LongTimeLurker

A Bonnybridge team is the obvious one I would have thought, if its close to both Denny and Camelin

No argument there but either way clubs would go into the pyramid as a west feeder to the LL so scare tactics over lights shouldn't sway the argument at this point.

I get that but is Gordon Ronney not arguing for the west region to run the LL west feeder rather than staying out of the pyramid?

Why is this cost of lights thing even coming up as an issue? You don't need them to be able to play in a WoS regardless of who is running it.

There can always be three rather than two conferences.

For those who avoid the other thread:

Have some close relatives who were from there originally, but moved away. Very traditional junior fitba, Rangers/Hearts and flute bands belting out the tunes on the gala day sort of place, so it's the sort of town that's most likely to do the grade loyalty stuff to the bitter end. If that domino falls there soon won't be enough left in the south section for a viable division.

Oh look - "My dad's bigger than your dad "

A lot depends on how you do the comparison. In terms of the lab confirmed cases the mortality rate on swine flu back in 2009 was about 1% in the UK when the pandemic was initially unfolding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_in_the_United_Kingdom#Cases_by_region They arrived at the lower number later by including all the mild cases that probably happened but were never tested. Think the main reason the coronavirus is being treated with a much greater level of prevention measures and panic is that its completely new to science and hence more of an unknown quantity that could still get a lot worse if it mutates in a Spanish flu in 1918 sort of way.

...in which case it's now 16/16.

Not a good idea apparently:

He definitely doesn't seem to grasp that the LL and EoS would still have to agree on that last bit.

What he clearly doesn't grasp is that if the WoS is formed as a new division of the LL none of that is applicable.

The answer to your question has literally already been explained on this page. The SFA couldn't force this through because the EoS, LL and SoS also have to agree to any change that is made to the LL's playoff format. Some powers are delegated to the SFA board by its member clubs to run the game. The areas that covers are defined by the SFA constitution and changes to the pyramid format are not one of them.

The LL are supposed to let us know what happens next by March 6th. The arguments being pushed by Gordon Ronney haven't moved on since this time last year: He is still trying to push the idea that the letter from Ian Maxwell that Tom Johnston leaked meant it was a done deal.

Despite all the hysteria there's no obvious reason to believe this virus is actually any worse than the swine flu pandemic back in 2009. No games got played behind closed doors for that as far as I remember. Hopefully it all fades away over the next six weeks or so as the temperature rises in the affected countries and we move out of the winter flu season.

Why would the "gospel answer" be something secret rather than something that could easily be explained in that tweet? Answer: because there is no "gospel answer" and this is just empty bluster. He almost certainly isn't deluded and is just flat out misleading people at this point to desperately try to keep his blazer.

Misinformation gathering pace from the Juniors. Something to bear in mind is that headlines are often done by an editor rather than the journalist who writes the story, so they sometimes contradict the main thrust of the story. Note the contents state that Meadow still very much plan to leave for the new WoS league and leave the juniors: ..."Even without the SJFA application Meadow would still have been very interested in applying for the new league. "I have spoken to a few Premier League chairmen and they all agree that this is the way forward for their clubs, although all are sad to be leaving the Juniors. "When the big Premier East clubs left to join the East of Scotland League it totally decimated their league and, in my opinion, devalued the Scottish Junior Cup. "So when the new West of Scotland League was proposed Meadow immediately expressed an interest."... "I think in the future, playing the top East and West teams in the Lowland League will be great for the clubs. "That is in the future however and we have to establish ourselves in the new league first and foremost and then move on.

Changed days from when the argument would have been stay in the juniors vs play a bunch of upstart boys clubs. Deliberately framing the debate in terms of who controls the new WoS league is unlikely to end well for the west region and SJFA blazers. Firstly, once the facts are made clear about how changes to the LL playoff format work most people will understand they have no chance of success and will see the LL initiative as the only viable way forward. Secondly, abondoning all in or none in will definitely have a knock on effect in the east and may already be what prompted the mass exodus of the remaining Fife clubs to the EoS for next season.

The contact details of a committee member need to be provided to George Fraser of the LL as part of the expression of interest, so there is a way for them to verify it's genuine.

For the sake of argument let's call them Kilbirnie.

Outright rejecting that option and trying instead to force the east to have parallel feeders would not have endeared them to the EoS. Clubs were being told at the west region general meeting that the LL and SPFL were supportive of a split LL but that soon turned out to be way off base. At some point bridges get burned and credibility is lost.

The time for the SJFA to engage seriously with the PWG process was back in 2012 and 2013 when the Lowland League was emerging. At that point the SJFA would have been in a much stronger negotiating position and could conceivably have ultimately taken charge of everything semi-pro at tier 6 and below, but Tom Johnston and co didn't want to know. As things stand now bridges have been burned to such an extent after last year's "done deal" fiasco that it is obvious that there is no chance of the LL/EoS and SJFA officials being able to work together.

The only scenario that offered the east region the possibility to get in was the all in approach through option Z given the posture of the EoS. If the SJFA has now stepped back and the west region is now doing its own thing then the SJFA have basically given up on the east region ever being part of the pyramid, because there is zero chance of the EoS ever agreeing to it. Something for West Lothian junior clubs to ponder is that if by some miracle the west region actually got this to work and was able to move over en masse, while the north region also hooks up with the HL up north as appears to be on the cards, that could easily mean that only the east region would be left in the SJFA as soon as next season because solidarity appears to have been thrown oot the windae. This is transparently obviously all about a small clique keeping their blazers in the new order of things.