LongTimeLurker

Not disputing that once a club is allowed in. What is being questioned here is who should be allowed into the semi-professional level in the first place. Many would argue that a club having its own properly enclosed ground in a community where it is very much part of the social fabric should be a prerequisite on that. BSC were part of the way there and didn't look too out of place when they were at Maryhill. Edusport was much more questionable.

Beith seem to be forgetting their pre-1938 history as a senior club that included three seasons in the SFL in the mid-1920s. No harm in keeping the Juniors part of their name though.

Football without fans is nothing at a semi-professional level. There needs to be some sort of link to an identifiable community that is expected to provide a regular support base. I suspect BSC and Edusport would have been viewed differently by the powers that be if the SFA hadn't been struggling for numbers where the LL was concerned.

Think there should be some distance limit from their home base. St Cadoc's at St Anthony's, Rossvale in Govan and Edinburgh South in Dalkeith is fair enough for a few seasons until an already identified home ground gets sorted out. Having BSC in Alloa with no plan seemingly in place to ever get back to their part of Glasgow is taking things too far and is not something that should be allowed again in future.

Definitely still seem to be people who don't grasp that what the west region decides has no bearing whatsoever on decisions made by the WoS.

No doubt these declarations were cynically designed with the LL saying "No Way Jose!" in mind, so there would be a split and blazers could be kept. Whoever it was in the LL that called their bluff by pointing out the reality that the SJFA could easily still continue inside the pyramid as a cup organising body for the SJC played an absolute blinder. Too bad there couldn't have been something similarly visionary and genuinely pro-pyramid in the east instead of the turgid divisive bilge that emanates from certain small towns in West Lothian.

If in 2020, we still need two sets of schools to teach wee kids that 2 + 2 = 4 so they can be brainwashed into identifying with a particular brand of sky fairy worship even though almost nobody under 60 goes to church regularly, it shouldn't be a huge shock when the tribalism that drives that absurdity continues to manifest itself in sport and culture. For generations the Labour party that should have stood for rational secular humanism and working class unity happily went along with it, while the Tories were all too happy to keep the proles divided. The SNP who could have made a difference have instead opportunistically tapped into the tribalism from back in the William Wolfe era right up to Alex Salmond in recent times as part of their politics of grievance. It's shite being Scottish and all the scenery in the world isn't going to change that.

Clearly bonkers but if anything comes out of all this it may be that apocalyptic predictions of the future from computer modelling will be treated with a healthier degree of skepticism by the political elite.

Not surprised by the likes on twitter from Rob Roy, Glencairn, Clydebank U-20s and St Roch's, but the one from Kilbirnie Ladeside is a wee bit unexpected.

Check your passport. It's UK of GB & NI

A lot depends on how many relegation places there are in the LL to make way for promotion from below. If it stays at one and most of the larger WoS clubs get licensed quickly, the west champion will probably win the playoff most seasons. That makes winning the EoS and getting promoted this season potentially a huge advantage for any club that does it.

That might never happen despite all the hype about it. Think herd immunity might turn out to be they key instead and given how badly the UK got hit there's a good chance it's not that far off. Once things reach a point where most of the population has already been exposed to it and there are relatively few new cases and daily deaths happening, pressure will start to build to accept COVID19 as just another risk we all face every day of our lives and return to normality.

No reconstruction means the Club 42 playoff is still there unchanged. Not ideal but better than nothing. Despite your theatrics on this subject the WoS is going to be much the same as the west region probably with some of the same officials in place after the dust settles with the SJC still there for those that want it. Nothing has been pulled apart where the west is concerned thanks to what Gordon Roney managed to do in keeping all the clubs together. The major difference will be that Auchinleck Talbot will be expected to move up the pyramid to a level where they lose more than they win if they keep winning league titles and want to be able to play in the senior Scottish Cup. That in turn should kick some life back into more clubs in spectator interest terms again as they start to be competitive for west silverware and the SJC when Talbot and others move up to the LL and beyond.

