LongTimeLurker

Their statement does beg the question of what happens once it becomes clear that there is no solution that the SJFA can negotiate at this point.

if it follows the script in the east they'll probably wind up doing what Bo'ness, Lithgae and Broxburn did and apply at the very last minute with Cumnock and Glenafton after a series of panic striken phonecalls between committe members once they realise all the other dominos have tipped and they would be left playing the likes of Lugar, Craigmark and Muirkirk otherwise.

So far we can rule out Pollok, Rossvale, Cumnock, Talbot and Glencairn based on what has been posted. So it's Kilwinning and Clydebank and three of Glenafton, Hurlford, Troon, Irvine, Beith, Kilbirnie, Largs, Benburb and Rob Roy. Suspect Rossvale would be in if Benburb were and it won't be a club with no ground like Rob Roy, so it's probably three of Glenafton, Hurlford, Troon, Irvine, Beith, Kilbirnie, Largs.

Just in case anyone doesn't get what's happening by now what they are probably referring to was the directive from the SFA board to faciltate SJFA entry. There is no solution to be had on that. The EoS and LL are opposed, and the SFA have walked away from the PWG process.

It's expressions of interest at this stage not applications.

He wrote "preferably" rather than "but only", so the key thing for people to grasp now is that there is zero chance of it happening within the juniors. Option Z was the last chance saloon on the SJFA entering intact, but it was rejected by the Lowland League who would have needed to be in favour for it to work. The SFA closed down the PWG after the SJFA refused to consider the west region only option instead. That led to an impasse that could not possibly be resolved if the SJFA remained part of the process. {anyone droning on incoherently about blame in response to this will be ignored}

Glencairn seem to be a safe bet based on what gets posted on here.

A reminder of what we are discussing before this veers any further off track.

If it was a wholly new league the breakaway clubs would be contacting the SFA directly for sanctioning. If it is being done through the LL as appears to be the case based on what park circus is telling us then initially it will be a new division or set of division of the LL. At that point the LL constitution is very much what matters in terms of whether it can be done quickly.

The playoff procedure rules are worth a read as I tried to explain many pages back. That's the only part that moves beyond what should be a formality. The wording was deliberately future-proofed when it was drafted to provide the LL with lots of flexibility. If the EoS and SoS are on board with what's happening everything should be relatively straightforward as they are the ones that would need to put in an appeal in that context.

The best thing to do is read the constitutions involved, if you want to find out what leagues can and can't do. If the SFA see no need for further PWG meetings that could be interpreted as a green light for something like this. The reason Tom Johnston wants to talk up the idea that the PWG might still reactivate is that he has no role in any of this and zero prospect of ever being involved inide the pyramid once the LL take the initiative on starting a WoS. Seems to me the SFA only has to be involved at the point it gets spun off from the LL as a separate league with its own officeholders.

so Kilwinning and Clydebank plus three from Talbot, Glenafton, Irvine Meadow, Largs, Kilbirnie, Beith, Troon, Hurlford, Glencairn, Rob Roy, Benburb Would be quite amusing to see the state of a certain twitter account if one of them was Rob Roy.

Good news! Good news!

...and if Clydebank could be given deferred entry back in 2018, is there any reason that couldn't be done with a new set of west specific conferences for all teams interested in the WRSJFA with a view to a new tier 6 emerging the following season? Question is rhetorical because the answer is clearly no as far as I can see.

Much the same as Alloa, Falkirk and Stirling that have distinctive accents in the central belt as people have explained elsewhere in the thread. If you went back 50 to 100 years a lot of people would not have travelled that distance very often, so accents could easily be very localised. In the present day that is fading and accents like the Glasgow one have become dominant over a larger area than previously.

This is not clear, if you take the time to read the LL's constitution.

Shetland's quite a big place in terms of distances so even different parts of the Shetland Mainland can be different. Used to find the Cunningsburgh accent noticeably different from the Lerwick and Dunrossness ones on either side, for example, and that's just one of the peninsulas involved.

