LongTimeLurker

There's still a bit of a sense of ownership over the pyramid on the part of former EoS and SoS clubs that made it in through application before Kelty arrived. Nothing that a few more years of relegation won't ultimately cure. Brechin up and Bonnyrigg down could help speeds things along because both Edinburgh Uni and Dalbeattie Star would be relegated and a Bonnyrigg Rose officeholder championed the issue previously. Hope Bonnyrigg Rose stay up though.

It's also similar with the Club 42 relegation destination choices not being made public on official websites AFAIA. Either a case of Scottish football adopting the mushroom treatment approach to its fanbase or there is an extra procedural step involved that may just be a rubber stamp in reality but still makes them hold off announcing it.

Poland is sending fighter jets:

That would mean starting from the bottom division if done by application like Threave did rather than through relegation though. It's worth noting that although certain people on here like to claim they know things definitively, for some reason this sort of information does not get announced publicly by the leagues involved at the start of each season and well connected people in EoS circles seemed to think for whatever reason that Gretna might be heading their way last season. My guess would be that Dalbeattie are definitely expected by the leagues involved to wind up in the SoS if relegated but what would happen if they appealed that to the SFA in some way provides a lingering doubt.

Have walked it in real life rather than in cyberspace. Looks like a very generous amount of time is being provided by the software to cross the roads to reach Bothwell compared to walking over to the wee Roman bridge over by Motherwell.

The posh end of Bothwell is easy walking distance but seriously doubt they are attracting much of a fanbase from there. Many of the former inhabitants of Bothwellhaugh wound up in the not so posh end of Bothwell or Bellshill but 60 years on I doubt any of them were waiting for a tier 5 football club as a reason to head back every second Saturday. Doubt this club lasts more than another 10 years. Once they get relegated the people who are drawn to it now will lose interest.

The argument appears to be that it evens out over time but think the real reason is probably that in an EoS context pre-pyramid there was usually not much in the way of gate money to be split after a cup tie so they had more of an amateur level sort of approach to these issues. Something that can be dealt with easily enough at AGMs if clubs feel strongly enough about it.

They might be able to avoid having the SPFL clubs vote on it and do it through the league's board if there is no modification to the "prize money" distribution shares but the Club 42 playoff rules are a legally binding agreement between the SPFL, SFA, HL and LL so there is no way to insert a new league entity into those proceedings without all four of those bodies signing off on the changes. It's like what happened with the SJFA entering the pyramid intact. The SFA board wanted it to happen and were firing off directives about it, but all of the SFA, LL, EoS and SoS had to sign off on the playoff rule changes required to make it possible.

Spartans very much in the driving seat for the league title after last night's games:

Very large city in a country with a lot of internal flights so doubt it's anything massively out of the ordinary.

No idea what is being referred to with that last post. If B teams are back in the LL next season, the Conference thing isn't happening imminently and I strongly suspect won't be happening at all.

The north of the Tay thing was taken out of the Club 42 playoff rules last season and had never appeared anywhere else AFAIA. The SFA tried to force the LL to take Brechin City at the end of the season before last and then insisted on that change a few months later when the playoff rules had to be modified to accomodate what would happen if a colt team finished top of the LL.

Where Aberdeen having a colt team is concerned I don't think there is anything in the rules stopping the LL from having a guest club that far north. They have a bye week right now on the fixture list due to having 19 clubs.

If you mean promotion by Colt teams then the Club 42 playoff rule would need to be changed and signed off by all of the SFA, SPFL, HL and LL. There is no indication that has happened or is ever likely to as far as I can see.

Spartans may withdraw from the competition if they are champions and enter the playoffs, so could turn into a bye to the second round.

Any word on what was decided about the Conference plan at the LL meeting last night?

Jocky Scott (back row furthest left) not wearing a Dundee jersey also looks a bit bizarre.

Shire Park before the Berlin Wall was installed and with the office building I remember being there in the 1980s: This was in 1992 apparently. The big shed had gone by that point:

Definitely not the 80s from what I can remember because there was an office building behind the south end by that point and most of the railway yard was gone. The big shed behind the stand was still there though.

Any idea what year that was? The first division season in the early 60s maybe? Think by the mid-60s there was a small enclosure at the far end from the Firs Street turnstiles from a video clip I have seen of the first game back after the ES Clydebank season. Is that the social club behind the enclosure? Doesn't look like how I remember it but it's been a while. Vaguely remember there being old turnstiles beside that in the late 70s but that part of the ground was all overgrown and out of use by then.

Already met twice according to the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_North_Caledonian_Football_League

Given they wouldn't be receiving cash under the Conference plan and would be two rather than one steps away from the SPFL it's difficult to see how HL and LL clubs benefit.