LongTimeLurker

A board directive was the terminology used. Only problem was that there was nothing in the AoA that gave that any teeth. If this whole episode does anything it has been to highlight that the nonleague diddys hold a majority of votes at the SFA AGM once the SJFA, SoSFA, EoSFA, NoSFA, Aberdeenshire FA, and W&DFA votes are added to the 50 non-SPFL full member clubs.

^^^that was already known. The No to B teams tracker is looking quite promising: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZaaVK-gDcjeZX88quxBfxlBL64AGDpViEqwbHTAUvrw/edit#gid=0 but not a lot has been heard from the smaller traditional EoS, SoS and NCL clubs that were full members pre-2018. Hopefully the smaller full member clubs that basically have zero chance of ever getting anywhere near tier 5 will not be swayed by the SFA board on this issue. Edit: there are SoS clubs declared as being in the NO camp now I look again.

It's the changes that are needed to the Club 42 playoff rules that mean they can't slide the Conference League in unilaterally.

41 at best on clubs declaring what they are going to do AFAIA so still plenty of scope for uncertainty.

There are still the Club 42 playoff rules to be amended if they had created the Conference unilaterally and the HL and LL would need to sign off on that before the Conference could be part of the pyramid rather than a standalone reserve league.

No probably about it and better not to take the bait and give him the attention he craves. If you ignore him, he soon toddles off and finds another thread to pick a fight in. Winding things back to the topic, 50 votes out of 109 come from non-SPFL full member clubs. There are enough SPFL clubs declared as NO now that the diddys should win this unless all the other SPFL clubs back the OF on this issue and/or something really strange happens with clubs from leagues like the SoS and NCL that might not care so much about what happens at tier 5 and with the blazers from the various nonleague senior dominated FAs. Hopefully lots of people have been using contact details for those smaller clubs and FAs that are readily available online to make sure they know the score ahead of time.

Think we knew already anyway but Cowdenbeath were able to confirm they are a NO: https://twitter.com/CowdenbeathFC/status/1664931449512796163 and so can the Binos: https://twitter.com/Stirling_Albion/status/1664942505085878274

Why would you think Spartans would care about anything other than what happens to Spartans? The whole push for the pyramid was primarily driven by them and Cove Rangers as a way to get their own clubs into the SPFL. 160+ former junior clubs were not expected to gatecrash the party. The all in pyramid we have now happened by a fortunate set of circumstances more than anything else.

Maybe Maryhill needed the money?

A useful reality check for anybody becoming complacent over the outcome of Tuesday's vote. On the flip side of this, getting them out of the Lowland League should help speed things along on having the numbers balance fixed where votes on the pro/rel format at the bottom of the LL are concerned. They were the traditional EoS/SoS club that was going to be hardest to shift through relegation.

Stenny's official tweet: https://twitter.com/StenhousemuirFC/status/1664722014861504512?s=20

Not a time to be complacent because past experience with the LL has shown how the brown paper bag incentive factor can work for the powers that be but the momentum for a resounding NO is building. The key is getting a big enough majority so the SFA board finally take the hint and do not keep trying to bring this issue back to the AGM until they finally receive the answer they want.

Needs 55 votes out of a possible 109 among the full member clubs (92), regional FAs (10), and affiliated national associations (7).

Heniches'k is in the part of Kherson oblast next to Crimea that is well out of HIMARS range: https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1664564709666746370 but sooner or later the GLSDB munitions are going to show up that have a 150 km range and are much less expensive than the Storm Shadows that have to be launched from a plane. Have seen people speculating that's what the Ukrainians are waiting for where their counteroffensive is concerned.

Think the obvious angle for the Ukrainians doing it is to show that NATO doesn't need to worry quite so much about supposed red lines. Look we just bounced a drone off the Kremlin's roof and staged a mini-invasion of Belgorod oblast without Kyiv being hit with a tactical nuke. Gonnae send us those ATACMS, Joe?

No idea on whether he has applied but worth noting that almost his entire squad from last season were given free transfers by EK and I doubt all of them would have been on crazy money.

That may still need to be formally ratified at their AGM and given the momentum that appears to be building where the SFA AGM vote is concerned...

If the key is getting somebody in quickly who is not currently with a club but has lots of contacts at LL sort of level I would have thought Kevin Rutkiewicz is the obvious candidate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Rutkiewicz

https://www.northern-times.co.uk/sport/easy-decision-for-brora-to-vote-against-conference-league-315466/ Brora appear to have thought Club 42 would be automatically relegated: "Another thing we were disappointed with was that there was no word of Team 42 being automatically relegated. That would have been another reason to vote for it. also not impressed that the money paid by the Colt teams was going to drop from what was in the initial proposal and a lack of access to the League Cup for Conference clubs. "At one stage there was talk of six colts sides paying in £100,000 per annum that would be divided between the non-colt teams. If you're in a league to 10, and there's £600,000, that is maths that will attract teams. "The only colts teams who have said they are for it are Celtic, Rangers and Hearts though, and that's obviously a factor. "The original proposition was that all the teams in the Conference League would play in the League Cup.

There used to be really obscure arguments on here as to whether the North Caledonian League was actually a senior league on that basis. Thought that might have been rationalised a bit, but the SFA handbook link posted above makes it clear that it hasn't been. Too bad the North Caledonian FA don't have a vote because I suspect they would have been a NO if they did.

Guess there had to be Regional FAs on the go to run the Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and Renfrewshire Cup competitions when they were active (not 100% sure on the status of those these days). Maybe these FAs merged at some point?

Maybe try North Caledonian FA instead? Not 100% sure on what the official name would be these days.

Beyond that, I think the SJFA are a given as a NO among the affiliated national FAs given the strong WoS influence and what was mentioned by Rutherglen Glencairn about Ian Maxwell's visit with that league, plus North of Scotland and Aberdeenshire FAs among the regional ones given how heavily NO the Highland League is known to be based on statements from member clubs. I assume there is a West of Scotland FA now linked to the WoS?

Think that was already very much in the works and was aimed at securing SPFL 1 & 2 votes.

I have seen 108 mentioned as the number of total possible votes, so 55 fits on that angle to break the potential tie. Think 102 is wrong on the number of clubs. 42 + 18 + 16 + 16 = 92 by my calculation, then there are also the regional FAs, affiliated national FAs etc beyond that for the extra 16 votes.