LongTimeLurker

Looks like Blantyre Vics are doing up their ground in a big way: https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/forums/index.php?threads/new-stands-at-blantyre-vics.4010/

Does anyone get relegated based on PPG would be the other issue? They would still need a promotion playoff if the feeders do something similar as the PPG winners appear to be Clydebank, Jeanfield Swifts and Threave Rovers and all three are likely to be eligible.

For much the same reasons that non-glorified amateur leagues do. There are plenty of clubs around the country that are primarily about active participation by local players rather than paid spectator interest and are perfectly content with that being the limit of their ambitions. Most of the north region and NCL clubs fall a lot closer to that sort of category than was typically the case with junior clubs in the central belt. Because of the way that the senior vs junior grade split unfolded historically central belt juniors were often closer to Highland League clubs in stature and significance to their local community. Junior football does not have anything close to the same sort of status in the traditional HL catchment that it did in the former coal mining portions of the central belt. In the present day, the few slightly bigger fish in the north region's relatively shallow pond (e.g. Banks o Dee and Culter) seem to be happy enough where they are and have not been falling over themselves in recent years to sign up for away trips to Fort William and Wick through applications to the HL. It would be good to see strong tier 6 setups emerging beneath the HL, but they can't just be wished into existance. There should be an attempt to see things from the other person's point of view rather than an assumption that because something has happened in the central belt the same thing will automatically happen in another part of the country with a different football culture.

How active is that encouragement really? Are Fort William, Lossie, Strathspey Thistle and co really eager to open up the trapdoor? It's the NCL that make the most noise about it and the HL have to be seen to be receptive to it to some extent so their officeholders will say the right things when asked but something that should have been relatively easy to agree and implement is being dragged out for a very long time now. Compare and contrast with how quickly the WoS unfolded after the LL announced they would help launch it even with COVID unfolding as the backdrop.

Think the more distant Argyll clubs can only realistically compete in a league with a relatively limited fixture list that is Saturday only. 6:30 pm midweek kickoffs in Campbelltown or Oban to clear a fixture backlog are clearly not happening. They are no more likely to join the pyramid than teams from Shetland or the Western Isles are in other words because travel logistics makes it a non-starter unless they can organise a league of their own that operates in a similar manner to what the North Caledonian League does with the Orkney team they have on board. Working on the principle that youth clubs that have active plans to upgrade facilities and probably feel a need to become part of the U20 setup to stay relevant in pathway terms are the ones most likely to apply, the speculation for who are part of the five beyond Harmony Row, Harthill and Kilbride Thistle should probably revolve around East Kilbride United (?), Baillieston Thistle and Easterhouse Football Academy based on what has been posted on here in recent weeks.

Think you may be underestimating the scale of the budget Brora have at their disposal. Perhaps worth bearing in mind that Cove Rangers might be in the Championship next season two years after SPFL entry and they were neck and neck with Brora in HL terms prior to being promoted.

They do very much have a choice again now that Tom Johnston is not pushing for the SJFA entering intact. Remember they have already told the SFA board they weren't interested in the past at least once when Maxwell & Petrie tried to organise HL catchment PWG meetings to mirror what was happening in the central belt. The north region could simply stay out of the pyramid given they are a glorified amateur league with little to no spectator interest and few of the clubs appear to be interested in the concept of progression to the HL. There are still rumblings to that effect appearing on social media when people from south of Stonehaven start getting evangelical about the iminent implementation of tier 6 feeders probably based on what they see on P&B:

Shared cup competitions would be an obvious one. Sadly the SJC is probably on the way out now given the level of fixture overload for the WoS next season so what fills that void? What replaces the East of Scotland Cup now there is no east region south? There is no SCC equivalent in the HL catchment, if the ML is part of the northern pyramid, so beyond the one cup with the north region that is only all in from the last 16 onwards there could be a very repetitive fixture list.

Probably true but there's many more of them and variety is the spice of life. The massive competitive imbalance between Lochee United and Coupar Angus is also never likely to be a feature of the EoS premier if Forfar WE got accepted and rose to that level.

No higher than League One for the colt teams apparently. Not clear whether they could be relegated to the LL.

Old men with blazers usually resist change because their top priority is keeping their blazer. How much activity has there been from the north region about becoming a tier 6? At one point last year the NCL were saying it could be implemented for this season if the north region got their act together. Close to a year later....

Good to hear about FWE. Will definitely be interesting to see what happens on that over the next week or so. Sensible thing for Tayside clubs to do would be to get EoS applications in even if they are not 100% sure yet so they don't have all their eggs in one basket, if the ML route turns out to not be what they had been hoping for once all the details of the proposals are provided.

Definitely a bit odd that the east region blazers are suddenly being viewed as the best people to carry things forward by many on here after all the misinformation about the pyramid emanating from that source in earlier seasons. Forfar West End are trying to do what Kelty Hearts did and should be commended for that, because it's not at all clear that a rebranded east region is heading anywhere concrete in pyramid terms any time soon.

