FairWeatherFan

The first year of two preliminary rounds were 2015-16. Cove Rangers and Vale of Leithen both started in Preliminary Round 1. Qualifiers like Auchinleck, Hermes, Kelty and LTHV got to start in Preliminary Round 2. Clubs from outwith the pyramid like Banks O'Dee and Glasgow University got to start in the First Round proper. That was due to random a draw. From 2016-17 the two preliminary round format would see all HL and LL clubs start in the First Round proper guaranteed. For SFA licensed members from within the pyramid there wasn't a ton of them until recently 2016-17 had if i'm getting this right 6* SFA members from pyramid leagues 2017-18 had 6* SFA members that were from pyramid leagues, 2017-19 had 10* SFA members that were from pyramid leagues 2019-20 had 19* SFA members that were from pyramid leagues *if i'm counting them up right So it's only really become an issue in the past couple of years and it would of required a rejig this year if there had been more qualifiers. Maybe bang your drum over what you want to change it to because it's going to change.

There need to be changes anyway. If even a couple of unused qualifier spots had been used you couldn't use the current format.

I think Peterhead have done as well as you can expect a part time club to do. They've bounced between League One and Two levels. They've just missed out on a Championship level stint. Edit: 2 league titles, challenge cup final and at least one other promotion in the last 20 years. Plenty would be happy with that.

Class act that account.

Last year I had been hoping for Fort William v. Selkirk. This year actually get Fort William v. Vale of Leithen and they both might still be bottom by the time the game gets played.

Clearly not the Amatuer League clubs. Even though that's where the likes of East Kilbride, Cumbernauld Colts, Burntisland Shipyard have all come from.

There's an access point for those that want in the Lowland League catchment area. It doesn't need everyone to sign up to make it a pyramid structure. The Junior Leagues are no different than the Northern League in England. They sat out for years and had to take what they could get when the eventually came in. The Junior leagues are actually getting a better deal in that the West Premiership, North Region Super League can still get Tier 6 status. It's only in the East that there's some slight change. Even then the ERJFA North Super League could get Tier 6 status in the Highland League and the South of Tay teams can probably get Tier 7 by joining the EoS en masse to finally settle the EoSFL into a relatively fixed format..

There are actually 4 permutations. The one option that leads to a vacancy would also mean that no club gets relegated. Chances are there really is only one of those 4 options that could come into play. 8/16 clubs in the EoS Premier are licensed. There are others that could be title contenders that will be licensed as well. Threave have had a good start to the season in the SoS as well and could well supply a licensed champion there.

The update they put in place this summer basically cleared up the rule they had in place. Before the way it could be interpreted was that if a club was promoted from the EoS/SoS Playoff it would trigger relegation, even if that would lead to a vacancy. The update now removes the possibility of applications when at 16 clubs unless one scenario plays out.

There was an attempt a few years ago. It was shot down at the time. People gossip about it now due to the number of new SFA member clubs that will force a change in the existing Scottish Cup format.

There is a working pyramid in the Lowland League area. There's an access point for anyone in the West and East of Scotland. Junior, amateur, youth any club can enter it. There isn't a working pyramid in the Highland League area because the only way to enter it is by being a licensed club. Stuffing the East Region into the Lowland League area isn't going to fix that problem.

They compromised by finally saying yes to the pyramid. Is that not enough

As there are no guarantees that league champions will be licensed, you're basically guaranteeing automatic promotion every once in a while due to the fixed play-off you've created. Doesn't seem very fair.

With the North/South split in the East Region the HL/LL boundary works just fine. Have the South integrate into the EoS and you're only left with a handful of anomalies within the league set ups. Scone and Tayport. Bonnyton Thistle and Caledonian Braves reserves. Kello Rovers. Montrose Roselea. Only two of which break the fixed boundary of the HL/LL and that can be adjusted by lowering it slightly.

Ormiston 1-11 Linlithgow Rose Linlithgow Rose 3-3 Ormiston Maybe hang fire on giving any team a 100% record on paper because it doesn't usually play out that way in reality.

EoS First Division Conference B Easthouses Lily MW 7-2 Hawick Royal Albert United Stirling University (EoS) 3-2 Preston Athletic Tynecastle 7-2 Coldstream

EoS First Division Conference A Dunipace 1-0 Leith Athletic Haddington Athletic 2-1 Burntisland Shipyard Peebles Rovers 0-2 Heriot-Watt University

EoS Premier Division Crossgates Primrose 3-1 Blackburn United Dundonald Bluebell P-P Newtongrange Star

I've seen that said by posters on here. Posters that typically got a few things wrong in the recent past. I don't think many North or South Premier league clubs think there season is already for nothing.

ERSJA Super League no longer exists. So nobody has to worry about it getting in the pyramid anymore. Problem solved.

If you're working within the restrictions of the current pyramid leagues (LL, EOS & SOS) I would say that can be a starting point. 1a) Two licensed champions = both promoted 1b) One licensed champion and one unlicensed champion. Licensed champion promoted, playoff between licensed runners up for 2nd spot. Only one licensed runner up automatically promoted. 1c) Only one licensed champion or runner up they get promoted. 2nd bottom in LL get a reprieve. If the SoS got an automatic promotion spot you'd end up with a WoS by default as a club akin to Kelty would move across.

Bottom for those 14. Include Bonnyrigg and Berwick since they've got games played now. Then Berwick would be 16th since they'd only project 10 wins.

Two of them don't have to worry about that though.

You're about to run into the Juniors have had their chance so should start at the bottom backlash. I'm also not sure a merger is on the cards as you run into the question of what standing is given to Bo'ness. Linlithgow and Sauchie junior/community clubs. They're probably happy staying Junior and the EoS may well see them as reserve sides which has the usual negative reaction. With Kinnoull bolting last minute I think there will be a few more clubs dusting off applications. The likes of Fauldhouse seemed pretty happy remaining Junior for their cetenary. But they might find it some what hollow and see the new adventure of rising up the EoS and licensing.

North Region said they weren't interested nearly a year ago. Tayside clubs are trying to stay East or Junior. NCL is too small and isolated to matter on their own. As for the paper talk of it being impossible due to travel. Any prospective club to reach Highland League level from the Juniors or NCL are likely to be from Aberdeenshire or Tayside further easing travel concerns. For any club making their first step in the current set up, they'll already have an example of a club travelling long distances within it and surviving without much fuss in the shape of Wick.