LongTimeLurker

http://slfl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLFL-Rules-Version-18.pdf Scottish Lowland Football League Constitution and Rules Version 18 – updated 1 November 2021 B1 All clubs must, on the Completion Date, be licensed, full members of the Scottish FA. The maximum number of clubs will normally be sixteen (16) but may be increased temporarily to a maximum of eighteen (18) at the sole discretion of the Board.

Didn't say anything about how likely it was. Think the idea Cowdenbeath can avoid tenth place is almost as farfetched at this point so not sure why the poster would be waiting with bated breath for that one to be mathematically confirmed but not the other.

Interesting leap in logic there. If it's still open to application and there's a hypothetical that could go to a membership vote odds on it won't be ruled out by an officeholder. Also worth bearing in mind though that it was only the Old Firm that pitched a proposal to the LL clubs at the recent general meeting. AFAIR VoL were furious last season about being left in a position where they could potentially have been relegated when the season wasn't null and voided. Think moving beyond 18 clubs might be problematic in terms of the current rulebook.

They can still overtake Gretna. Fraserburgh or Buckie winning the playoffs gets rid of both of them. Bad for Bonnyrigg if that happens obviously but best for getting the LL to where it should be as quickly as possible.

Much the same was said about the LL's pro/rel arrangements when the league first emerged and some of the posters who are now bemoaning what's happening on that issue were assuring anyone who would listen on here that it would all soon get sorted out at the next LL AGM after most of the east superleague clubs had joined the EoS. Some people can't deal with nuanced arguments that move beyond a simple binary one side good other side bad scenario. Spartans and Cove Rangers engineered the emergence of a new league structure that would help facilitate their own SPFL entry and were never really interested in the emergence of a full pyramid that would make it possible for junior clubs to do that as well. If/when the likes of Darvel, Pollok, Clydebank and Talbot arrive in the LL the likelihood of clubs like Spartans and EK getting promoted into the SPFL will plummet so it isn't necessarily just the bottom dwellers that are guided by a self-interest agenda on this. The bottleneck issue will probably get sorted eventually in an LL context though once there is an ex-junior/ex-SPFL majority. Good luck where the HL is concerned as there's likely to be fewer Christmas averse turkeys getting replaced there over the next decade.

There have been claims that the Ukrainians are doing that now: Time will tell basically.

Was it really or were a lot of people on here blind to its many failings because of an overly simplistic juniors backward & bad vs seniors progressive & good mindset? It's probably going to take 15 to 20 years from its launch for the LL to finally be the league it should have been from the very outset. It's not just Tom Johnston who is to blame for that.

Saw that as well: Maybe 10 refers to the launcher and tablet more than to the individual kamikaze drones that get sent out?

This also appears to be significant, but don't claim to be an expert:

Same thing that prevented the WoS running as four conferences initially. The SFA refusing to do the player discipline procedures if they expand past 18 in numbers terms.

They can't do that unilaterally. The playoff rule changes that were needed to accomodate the Old Firm colts in the LL appear to have already been agreed by all parties (i.e. SPFL, SFA, LL and HL).

Doubt it. They are legally obligated on pro/rel with the tier 6 leagues and that can only be changed with agreement of all parties. Guest teams can't get promoted in terms of the rules that have been agreed so presumably entry by Brechin City for 2022-23 would have to be through application. That seems unlikely at this point because the only way a vacancy could have been generated would be if there were fewer than 18 clubs for next season because the LL Board have discretion to increase the number of clubs to 18 AFAIR. The return of the Old Firm colts means they appear to already be on the hook to run with 18 again.

If they had no reason to doubt anyone's convictions then they weren't paying attention to the whole SJFA pyramid entry saga. Why did the SJFA and SFA think they could have LL support for splitting the LL into LL West and LL East so they could get around the whole issue of the EoS being able to block east and west region entry? Why were the west region clubs told that they could have four conferences initially in a WoS context when this was counter to what the SFA had stated they were willing to take care of in discipline terms during PWG meetings? The only reason it was for one year was that the Old Firm thought their colt teams would be in the SPFL in 2022-23. Anyone following this saga closely over the last few seasons should have been able to see that there was zero chance of the lower division SPFL clubs agreeing to that and should have grasped that the Old Firm would therefore be trying to use the LL in 2022-23 and beyond instead.

The LL can and would block that through the playoff rules the same way the EoS blocked SJFA entry as LL feeders at tier 6. Too many people on here thought the sun shone out of George Fraser's orifice when he was every bit as much of a chancer as Tom Johnston. Things went south in a big way when the SJFA's superduperleague proposal got rejected by clubs in the west (mainly Ayrshire). That might have been the way to have a sensible and well supported southern tier 5 on a reasonable timeline without handing over the keys completely to a clique of former EoS premier clubs and youth clubs with little or no support. As things stand we are going to have to wait until a slow drip process of relegation over the next 5 to 10 years sends enough of them round the U-bend for more sensible policies to get voted through at AGMs. Fingers crossed Fraserburgh or Buckie win the playoffs so Gretna disappear along with VoL as that would help speed things along.

Given the main western powers clearly thought Ukraine was going to lose at the outset and were pouring in weapons mainly to make the price high enough that the Russians wouldn't get any ideas about taking out the Suwalki gap in the aftermath, the more interesting dilemna in many ways is what NATO does next. This war is likely to now drag on long enough that the disastrous Green Party inspired politics in Germany that led to a completely avoidable heavy dependence on Russian fossil fuels will actually have to be tackled head on at a time when said party is part of a governing coalition, and the US and UK have difficult decisions to make on supplying the military vehicles, anti-ship missiles and the newer model of Switchblade drone that could give the Ukrainians a shot at actually winning the war in the southern part of their country and in the Donbas.

Worth bearing in mind everything that happened in Ukraine in the 20th century.

Presumably the pointless round robin would happen after the playoff games.

Russia has completely withdrawn from Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts, if this is accurate: They were never part of Putin's Novorossiya project though, so all that probably means is that regime change in Kyiv is no longer on the agenda.

Brechin City now officially out of promotion contention. Will be interesting to see what the fall out of that is in terms of the management team and whether they will be able to build as strong a squad next season. Hopefully there are no more shenanigans on trying to barge into the LL with SFA board help. Think the Club 42 rule changes closed the door to being promoted as a guest team and there's unlikely to be scope for a vacancy to fill by application if the two Colt teams are voted back in.

They may have a clip now if Ukrainian sources are to be believed:

Think that's a couple of local mentalists rather than the Ukrainian military. Seems a long time ago now that all the TV news pundits were saying Kyiv would fall in two days.

If this clip turns out to be legit, there's not much doubt it was Ukrainian helicopters, which begs the question of exactly how good Russian air defences are: This clip (not for the faint hearted as there is a dead body at one point) is alleged to be taken today in a recently liberated town called Ivankiv north of Kyiv. The Russians appear to be withdrawing completely from the Kyiv area:

Possibly a new ground in Inverness for Inverness Athletic courtsey of ICT: https://nonleaguematters.co.uk/forums/index.php?threads/possible-new-grounds-in-inverness-including-for-inverness-athletic-n-caledonian-lge.6941/