Definitely bizarre terminology. Maybe he's thinking about how NI is still going to be a wee spot in Europe in EU customs union terms post-Brexit depending on how the exit deal unfolds?

...the future is orange in terms of away jerseys? Finances are definitely going to be a major challenge next season* and beyond given the sort of backing the Shire, Kelty and Brora have. Think some covered seating similar to what Kelty did is something that should maybe be on the agenda more than increasing capacity up to 4500, if the 5 year plan is geared towards SPFL entry. *- All going well at the SFA AGM.

Assuming all goes well at the SFA AGM, it will be interesting to see what sort crowd shows up for the home game against the Shire next season. That could be the main derby game now for the next few years.

The sparser population and much greater distance from Ibrox and Parkhead means you can get some reasonably supported and/or very well funded clubs in the HL catchment. As long as the quality stays comparable in the top 4 in each tier 5 feeder is there really an issue here that's worth losing sleep over, if there are more Royal Albert and Lochore Welfare type clubs in lower tiers that will never get anywhere near the Club 42 playoff? If Banks o Dee are expected to travel to Wick and Fort William on tier 5 entry, a trip to Lochee or Carnoustie at some future point is reasonable enough in logistical terms for LL catchment clubs.

...because the media isn't doing its job properly.

She needs to finish her schooling and pursue and complete tertiary education before she should be allowed anywhere near a mainstream media microphone again. It's absurd that she is still given so much attention at this point.

Angus, Dundee and Perthshire have never been in the Highland League zone in historical terms, so how does this weaken the Highland League? Cove Rangers' exploits this season and the quality of Brora Rangers in recent seasons demonstrate that the HL as is already provides a credible tier 5 feeder even if it could use getting trimmed back a bit in number to get rid of some of its deadwood. The HL never talk about Tayside juniors as a tier six feeder only the NCL and north region, the SFA officeholders saw no problem with the east region being an LL feeder in PWG meetings, and according to George Fraser the SPFL were trying to strong arm the LL into a boundary shift in recent months to help out Brechin. The only people that seem to take this issue deadly seriously are posters on here. The LL are probably angling for something in return (e.g. automatic relegation for Club 42) before agreeing to the shift.

Think Fife would need to be split at around Glenrothes because large portions of it gravitate more towards Edinburgh than Dundee. The pressure from Brechin and the other Angus clubs for a boundary shift is unlikely to stop, so there's a fair to middling chance that a Midlands tier 6 LL feeder could happen.

The problem is that in the rules that can only be changed by the SFA, SPFL, HL and LL together it says that the initial HL vs LL games take place at the end of the season. That couldn't happen this year for COVID-19 reasons, so the SPFL are on reasonably solid ground. The rules also state that the Club 42 vs pyramid champion game will be approved and organised by the SPFL, so it's not as clear cut as George Fraser is suggesting.

I've had one red dotting nutter who thought I was Tom Johnston's stooge and now have one who seems to think I'm an LL official and directly to blame for what happened with the WoS conferences. Think that suggests I have a well balanced opinion on pyramid related matters. They can red dot away if that keeps them amused and makes life easier for the people who have to deal with them away from cyberspace. Ah coodnae gie a dokken.

There is no closed shop. There was no reconstruction, so the Club 42 playoff is still in place.

And once more clubs grasp the implications of that last bit the 53 will probably start to dwindle significantly. Other than Lochee and maybe very occasionally Carnoustie and Broughty who is left that looks like a possible quarter-finalist from the east and north regions? Naebodie and given well over a third of the entrants are north region and Tayside clubs there will be plenty of long trips to play in front of very low crowds against amateur standard teams in west of Scotland terms. The SCC is clearly a notch up in terms of quality at this point. Having 14 non-SJC participants on board in year one means that the WoS will be able to start a viable alternative straight away (COVID19 permitting) to fill whatever early season Saturdays get allocated. Hopefully pointing that out won't lead to all the bizarre replies I received the last time I made that point on here.