LongTimeLurker

I'd be somewhat wary of what happens at a Highland League AGM if relegation of existing members is involved in a proposal. Tayside has quite a few relatively strong clubs (as measured against the likes of Strathspey Thistle and Lossiemouth) that are likely to actually go for it on licensing, while it was not clear there would be any actual need for relegation most years with only the NCL and north region involved.

Did Colin Boyd not say 11 applicants so far at one point in an online chat session complete with one that involved a mega bus trip?

...then he started peddling the entry for the West Lothian junior clubs in 2021-22 at tier 9 line only to do an abrupt U-turn to having a repeat of the tier 7 conferences format he had been so bitterly opposed to for 2020-21 when Blackburn's season got off to a sputtering start and active relegation didn't seem like such a good idea after all.

An Edinburgh City reserve team could be a way to make sure they have 100% control of the lease over Meadowbank on Saturday afternoon fixtures so there is no second tenant. Spartans had something similar going on at Ainslie Park initially where a reserve team was concerned.

The North Caley league have released a new set of fixtures from May 29 to June 26: http://www.northcaleyfa.co.uk/fixtures.php Not at all clear why null and void would be the only option for the EoS at this point.

Wonder why it stopped being called the Oxford vaccine.

You can quickly identify the posters that can only handle a binary argument in a thread like this. There is a third more nuanced position on this that new clubs are good in theory and should definitely be encouraged to emerge but the bar should be set in a way that requires them to have their own ground with a long term secure lease and a large volunteer base that doesn't leave them dependent on one or very few individuals. That means for example that Cupar Hearts joining the EoS (yes I know but couldn't come up with a WoS scenario as good as this one) would probably be viewed as a positive development, but AM Soccer would be something to be a lot more wary about.

I literally provided an example from the immediate Hamilton area in the shape of Caledonian Braves. Other prime examples over the years would be Bon Accord and Wilson's XI in the north region. The north region in general would be the poster child for how not to run the semi-professional level in a way that's different enough from amateur level to actually be taken seriously in spectator terms. Inverness City would be an example of a club that was allowed in despite having no viable plan on where they were going to be 20 years down the road with predictable results a few years later. Time will tell where BSC Glasgow are concerned on that.

I have no strong opinion on that beyond there being a need for a club to be more than one person's ego trip like Caledonian Braves and for there to be a reasonable expectation that it will still be around in another 20 years because it caters to an identifiable community. Overall I think some people on here are getting a bit too carried away with pyramid mania to the extent that they seem to view the entry of absolutely any new team as a positive.

Ped is the person to ask on that last bit. Beyond that given we are talking about the Jock Stein Centre it would be ironic if it hosted a senior club with no fans:

If there's a club like Letham in Perth that has been around for a long time getting the job done in amateur football that want a new challenge great, but not sure every "soccer academy" should be given the red carpet treatment into senior football just because pyramid progression etc etc. Burnbank Athletic and Blantyre Celtic fell by the wayside for a reason. There were only so many semi-professional clubs that the Hamilton-Blantyre area could realistically support within a short stroll of each other. Think approval should be more than a box ticking exercise on ground requirements and there needs to be a realistic plan for where a new senior club would be in another twenty years regardless of whether the key people in the club at present lost interest and stopped being involved.

Hamilton, Burnbank and Blantyre have all long since merged into each other (there was even Springwell in between the latter two if Robertson's were to be believed) so wasn't suggesting anything was far away. Hillhouse is in Hamilton rather than Blantyre was the only point I was making and the picture was basically just to show people not familiar with the area where a new Hamilton senior team would be based relative to the Accies if this is WoS related. Suspect they see the WoS as the place to be right now more because of the U20 league angle than the WoS first team. There's definitely a niche for a Strathaven team but not convinced there is a need for every 3G cage facility in towns that already have clubs to enter senior football just because they suddenly can.

Had never heard of the Northern Independence Party before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Independence_Party

In which case they should really be Hillhouse Soccer Academy. Part of Hamilton rather than Blantyre and not so far from New Douglas Park.

If a Paisley club had access to this facility, they might be able to develop it a bit in a way that would work for the WoS: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Seedhill+football+complex/@55.8447596,-4.4054236,128a,35y,111.69h,45t/data=!3m1!1e3

Having George Galloway leading the would be Scottish version of the Ulster Unionist Party complete with a red white and blue colour scheme (an appeal to the Celtic vote didn't work for him as a way to prolong his career so I guess needs must) is completely surreal. Guess that may help steer some RT watching Trump voter types towards the other half of Scotland United's leadership or whatever it was called from back in 1992 or so. Alex Salmond also had a personal vote in the rural NE that went well beyond independence supporters so he knows how to appeal to our version of Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel.

I'd give my right arm to be able to play football competitively again. Suspect there will be a range of opinions amongst players on that and many would love to be able to get out there playing ASAP.

What happens if the LL decide to relegate Vale of Leithen and Edinburgh Uni to get back to 16? Honestly think that if you can play through to June 30th like the North Caley league are doing, getting things 50% completed to achieve 16-16-conferences as the format for next season would be the sensible outcome.

Three WoS officeholders active in the replies so not looking good for the SJC in 2021-22:

Maybe 50% can be reached now they know for sure that there is no need for a playoff against the SoS and WoS champions? From May 17 contact sport is allowed again without that because all the priority groups for vaccination should have had their second vaccination.

Not a huge fan of Alex S (the sort of SNP politician I find deeply offputting) but it's difficult to see Alba going any other way than up once the penny drops with more SNP voters on that. All they needed to get the ball rolling was a poll that showed they are in the game in d'Hondt threshold terms and they have that now.

The name was used in the juniors in the years immediately after the new regions were brought in around 1968 to replace the old county leagues:

DD postcodes for Tayport, Newport and Wormit then use the River Tay and Loch Tay moving east from there over to the Stirling local authority area. Job done at that point if Scone are happy where they are. They could use the River Braan instead of the Tay after Dunkeld if Breadalbane from Aberfeldy prefer to be in with Dundee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Braan

If the NCL can take until the end of June to finish their season, is it really mission impossible for the EoS to get to 50%?

They are doing the right thing by trying to make sure that there is a Dundee feeder in at the very outset of the north pyramid so they have a seat at the table over what happens after that. Maybe what's left of the east region finally learned something from Tom Johnston's myopic approach to the pyramid that gave the EoS a veto over how the junior grade would eventually be able to enter in the LL portion of the portion and the last three years of lunatic blazer politics that resulted in. Suspect they just stumbled into it by accident though when they realised that there could soon be no east region left at all after Forfar WE put their EoS application in.