LongTimeLurker

If as appears to be the case, the names are in current league table position orders, Dunbar, Thornton and Glenrothes are definitely missing, if it is assumed that Fauldhouse and Tayport are making up the numbers to 16 in the super league. Newburgh, Coupar Angus and Forfar Albion would bring the north premier to 18 clubs as they are below Brechin Vics in the north division table right now, while Kirkcaldy YM are bottom of the south division and would be expected to be the 16th and last club listed for the south premier.

Probably of only limited interest on here beyond it making it easier for the SoS league to fit in some more teams from outside Dumfries & Galloway, if the integration process doesn't get anywhere and the SFA still tells clubs in the west that that's where they need to go.

When the name of the place is Saughton it should have been a clue that it may not be the best place to put a football pitch from a waterlogging standpoint.

Banks O'Dee and East Kilbride are probably the closest on that.

It's a way to vent their spleen and get negativity out of their system from their day-to-day lives related to issues that they can't deal with or resolve head on.

Vale of Leithen might still be able to avoid the second possible relegation place. Dalbeattie Star could go to the SoS league instead.

Should be good as Threave may not actually want promotion, but Kelty managed to lose a cup tie against them earlier this season, so I seriously doubt that they will be complacent about it in any way.

Goes along with this:

Latest from Bo'ness: https://www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk/sport/football/bo-ness-united-to-stick-in-junior-football-for-time-being-1-4719195 Chairman Iain Muirhead told the Bo’ness Journal: “We were one of the 99 clubs who responded favourably to the recent questionnaire asking if we would like to quit the juniors to join the SFA’s Pyramid system. “But I definitely think there should be some way for junior clubs like ourselves to get to the senior ranks without having to go through the East of Scotland League route. “Now Tom Johnston (SJFA secretary) has to go away and hold his EGM and AGM, have discussions with the SFA with a view to taking the proposals forward. “We would be interested in joining the senior ranks. “Now it is up to Tom to say: ‘This is what we think will happen’ and there will be a further discussion.”

I wouldn't count on it. Five west superleague clubs were said to be interested in a tier 6 west feeder to the LL not that long back and how that emerges either under the auspices of the SJFA or EoS will be the main issue next season. There are also plenty of clubs in the east that agree with having a pyramid but didn't want to do it through the defection to the EoS route this season. This is the latest from Bo'ness United, for example: https://www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk/sport/football/bo-ness-united-to-stick-in-junior-football-for-time-being-1-4719195 Chairman Iain Muirhead told the Bo’ness Journal: “We were one of the 99 clubs who responded favourably to the recent questionnaire asking if we would like to quit the juniors to join the SFA’s Pyramid system. “But I definitely think there should be some way for junior clubs like ourselves to get to the senior ranks without having to go through the East of Scotland League route. “Now Tom Johnston (SJFA secretary) has to go away and hold his EGM and AGM, have discussions with the SFA with a view to taking the proposals forward. “We would be interested in joining the senior ranks. “Now it is up to Tom to say: ‘This is what we think will happen’ and there will be a further discussion.”

The juniors subforum probably does come across as borderline psychotic at times, if you are used to something more sedate like nonleaguematters, but the posters involved are probably quite normal if you met them offline. People from wee towns and council schemes in Scotland's central belt are prone to rhetorical excess sometimes. I seriously doubt that the dude in Lochee actually does plan to do anything untoward to the guy from Tayport, for example. Handbags at ten paces stuff, basically.

One of them is being south of the centre point of the Tay Road Bridge (assuming only clubs that can play in the Lowland League if promoted can join since it is the east feeder for the LL), so there's probably no way in for Broughty Athletic. Beyond that it is undertaking to meet entry level licensing and becoming a full member of the SFA. The details on that are on the SFA website.

This part explains the seven day cooling off period mentioned on nonleaguematters: ...In the next few days we will give formal notification to the SJFA and the ERSJFA of our intentions to leave and allow them to plan for next season. 'Mon The Jags!!! No announcements from the EoSFL on what happens next until the 12 junior clubs have officially told the SJFA that they are leaving.