I'd take media and twitter coverage of that sort of thing with a pinch of salt. It's probably going to be something like a heart attack, but they are not going to take any chances. This outbreak has to be treated cautiously because of the risk of any new virus mutating into something a lot more virulent that could create a global pandemic like the Spanish flu at the end of WWI but so far the levels of fear being generated are a case of mass hysteria, because that's not particularly likely and things have not been following that script.

...but does not have an epidemic as yet despite probably having welcomed plenty of tourists from Hubei province over the last few months. Worth bearing in mind that the reported cases in China are likely to be a drastic undercount as the test isn't easy to do and will only have been carried out on people with the most serious symptoms, in a similar way to how most people with the flu never go near a doctor. Most of the people who have died in Wuhan fit the same sort of profile as the many thousands of patients that die from the flu every winter in western countries. They have other medical issues that have severely weakened their immune systems.

The PWG was a committee of the SFA set up by the SFA Board that included representatives from the various stakeholders involved. It now appears to be effectively defunct because a viable consensus could not be reached on how to proceed, if the SJFA stick to an all in posture. The secretary of the SJFA appears to be in a state of denial that the SFA can somehow impose the SJFA's preferred outcome, but if you read their constitution and those of the relevant leagues there is no obvious way for that to happen. It was being suggested on here recently that the LL was about to set up a west league and clubs would soon have to make a decision on what to do next. That appears to now have shifted to clubs in the west having to take the initiative themselves and ask for a league, which is far from impossible but more challenging to do. If nothing gets done on that in time for next season over the next few weeks that can still be sorted out at the next WRSJFA AGM by having the clubs instruct their officeholders to break away from the SJFA and pursue pyramid entry as a new WoS league.

From what's being claimed online by people who appear to be credible scientists the virus is much more potentially lethal for Asian males than other groups due to a receptor that is involved in getting infected through the lungs. Not a sensible bioweapon for China's PLA if that's the case. Another couple of months and most of the heavily inhabited parts of the northern hemisphere will be too warm for this virus to easily survive, but this could become a new addition to the annual flu season, unfortunately.

It was a very surprising detail for him to include as it hinted strongly that the SFA now see the WOS scenario as the only solution. The bit about Iain McQueen of the SJFA asking Petrie three times what comes next only to be told there were going to be no more PWG meetings was also something that was a very surprising inclusion on TJ's part. The teasing out what comes next bit at the end suggests a deep state of denial over what just happened. Only problem I'm highlighting is the timeline of somebody starting to organise a WOS for next season.

...only problem is the "possibly" and it only being taken under consideration as a future option by Rod Petrie if the TJ version of events is to be believed. For this to happen quickly by next season one out of the SFA, LL, EoS and SoS that can guarantee SFA sanctioning for new divisions under their existing structure needs to start accepting applications ASAP. Can understand that a public approach by x number of clubs might be needed to initiate that process. No follow ups to bizarre posts by the usual suspects.

You might be onto something. Could have been part of a face-saving exit strategy for the SFA board clearing the way for a different approach sidelining the SJFA completely after they realised they had no way to proceed on the "directive" that was issued. The key on Option Z was the LL agreeing to split and some important people in all of this definitely seemed to genuinely believe that all the pieces were in place for that happening, so somebody very high up the food chain in blazer terms was probably being conned in a big way. Would be ironic if it was Tom Johnston rather than the WRSJFA exec. Hopefully, more than just two west junior clubs will have raised their head above the parapet by early next week after committees will have met at games this weekend and hopefully we'll see something official on the LL and/or EoS website soon about taking applications for a new west league as was being implied would happen on here recently. Without the latter part happening it's a lot more difficult for the ERSJFA to EoS mass defection scenario to unfold in the west and in an absolute worst case scenario Clydebank might have to be willing to be the trailblazing Kelty in an SoS context. Over and out for a while with no followups so a deluge of bizarre responses doesn't derail the thread.

^^^paranoid drivel. Over and out for a few days. Like Rod Petrie I've got better things to do with my time than go round in circles on this.