LongTimeLurker

Hence why Wigtown are widely believed to have deliberately avoided winning the SoS championship last season. Given no licensed EoS champion was available for a playoff, it would have meant automatic promotion to the LL.

Seriously doubt that most SoS league clubs would want an automatic promotion spot to be available given the shenanigans with Wigtown last year and Threave not applying to stay in the LL when they had the ability to the year before that. Strongly suspect there would be the possibility for two to be promoted from the EoS subject to some sort of playoff in line with what Burnie_man is suggesting above. Time will tell.

So the rumours so far on late applications are: Bo'ness United {don't believe this one personally but it keeps getting mentioned by posters like Truthteller and "Hamish the Goalie"} Dunbar United {according to The Tin Man(?)} Craigroyston {source one of their players according to daleboy1969} any more?

Where are you hearing these strong rumours about a West of Scotland league at tier 6? https://www.thedugout.scot/2018/05/04/end-of-the-juniors-scottish-football-set-for-historic-change/ These changes have dealt a profound blow to the SJFA and Scottish junior football as a whole. We now find ourselves in a situation where the junior body is beginning negotiations with the SFA to join a pyramid it had previously rejected, while some of its member clubs look into their options should these talks ultimately fail. Strong rumours have broken over the last week that West sides, in particular, will seek to form a ‘West of Scotland’ league, working alongside the East of Scotland at tier 6, not particularly comforting news for SJFA secretary Tom Johnston as he undertakes his most important assignment yet.

It's Easthouses that will be returning to the EoS rather than Craigroyston.

England has ten times the population that Scotland does. Having 42 teams in the national divisions and 34 in tier 5 is equivalent to having about 800 clubs at those levels in England. That takes you down a lot of tiers.

Don't think that's true. Clubs have to apply to be eligible for promotion from step 7 to step 6 of nonleague in the English pyramid and given the disparity in populations between Scotland and England that's probably roughly comparable to moving from tier 6 to tier 5 at the moment in a Scottish context. http://www.thefa.com/news/2016/Jan/17/applications-received-step-7-to-step-6 https://www.onefootballforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/step-7-promotion-candidates-with-possible-step-6-newbies-for-2017-18.13761/

I see now that I misread the numbers on the last page as the first two rows are not used. That means for the superleague you need three from the premier to reach 16 (Forfar WE + Fauldhouse, Tayport, Dunbar?) in north premier there would be 16 if you add Newburgh, Coupar Angus and Forfar Albion, who are below Brechin Vics in the north division table in south premier, the 14 shown plus Lochore would be 15 and at that point Glenrothes and Thornton are clubs that could swing both ways in north south terms and as stated earlier are probably tacked onto south premier at this point to bring it up to 17 No clubs missing beyond the 12 known defectors and no evidence of a late applicant.

Guess you could be listed in the premier south after Kirkcaldy YM as the only north division team that should probably move, and that would help balance the numbers to 18 and 17, assuming you are not a late application to the EoS . I guess extra teams in the super league to bring it up to 18 could help explain where at least two of Dunbar, Glenrothes and Thornton are. Seriously doubt that a 19 team super league division would be attempted, so maybe one of those three are a late applicant?

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: