeath could huff and puff and get it sent out to legal review they were never going to be able to blow the house down. Maybe finally come to terms with the fact that there is a pyramid now. Flawed certainly but very much here to stay.

Good to finally get that confirmed. Shouldn't have needed a judge to confirm the blindingly obvious where the rules were concerned but I guess they still had to cover themselves from any possibility of future litigation by Club 42.

Tonypandy was probably all forgotten about post-WW2 if you didn't have older relatives from mining villages basically, but Churchill was always hated in some parts of the UK.

This reply sums it up: We have much the same basic social divide even if it expresses itself differently in politics so it's usually easier for us to understand NI than it is for people in the SE of England. In short to medium term job security terms for DUP political hacks if they can do enough to keep TUV well under quota they know they are usually getting almost all of those votes anyway before anyone else does. What they have to avoid in Unionist heartland areas is TUV achieving the quota on first or second preferences because losing those hardline transfers can also have subsequent knock on effects on which party is best placed to scoop up the fifth MLA in each constituency once things have gravitated back to more of a tribal headcount in lower preference terms.