LongTimeLurker

Pollok are now officially on board in terms of preparing for a vote on the matter: https://pollokfc.com/2020/02/19/club-statement-2/

That's a wee bit more than a typo but if that's the case there were at least two mystery expressions of interest when Kilwinning Rangers were the ones handling those and more could have been received by George Fraser since then.

You have completely lost the plot.

What on earth is your malfunction? A split LL would have evened up the tier 5 feeders in population terms. How on earth does mentioning that possibility turn into a blame game? I don't give a flying one whether option Z or WoS is the route that is used just as long as this process finally reaches its destination.

It came from Rod Petrie rather than the SJFA by all accounts. If the LL were hugely bothered about the imbalance they had a solution provided to them. Not having the SJFA anywhere near the pyramid took priority over that so the imbalance may not be much of a concern.

The prospect of having to play an away game on a rainy Tuesday night in February against Elgin City if a junior club ever made it into the SPFL used to be one of the main arguments trotted out against the pyramid.

That's definitely what it says it is, if you go the main page.

Can see how that could be interpreted as a potential expression of interest. By my reckoning the following top tier west clubs have posted something noteworthy on this. Kilwinning, Clydebank, Glencairn, Rossvale, Rob Roy, Largs, Irvine Meadow, Glenafton So there's at least one more mystery club that entered the fray before George Fraser became the point of contact.

The LL could have agreed to Option Z, but didn't so maybe they are OK with that imbalance. It only becomes a problem if automatic promotion was brought in and don't hold your breath on that ever happening.

The yardstick I used was a statement or strong hint about a non-binding expression of interest through the official website, twitter or facebook. The number arrived at is one short of the total of 9 plus possibly Kilbirnie (Glengarnock?) confirmed by parkcircus as providing expressions of interests from the top tier in the west when the wosfl.co.uk email address was the point of contact rather than George Fraser of the LL.

Apparently so. Have been several mentions of a meeting over it between the HL, north region and NCL.

On Darvel: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/second-championship-say-would-break-21483199

Which was all the original post asked about.

...and Harthill are thinking about going west apparently according to a poster from Whitburn who works with two of their committee. Any club that hangs around in the east region south section at this point has a death wish.

What's left with no Fife teams: Fauldhouse, Harthill, Armadale, Whitburn, Stoneyburn, West Calder, Bathgate, Livingston, Pumpherston, Linithgow Rose CFC, Bo'ness United JFC, Syngenta, Sauchie Juniors CFC

Think it's quite telling on what the anticipated outcome is expected to be that the Tayside juniors are not being invited to meetings about the north pyramid.

Tayport would be the mildly surprising one if that's accurate but maybe they meant south section Fife teams. Newburgh, Lochore, Lochgelly, K&D, Thornton, Kennoway and Rosyth all leaving would mean only 13 left maximum in the south section with four of those being the recently arrived amateur clubs. Suspect that will be a tipping point for many/most of the rest.

The problem will be that if they make the switch this season there could wind up being a club kicked out of the the LL that would otherwise have been in and hence definite scope for an appeal. Think they would need to have the LL make arrangments for a potential 17 team 2020-21 season, if this is going to happen quickly. Given the LL will be having to make changes anyway to accomodate the WoS that might be doable.

Can't have two teams from one club in the EoS. I'd be very surprised if the EoS would let the tribute acts in even where that is technically not the case, but time will tell.

Up the proverbial creek without a paddle I would imagine.

Think it's Rosyth that are the other near certainty based on a recent tweet criticising the Gordon Parks article in the Sunday Mail.

https://www.thorntonhibs.com/news/club-announcement-2513853.html East of Scotland Football League Application At the East Region Junior Football Association meeting on Tuesday 18th February, Thornton Hibs indicated that we would be resigning from the association at the end of the current season with the intention to apply to join the East of Scotland Football League for the beginning of next season (2020/21). Thornton Hibs has been a member of the Scottish Junior Football Association since our move to the Juniors in 1935, and it is with somewhat of a heavy heart that the club has made this decision at this time. We, as a club, have been a strong advocate of more local football due to our particular circumstances and preference, but have supported the ERJFA’s position during the break-up of the East Region over the past couple of years based on information provided to the club. With the strong likelihood that additional local teams would be making an application to the East of Scotland Football League, we felt that the timing was right for Thornton Hibs to make the same move, particularly if this meant a more regionalised set-up and an opportunity to renew our more traditional rivalries within the SFA pyramid system. Those that know our home ground of Memorial Park will perhaps appreciate the challenges to be faced as we attempt to meet any conditions of our application. We plan to work closely with all agencies and stakeholders in an effort to overcome these particular challenges in an appropriate timescale.

The geographical integrity angle has yet to be explained, so time will tell who gets to put an application in. Suspect the D&G SoS clubs won't be able to as it would make it difficult to say no to West Lothian clubs. An interesting angle would be that if all the licensed SoS clubs left for a new west setup the LL playoff format would become a moot point, but Wigtown weren't mentioned so think there would still be one left even if those clubs all defected.

They could still run a south section with ten if ten left, but into double figures could easily be higher than that at which point it would become farcical if something like 7 or 8 are left. Also worth bearing in mind that four of those remaining could easily be the Sauchie, Bo'ness and Lithgae tribute acts and Syngenta.

What muddied the waters on here was people claiming that the NRSJFA had brought the all in mandate to an end after a meeting between the SFA, HL and NRSJFA went nowhere last season in terms of negotiating promotion and relegation. Option Z was clearly still very much a case of all three in at the same time, so that was not the case. As things stand now the HL, NRSJFA and North Caledonian league seem to still be negotiating a future north pyramid even after things collapsed in the south. Presumably that means the NRSJFA are contemplating a breakaway from the SJFA at this point.