LongTimeLurker

Bonnyrigg Rose did try not that long ago through one of their officeholders. Normally it's only two years before you can revisit issues again in these sorts of contexts so it will be interesting to see what unfolds later this season. No point going for it until the people tabling the motion know for sure, or at the very least are highly confident, they have the votes in place to win.

There's an argument for that no question, but bear in mind that we'd have the Conference from next season if the SFA board had more control. Once we are closer to a majority of former junior clubs in the LL, this will likely get sorted. Right now there's still too many clubs that know that once they leave the LL their eventual natural habitat is tier 7 or 8 rather than the EoS or WoS premier so they are clinging on to what they have in an it's ma baw and you're no playin sort of way for as long as they can.

Only two national divisions of 16 with an 8-8 split to provide 37 games then an east-west-north regional split beneath that so you have around 50 clubs only two promotions away from playing the Old Firm. Go back to home and away teams splitting gate money and enforce a much more even split of TV and sponsorship money in the top tier. Aberdeen sided with Celtic when Rangers were out of the top flight so zero chance of anything that radical ever happening unfortunately.

Also worth noting that the SCOTUS has been ruling in a surprisingly Democrat friendly way rencently where Republican attempts to gerrymander congressional districts in the Deep South are concerned. There are plenty of checks and balances in the US system. Last time around Herr Drumpf wasn't able to build his wall, had his ban on people visiting from lots of Muslim countries overturned, wasn't able to withdraw from Syria and was unable to get his VP to go along with the Jan 6th coup. Talk of there being a deep state and US foreign and defence policy carrying on in much the same direction regardless of who is in power has an element of truth to it. Hope Trump gets locked up but it's important to bear in mind that some of the stuff the Democrats peddle is more about galvanising their voter base than what actually is likely to happen if he wins.

Three would be better, but the fly in the ointment is that it would be difficult to avoid having that mean automatic promotion for the SoS champion.

That issue isn't linked in any way with what happens between tier 6 and tier 5. The LL has the power to do the right thing in one context regardless of what happens in the other. Expanding the LL to 18 clubs could have been used to address the pro-rel logjam created by the formation of the WoS, but instead we got B teams and the whole Conference league fiasco. Who exactly amongst the brain trust that runs the LL at board level thought the Conference was going to be voted through the SFA AGM and was hence something they had to play along with rather than oppose from the outset? That's definitely up there on having a spectacular inability to properly read the room.

One of the results elsewhere might cheer people up a bit:

Darvel were in the playoffs and lost to Tranent, so not sure what you are talking about. Beyond that, obstacles placed in the way of progression are not healthy for the quality of the Lowland League. If there had been two promotion places available last season as there should have been, an ability to replace Edinburgh University who were way off the required standard with Auchinleck Talbot when Beith ran into bizarre planning permission issues where floodlights were concerned because it wasn't clear who actually owned the land would have resulted in a stronger and more interesting Lowland league in 2023-24.

Any Democrat questioning whether the models used to predict impending climate catastrophe are any more accurate than the more apocalyptic ones circulating during the COVID pandemic or mentioning verboten topics like the greening of the Sahel would also kill their chances of a presidential nomination. The whole topic has become a wedge issue over which any rational discussion is pretty much impossible now.

Another change that should be made is ditching the champions only angle for the playoffs. Top licensed clubs from each feeder league as long as they are top three would be my suggestion on that.

One of the few Australian clubs that was ethnically Scottish originally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt_Druitt_Town_Rangers_FC

The pyramid belongs equally to all clubs participating in it. The topic of conversation should be how to have all clubs reach their appropriate level as quickly as possible so the Lowland League achieves the highest possible playing standards and spectator interest.

Hopefully at that point the pro/rel numbers will get opened up appropriately given most clubs will realise they are one bad season away from the drop and therefore are highly likely to benefit at some future point from an easier path back.

OK for an amateur game according to the letter of the rules of the game maybe but a pitch with those sort of dimensions inside an even wider speedway track would be bordering on farcical for a level that's supposed to be semi-professional and charges admission. Guess you could argue it already was bordering on farcical previously though. Think a ground share at Petershill would be the obvious alternative long term. Guess there are too many tenants there for that to be doable right now though given the way Caledonian Locomotives or whatever they are called beat them to it.

Not sure what this is all about but hopefully just a clerical error:

Elsewhere tonight:

Same sort of Guardian reading and latte sipping clowns that think Ukraine could swap some territory for peace at this point and live happily ever after. Should have been obvious a long time ago that Russia is a mafia state and that this is therefore about restoring Putin's credibility as its godfather after his former chef made him look weak. Only surprise is that it took this long.

He ordered several Russian military aircraft shot down during his botched coup attempt AFAIR, so flying over Russian military air defences was asking for trouble. Would the Russian air force do this unilaterally or did the order come from Vlad? If it's the latter and I suspect that's much more likely, I guess a failed coup attempt calls for dropping to his death much more spectacularly than would be the case from a high rise flat's balcony and the rest of the Russian elite will get the message loud and clear.

League would increase in size to a maximum of 20 by all accounts when this has been asked previously.

Still early days. Sometimes you get a run of good form when a new manager takes over until other teams figure out his tactics. Better to wait until the turn of the year to judge where things stand. The BUs don't have anybody pumping money in unlike East Kilbride and until a few days ago Tranent although it's not clear from the press release if that is actually ending. Given that backdrop I don't think anyone is expecting a serious push for promotion this season. Top six finish and a moneyspinning cup run are realistic goals to aim for though.

Timing is definitely a bit strange given they appeared to be geared up for a serious run at the promotion playoffs. Pure speculation on my part but if his goal was to take them into the SPFL maybe the recent move to make bronze level licensing mandatory at that level was looking a little daunting in terms of the price tag? That's going to be a lot easier for some clubs to do than others where pitch dimensions are concerned.

The irony of people who use 9/11 to belittle conspiracy theories is that there was clearly no lone nut involved in that one. Have no time for MAGA types but think you'll find some unusual ideas circulating at the other end of the political spectrum as well. Does anyone really believe that Vlad had a golden shower tape in his possession and was using it to blackmail Donald Trump, for example? There have also been all kinds of weird and wonderful concerns about the accuracy of ballot box machines over the years that even made their way into a Simpsons episode.

The CIA have come up with some crazy psyops schemes in the past like the one I mentioned from the Vietnam War, so stranger things have happened than exploring the effectiveness of using the homophobia of various Slavic Bernard Manning types in the Russian military against them...