The lower divisions of the SPFL are inflated financially beyond their natural level of operations through a subsidy drip feed labelled as "prize money" that revolves around a TV deal and sponsorships that depend primarily on the armchair Old Firm fan. That's why when Rangers could have been excluded completely from the national divisions after liquidation and being refused a place in the SPL they got into the SFL ASAP. The SPFL part-time clubs know which side their bread is buttered on. Think it is only a matter of time until a deal is cobbled together that does enough for all parties involved to see it voted through. What the latest plan probably has going for it from a part-time SPFL club perspective with soon to licensed former west region junior clubs lumbering over the horizon is that many of them will be more confident of avoiding ever being Club 48 than they would have been with ever being Club 42.

....but the Ulster Unionist Party still get villified for having wanted no part of it rather than viewed as an understandable reaction to a theocratic tinged ethnic nationalism that excluded a large portion of the population from its foundation myths. The RoI would have been better off with a good dose of the anti-clerical liberal and socialist politics that swept through most Roman Catholic majority countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but missed out on that and wound up with FF and FG as Tweedledum and Tweedledee instead.

You could be accused of being Captain Obvious with that. What I think is a lot more interesting is why that didn't happen in the immediate aftermath the EoS-WoS statement and why the EoS twitter account had to retract misleading assertions that the Tay Bridge line of latitude was actively being used in that way? My guess would be that there is a real possibility that the LL will give way to the SPFL on the Club 42 boundary line and the EoS blazers don't want a rebranded east region getting in at tier 6 as a fourth LL feeder as part of the SJFA in the aftermath of that. Time will tell basically.

That along with where or whether an ML fits in would no doubt be why the PWG would be reconvening as mentioned in the leaked east region email statement. Not clear what they would even need to discuss otherwise if Dundee/Angus/Blairgowrie&Coupar Angus = HL catchment was unambiguously done and dusted. All other pyramid issues have either already happened (WoS being formed to get the west region clubs in last year) or are non-controversial at this point (complete collapse of the east region south as all remaining clubs will try to join EoS or WoS next season, and up north NCL & north region as future tier 6 under the HL if the agreement ever gets finalised).

Obvious answer is they don't believe the tier 6 ML is actually going to happen because of the blazer politics involved. If it's in the LL catchment the EoS have the same veto they did over the east region entering. They've already stated this about the HL angle:

Before tying themselves in knots over Tayport vs Luncarty vs Harthill, I think people should ponder the question of whether the infamous line of latitude will even still be there in a Club 42 context if the colt team reconstruction plan gets voted through. The last line of this newspaper story along with the way two LL and two HL clubs get a promotion out of it suggest that the LL and HL may have already signed off on the plan and that inherently provides scope for some sort of Club 42 playoff rule change in line with what the SPFL wanted last season:

The east region email statement that appears to have leaked out mentioned the HL meeting went amicably and they had also requested the LL meeting so not a safe assumption on that last bit.

HL and NCL appear to be in agreement but there has been no word so far that the north region are after many months. Tayside clubs are also said to be trying to contact the LL board as well:

Sums it up more or less. Key thing to remember with the HL is that the blazers might be friendly enough over zoom but any pyramid deal ultimately still needs to be voted through by the HL's member clubs. The last masterplan from the blazers that involved the possibility of relegation and an HL controlled tier 6 that could subsequently have been further opened up in pyramid sort of terms was rejected when it went to a vote. https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/sport/stables-highland-league-plan-falters-100975/ Turkeys don't vote etc... As for the LL side of things the reason why the northern boundary of the EoS has not been fixed (the question that none of the usual suspects on here ever wanted to ponder even after the recent abrupt bizarre U-turn on twitter) is no doubt so the EoS could say to the SFA that any east region club could apply to get in at the bottom tier so there's no possible need for reconvening PWG meetings now with the SJFA. locheeboy and co were no doubt insistent it had to be at tier 6 in entry terms via a Midlands League as outlined on podcasts. That would create another impasse with no easy resolution in another Tom Johnston and all three regions must enter together vs the EoS veto over playoff rule changes sort of way. Suspect the only reason we are hearing about the tier 6 side of things in an HL context is that all of a sudden Tayside clubs (Tayport and Forfar WE are the visible tip of the iceberg but others may be actively considering similar moves below the water line) are actually applying for the bottom tier EoS option. That puts east region blazers very much at risk as it wouldn't take too many more to reach the sort of tipping point in numbers terms that the West Lothian division did. It also demonstrates to the SFA that there is an issue that actually does need to be solved ASAP and isn't something that can be placed on the back burner and ignored, so hey presto PWG reconvened.

Best bit of news is PWG reconvened. The SFA need to take an active leadership role on this.

Yes, we all know that leaked email statements from SJFA representatives have a stellar track record on accuracy on reflecting the outcome of pyramid related meetings after Tom Johnston's done deal and board directive patter. Beyond that there's a difference between wanting something to happen and reluctantly acquiescing to it. Tayside clubs would still be well-advised to put in EoS applications to keep their options open.

Only days after Forfar WE do something concrete about entering the pyramid the phrase "PWG has been reconvened by the SFA" suddenly appears in an email statement (?) from the east region. What a remarkable coincidence. Nothing like the imminent possible loss of blazers or prospect of a membership vote revolving around issues such as possible future midweek trips from the Borders to Forfar to galvanise certain people into action rather than just let the matter drift along aimlessly year after year.