LongTimeLurker

But they really aren't..... The North was dropped like a hot tattie without even a mention.... Funny how its an entire association when it suits the narrative. Did you see the stuff from the Montrose Roselea guy today? The north are still part of what's going on. A meeting was held last week between the HL and NRSJFA.

Not clear how that could have unfolded when the SJFA is doing the negotiating for an entire national association.

You would need to have been in a coma for the last 40 years to not have grasped by now that phrases like that are no longer acceptable under any circumstamces and should never have been in the first place, so what does saying something like that at a formal public meeting say about his judgement and suitability for a leadership role?

Best to keep the tier 7 conferences if that's something you want to encourage.

There's a reason why I wrote could rather than will. Something you need to bear in mind is that the SFA board and SJFA have had a year to strategise on this and are clearly not using the approach that failed last time around.

...but think it's still safe to conclude that it would be surprising if most of the vacancies were not filled by west region junior clubs.

Even that would be highly significant and would suggest that option Z could actually happen.

Almost no SoS clubs are interested in stepping up to the LL, so they would not be much of a factor. Glasgow Uni would be an interesting one to watch though.

Are you sure on the SPFL and LL bit, because that's extremely important information, if accurate?

The SFA board make up the rules on that and have changed them on a whim (e.g. floodlights last season) at short notice in the past.

The significance of his info is that it suggests that the SJFA entering intact with all three regions on board is still part of the plan that is being pursued. That leaves the east as the stumbling block if the EoS can veto playoff format changes in an LL format over the ERSJFA being a parallel east feeder, but maybe that falls away if the LL is replaced by LL West and LL East?

This was an option that was presented to the LL, EoS, SoS and SJFA by the SFA board and isn't something that's just been dreamed up by "Ra Jooners" on a whim.

That's why it's slated for 2021-22 rather than 2020-21.

Sweep is a couple of steps ahead of a lot of people in this thread. The LL has 16 clubs. If there is an LL East and LL West there will be 16 extra clubs playing at tier 5 in the LL catchment area. 10 of those are most likely to come from the west superleague and 6 from the EoS premier based on where LL clubs are located right now. If up to 10 clubs leave the west premier, the current format of the west region juniors will have to be changed significantly from 16-16-16-16? as it is at the moment. If as is likely Cumnock, Talbot and possibly Glenafton leave for the LL West at that point then Lugar will have far less lucrative sectional league cup games because LL West clubs are unlikely to be involved.

The "eight clubs" would be lost to bring the LL West up to its initial complement of 16 clubs. There are only 6 clubs in the LL at the moment that fall within the catchments of the west region juniors and SoS and even then that's only if BSC wind up at Lesser Hampden by 2021-22.

True, looks the Last Chance Saloon to me on keeping the west intact.

He should do the decent thing and resign. Position is now untenable as what would it look like if clubs kept him on after that?

Option Z contained wording about the west region and SoS feeding into LL West, and the east region and EoS feeding into LL East, so the geography appears to be fixed. The problem obviously is what happens with the EoS as they won't agree to parallel feeders but if there is no longer an LL because it has split into two leagues maybe they lose their effective veto on changes to the playoff format.

Lugar is about the same size as Blackness. Blink and you miss it. It's not surprising away supports are important to them.

A six team LL West clearly isn't happening so I suspect the full implications of Option Z have yet to be fully explained to all involved. One thing it likely does is keep the clubs most likely to breakaway like Clydebank inside the junior fold for now because it gives them a shot at tier 5 entry in 2021-22.

There are only 6 LL clubs from the west catchment currently (and that includes BSC who are currently in Alloa). That provide ten vacancies to be filled by west region junior clubs at launch in 2021-22 (only if it happens obviously), if they can get audited for licensing by Feb 2021. Your own club should be in with a shout on that as I think you would tick most of the boxes given the way your ground is a relatively recent build. After that happens it would then be a case of a limited number of promotion places for future entry after that.

If the top west superleague clubs get licensed and start being promoted into the LL along with Bo'ness, Lithgae etc, how long until Spartans, EKFC, BSC and Civil Service Strollers are relegation strugglers? There's a reason why the topic of LL2 was being raised at LL general meetings last season. An east-west split is a form of LL2 that gives more of the current membership a legitimate shot at hanging around long term so that they are usually one unusually good season away from the SPFL.

My understanding and happy to be corrected if I'm wrong is that all three could easily be in the LL West in 2012-22 at its lauch (only if it happens obviously) by simply getting licensed in the interim. Cumnock already have their licensing application in and Talbot are close to installing floodlights.

If it means less danger of being a slaughtered turkey long term possibly, if they look at it rationally.

Not if Talbot, Cumnock and Glenafton are in the LL West rather than the west super league, because that means no longer being part of the WRSJA? Lugar do have something to fear on this given a significant portion of their annual gate receipts are on the line. I find it surprsing Option Z would have been easily agreed to for that sort of reason.