Something that means very few blazers lose their posts is more likely than something radical that would mean people negotiating to potentially lose their role within the game, which is the biggest thing that has ever and will ever happen in their lives. On that basis I suspect two overlapping feeders is more likely than a logical integration of the east region and EoS and also suspect that a rump of traditionalist minded clubs staying outside for many years and lingering like welfare leagues still do long after the grade has lost its former vitality may even be more likely than the overlapping feeders scenario. Think the main stumbling blocks to full junior integration is firstly what happens north of the Tay if the Highland League and Tayside juniors don't want to go along with the concept of having Dundee teams a promotion away from playing in Brora and Wick, and secondly the need to have a champion by the end of April and the implications that has for the running of the junior cup. It probably means that replays would need to be binned and the competition may even need to be played almost to completion well before Christmas so league fixtures can take priority later on. There's no guarantee that there would still be a majority for junior pyramid entry at an EGM after 12 of the most gung ho pro pyramid clubs have left to the EoS and the remaining clubs grasp the full implications of what would actually be involved. Think the SFA full members are also probably more comfortable with a slow drift towards their designated east and west feeders than a sudden massive influx of potential new full members hence the moratorium on taking applications until it all gets sorted out, which could also be read as until negotiations are expected to collapse.

According to a poster on nonleaguematters there will be a cooling off period of 7 days before any official announcements by the EoS league: http://nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum/gforum.cgi?post=869913#869913

From the juniors subforum:

Only team that's missing from what was expected a few days ago is Dundonald and they have explained their reasons on their website.

I strongly suspect that the moratorium only applies to junior clubs until the method of pyramid integration gets sorted out and teams that get accepted into the EoS tomorrow night would be treated like any other EoS or SoS team would be once they are members of one of those leagues, because they would be part of the senior grade pyramid at that point.

They are from Perth, so were always a Perthshire league team up until the late 60s when the Tayside region was formed. They are in the LL catchment so them, Kinnoull, Scone Thistle, Newburgh and Tayport could be the northernmost EoS members at some point down the road.

When the Stirlingshire junior league folded (1930s I think) clubs from Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire were allowed to choose which neighbouring junior leagues to play in, so some went to what eventually became the east region setup (Camelon, Sauchie and various long gone Grangemouth teams), some went to leagues based in the west (Kilsyth, Dunipace and at one point a team from Alva ) and some went to Fife (the now defunct Clackmannan, but think a Grangemouth team might have done this as well at one point).

They always have been and clubs like Bonnyrigg Rose and Auchinleck Talbot are known to have engaged with the process. The only stumbling block has been that when Linlithgow Rose and Banks o' Dee proceeded to do it entry into the EoS or SoS was added as an extra requirement where junior clubs in the LL catchment were concerned and this put most clubs off from going all the way to entry level and full membership until Kelty Hearts broke the logjam last summer. It's not clear whether the moratorium applies to all clubs as it is being interpreted on here rather than just junior clubs. The last thing the existing SFA full members probably want is up to 160 SJFA members all trying to become full members simultaneously as the tier 6 entry that Tom Johnston implied was happening in 2018/19 would have made possible. I strongly suspect that the moratorium is only an issue for clubs that stay in the SJFA and that it won't affect non-licensed EoS and SoS members that are in the senior grade's pyramid next season.

Definitely implies that the tier 5 entry option is still on his agenda.

The statement from the SFA interim CEO definitely bears no correlation to what was being claimed on here in recent days. The pyramid group clearly still have to resolve how integration happens so there is no suggestion of the juniors being tier 6 next season because the goal is only to resolve matters in time for 2019-20, and there is nothing in there that implies that a club moving to the EoS this summer shouldn't be able to get their licence sorted out by March 2019 in time to be in the promotion playoff, if they have been working on it for years like Bonnyrigg and Haddington have been.

I think this post from the Junior subforum implies that LHTV got their membership application approved last week and are hence eligible for promotion?

Would be bizarre for a moratorium to suddenly be applied to EoS and SoS clubs given it is needed for promotion to the LL, so no obvious reason to believe that clubs that get accepted into EoS membership next week would be affected by this. What it possibly implies is that the east and west superleagues could be tier 6 on paper next season as negotiations on fuller integration take place for seasons after that but only Linlithgow and Girvan would be eligible for promotion until the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed and even that would probably be a moot point if a champion wasn't determined in time for the LL playoff. Reinstatement fees would be one obvious one. Think they also get a cut on junior cup admission takings.