LongTimeLurker

Here come the red dot nutters again. If you deviate slightly from the Sendero Luminoso of ending any trace of the junior grade once and for all you must be bludgeoned into submission and silenced. Good to hear cooler heards are coming to the fore and fingers crossed things go well on the 23rd. That would still leave time for Whitburn and co to see sense in the east and get applications in for the EoS.

...or maybe everybody just winds up in the Junior Cup and it's all one big happy family with the LL/EoS/SoS fixture man also controlling what happens with the Junior Cup. The Borg resistance is futile you will be assimilated scenario.

I'd be amazed if clubs like Bo'ness United (could be difficult because of the Mini Me tribute act), Lithgae Rose and Bonnyrigg Rose didn't jump at the chance of getting into the Junior Cup again, if it was a cup competition only involvement and the senior grade would fully control the fixture list. Being able to integrate the junior cup into the senior nonleague (yes we know you don't like that terminology, Glensmad) pyramid would be a victory for common sense. Will believe it when I see it though as I find it hard to believe there won't be more Mosspark Bowling Club sort of stuff before this twenty year plus journey reaches its final destination.

It only took 6 weeks to get it under control in China to the extent they can start returning to normal. Think this season is probably completely donald ducked in terms of ever being completed, but would be surprising if next season is a complete wipeout. Pandemics tend to run out of steam after a few months.

The let's turn the SJFA into the equivalent of the Forfarshire FA scenario in other words. If WoSFL and the SFA are handling everything other than the junior cup that should be no big deal because the west region clubs are fully integrated into the senior grade at that point. Big question would be whether the SJFA can be persuaded to go along with that sort of diminished status? Guess that's what the meeting on March 23rd will clarify.

Could just mean no Highland League, but I suspect it really means no SJFA and the partial bit means they are dealing with the west region only.

It's only the WRJFA that gets mentioned in the tweet, so maybe the west region have gone rogue and are doing their own thing at this point. If this is about avoiding a split and the clubs are all entering the pyramid so they can get licensed all would be good. Meanwhile in Whitburn....

Merge these competitions with the junior cup would maybe be the better way of phrasing it. I'll believe compromise is happening on that when I see the official statements, but it would be a good thing to have a unified national trophy for the tier 5 and below level. No need for the HL to enter if they don't want to, but the opportunity to do so should be there. Having an association to organise that would be no problem as long as it's the same in status terms as the county associations that run local cups and its secretary is left with no influence on the future structure of the pyramid.

...but let's hope it is in line with the German numbers: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

I really think the LL/EoS have zero interest in working with the SJFA or west region at this point and will be happy to see as many west region clubs as possible entering the pyramid by completely leaving the juniors.

Think it needs to be emphasised that there's only one viable WOS and that's the LL one. The other scenario depends on legal action that has zero chance of getting anywhere.

A quote to take note of before people get too excited about the Daily Record story: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/auchinleck-talbot-sign-declaration-backing-21675703 ...Talbot secretary Henry Dumigan said: "Yes, we've signed the declaration. However it does not tie us to one plan or another." ...

Was it deliberately leaked to give SJFA clubs a misleading impression of what was happening? Yes.

FTFY = Fixed that for you.

...and is being held in East Kilbride.

Overall though it sounds like things are looking good for a mass exodus to the LL's WoS in Lanarkshire. The snippet about the LL plan not needing SFA approval is something that runs counter to the Gordon Ronney narrative.

The EoS have not been accepting applications from north of the Tay Bridge boundary, so Lochee are probably in limbo in pyramid terms at the moment given Tayside clubs have not been part of the recent north pyramid negotiations.

The money that was decrease to 2.5k was grants for ground impovements.

No, but they are strongly rumoured to have put in an application.

If you fail to engage when the pyramid is launched and leave it to Spartans to organise the LL, it should really be no surprise if the EoS are later able to block SJFA participation in the pyramid, if it doesn't suit them to have a rival east feeder. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of that it is what it is. If clubs in the west want into the pyramid it will happen through a LL organised WoS. If they don't they can stay junior. What won't happen is being both junior and in the pyramid at the same time.

Having read through their constitution to try to find any powers like that after this became an issue on here around this time last year I came up empty. The reality is that the LL, EoS and SoS managed to write a veto for themselves on future changes into the LL playoff rules and the SFA must have signed off on it when the LL was first being formed. The SJFA's mistake was to not engage at that point and make sure they also would have a say on what happened in future.

Getting back to Gordon Ronney's assertions. The SFA could theoretically sanction a WRSJFA run WoS in the senior grade for as soon as next season, but the point that needs to be made clear is that league would not be able to enter the pyramid as a west feeder without the LL, EoS and SoS also signing off on it because of the way the LL playoff rules are worded. It is disingenuous to leave people with the impression that there is a viable path to the pyramid through that approach. There isn't. The only viable pathway into the pyramid will be through whatever the LL, EoS and SoS organise, because they hold all the aces at this point. The powers that be at the SJFA chose not to engage with the senior grade pyramid when it was emerging back in 2013, so they allowed the other leagues that did to shape the rules to suit themselves in a manner that will ultimately lead to the SJFA's demise over the next few seasons.

A balanced picture is provided by being able to hear both sides of an argument rather than just one. It's unfortunate,that nobody at the earlier general meeting was available to question the validity of the assertion that both the SPFL and the LL backed Option Z. If there had been, maybe Option W would have been backed instead and things would not now be heading for an acrimonious split.

Hopefully they'll show up to make sure that the membership get a balanced picture of what's happening and to ask awkward questions such as why a preious general meeting was led to believe that both the SPFL and LL were backing Option Z.

That's definitely what any good politician would do in this situation. Be seen to cater to both the heart and the head. It's unpalatable emotionally for some people given the 134 years of history angle, but the LL holds all the aces where pyramid entry is concerned and this is ultimately only heading in one direction, which is a senior WoS with no SJFA involvement.