Redondo

You have hit the nail on the head there and any who wanted to would likely opt for the Caley now for obvious reasons.

There flogging a dead horse with that 1, the Stirling and district league has only been keeping its head above water for years now and I cant see the teams in that league keen on a move or are they going to raise the standard. Its a real shame the Central and Caley couldnt come together and settle there differences to merge last year, its now become a case of the teams doing it off there own back and it seems the Caley league will be the main beneficiaries of this in the long run. Unfortunately the SPAFA merge hasnt really worked and itll be interesting if anymore teams make roads to move leagues as im not too sure theyll be overly excited by the possibilty of a S&D influx.

With the development leagues and over 35s on friday nights im not sure there would be enough astro pitches to cover under 21s to play on friday nights. It would make sense for them to play friday nights tho for the reasons u mention.

I personally dont see the benefit or how having a 21s team/league benefits the Amateur game. The under 20s development league has hurt the Amateur game so why would Amateur associations think starting these leagues is going to help? After under 19s lads are old enough to go into the Amateur game in my opinion.

I dont think the SFA are interested in Amateur football, its not on the pyramid so is it really a big loss to them if it falls by the way side. Not sure anyone has the answer to salvaging the game from where it is now. The drop in teams will continue sadly.

Dire straits now! Seems like the masses have given up on the Amateur game. Sadly I feel it is close if not already past the point of no return, change was needed years ago and now its too late.

Why would Lesmahagow chuck it?

To my knowledge players need to be released by senior clubs to go play with amateur clubs which opens the door for other senior clubs to move for these players so something to stop that happening would allow an actual loan agreement to be feesable without senior clubs potentially losing players unwittingly for nothing. That would be a big positive and progressive move for both levels imo.

Its a positive move. Need to get something in place to stop 'senior' teams from coming in and snapping up players to fill squads tho and also something for players sitting on benches or not even getting out there tracksuits on a sat at these senior teams to go out on loan to ammie level before we see real progress tho!

Has there been any interest in the role?

Really worrying times ahead even with this merger between the 2 leagues. With teams leaving the Central to join other leagues its going to be interesting to see the set up of the Premier and 1st division. Theres a couple of teams already in the Central Premier who appear to be struggling this season. Wishaw looking for a manager on here last week and going by the post that manager is going to bring in a few players. Hopefully they get someone in place who can take them forward. Harestanes havent really recovered from there management team leaving last year and the loss of several players going with them. 2 big names within that Central Premier who in previous years have challeged for the big trophies. Add to that speculation regarding St Pats and what there intentions may be in the coming years, will they stay Amateur? The new merger is a positive but there are still concerns and still teams struggling. The new league name and how they came to the decision to call it that doesnt fill me with confidence that it will be a lasting success!

Dont think Lesmahagow have any intention to move.

Read that last night and it would appear there may be some truth in the rumours. Also heard they have a pitch lined up that could be developed to enter the WOS.

Surely u try get all the Clubs together and singing of the same page 1st then explore making kick off times more flexible to make the league appealing to the masses, im assuming the committees would have discussed this when the propsals were initially discussed??? People keep saying leagues joining is not the answer, I never said it was a bulletproof way of solving the ammie games problems, just like teams jumping leagues is probably not the answer either , just another league with the same problems. Be interesting to see how the Drum get on in the Caley , there going to have a hell of alot of journeys through Stirling way in that 1st division!

All these teams could have existed together in a association like the 1 I previously touched on. The unfortunate thing with teams like the ones you mentioned at the end of your post will always hapen in the Amateur game, dont think we will ever get through a season where teams dont fold. The question is how do we get interest back in the game to keep/ attract Clubs and players? Its a bit embarrassing that the powers that be couldnt agree to move forward together for the greater good of the game imo.