LongTimeLurker

Definitely some strange things going on right now because this is quite drastically deep into Russia for the drones the Ukrainians are known to have to be effective: ...and how do you explain the chemical plant near Moscow and the weapons research centre in Tver? There are a lot of Ukrainians living in Russia so maybe the Ukrainian side has an ability to operate deep inside Russian territory with sleeper cells but before this conflict started I suspect most people would have expected it to be the other way about with a pro-Russian fifth column causing havoc deep inside Ukraine. Instead the Russians have had to depend on cruise missiles fired from inside their own airspace or from naval vessels for that.

The Spey was the approximate dividing line between the North of Scotland and Aberdeenshire FAs in senior grade terms. The North Region has stretched as far west as Grantown-on-Spey and Inverness in the recent past and has always had a team as far west as Nairn. The SFA appear to be happy to have clubs sort out those issues for themselves rather than imposing rigid geographical boundaries.

I've already explained my perspective on why all the clubs needed to be involved for it to be a pyramid rather than a case of still having separate grades in the post above. 12 clubs could have left the junior grade and joined the senior grade in the manner you described. To genuinely move to the pyramid concept it took all 64 (or whatever) doing so and having only one integrated league setup rather than two.

At no point did I dispute that's what would have happened.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. My perspective on this is that the pyramid concept inherently implies having all clubs in a single integrated league structure with greater regionalisation as you go down through the tiers. Still having separate grades running in parallel with a huge overlap in playing standards would basically have been more of the same.

Wouldn't have been a pyramid if all the clubs weren't on board. Do we know for sure that Darvel aren't simply better able to handle the heavy schedule of games right now that the 38 game season led to by spending silly money on players and not being in the latter stages of the SJC and SCC?

Think there used to be a team playing there called Bishopmill United right next to where New Elgin have their pitch.

Maybe the emergency goalie angle? Don't see how this goes anywhere though given they withdrew.

Guess that confirms there is no River Spey boundary between the NCL and North Region if there was any lingering doubt over that. Will be interesting to whether a Lossie vs Lossie Utd league derby game happens before an Elgin City vs Lossie one does in the years ahead.

From what Zelensky has said they won't try to retake Crimea or anything over the 2014 ceasefire line in the Donbas by force. Think everything else is very much in their sights at this point if doable though but who knows what would happen if they got on a roll militarily. It's no sure thing that a majority of the people in the parts of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts that Ukraine still controlled until this year would actually vote to be in a pro-NATO Ukraine in a free and fair referendum from what I understand, which is a big part of why Russian public opinion is the way it is.

Think the city of Kherson and especially its airport is still in range of conventional artillery and the Ukrainians have mainly used drones for accurate targeting in that context. Don't think it's clear yet how big a target the Phoenix Ghost drones can take out because the drone needs to be relatively small to remain undetected. If it can successfully take out artillery pieces, tanks and train locomotives at night with a 6 hour loitering time the Russians will have a major problem but that remains to be see.

The strange angle on even attempting an appeal is that they were the ones that withdrew. The HL didn't stop the games from proceeding.

Not there either, so can't help you on that one. Suspect we'll need to wait until Deanburn Dave starts posting to find out what the score is on that.

There was the small matter of junior clubs other than Lithgae Rose and Girvan not being able to get licensed without first joining the EoS or SoS when the progression clause got tacked onto the entry level requirements. The process was set up in a way that was likely to secure that outcome in other words. If Bo'ness, Bonnyrigg and Kelty had all joined the EoS at the same time and needed to use the playoffs to work their way into the LL one at a time, there was a very real risk of being stuck in with the likes of Eyemouth and Ormiston for three seasons. Not so easy to sell that idea at a club AGM when the older generation was still very emotionally attached to the junior grade. If the LL were serious about encouraging junior clubs to move across they would have had a process similar to what unfolded when the WoS was formed that would find a place for as many clubs as applied and find a way to allow them to reach their natural level ASAP with conferences and plenty of pro/rel in subsequent seasons. Instead the mentality has been doing the bare minimum to pay lip service to the pyramid concept and a self-preservation society approach by the founding clique where pro/rel is concerned.

No subs mentioned this time:

^^^thread reader version: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1517510440598843394.html?s=09

Would most of them not be on amateur forms?

Guess they know now that the HL is going to lose its weakest links in the years ahead making the extra driving worth the effort. Better to replace FW than to have to play against them regularly.

A couple of seasons back there would have been a serious question as to whether BoD actually even wanted to go up. Doubt that's the case now as they probably want to try to reach the SPFL like Cove did but it would be hilarious if they didn't want to, were planning to throw the games and found out by phone they were automatically promoted because Fort William had withdrawn.

Did they assume BoD would have to let them use Spain Park for their home leg as happened during the regular league season if Claggan Park or whatever it is called didn't pass muster? Hard to believe they could be that disorganised otherwise. The already accepted by the NCL bit posted above suggests the rational outcome has happened.

Hope that means they forfeit each game 3-0 or whatever and are now relegated, but it's Scottish football so best to wait for the HFL to confirm.

Don't think so. The Jock Stein Centre wasn't transferred to them by the local council: https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19738752.council-refuses-application-jock-stein-centre-sold-soccer-academy/ https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/in-your-area/lanarkshire/blantyre-soccer-academy-appeal-decision-26158618

Guess given Clyde are fan owned we don't need to worry about the Strathclyde Academical scenario of 1970 even though Accies are up for sale at the moment. The only angle that seems a bit strange to me from the outside looking in is whether waiting until after the council elections might have been worthwhile in case there was a change in control.

Aden would be more relevant by that point but it's a joke to try to compare how the British Army behaved in places like that to what was happening on home turf in NI. People only seem to want to remember the monumental cockup on command and control that was Bloody Sunday nowadays and forget how Republican no-go areas were tolerated by the British Army from 1969 until Operation Motorman in 1972. Things went a wee bit differently from that where the handling of something like the Mau Mau insurgency was concerned. Think people are beginning to lose sight of what was so alarming about this invasion at the outset though. Putin basically decided unilaterally that Ukraine shouldn't even exist as a sovereign state and decided to completely disrupt the prevailing international order by doing something about it. That was late 1930s level stuff with the only significant difference being that Hitler knew how to pull off a successful blitzkrieg.