FairWeatherFan

Reserve sides are against the rules of the Lowland League, as far as i'm aware no Reserve side can be considered licensed so are ruled out by default. Then they're covered by the fact that no SPFL or LL club can have 2 teams within the scope of the Professional Game Board. If Stranraer Reserves are SoS champions and the EoS Champion is unlicensed then the team finishing 15th will still be relegated and have to re-apply for membership to the Lowland League. An example of this has already happened at the end of the 2015/16 season. Threave Rovers finished bottom of a 15 team league and chose not to re-apply, this allowed Civil Service Strollers and Hawick Royal Albert to be accepted as new members of the Lowland League for the 2016/17 season.

Since you need a licence for promotion to the Lowland League and now licencing requires floodlights that it does matter. 1 Licenced Champion = Automatic promotion 2 Licenced Champions = 2 legged playoff over 2 match days 3 Licenced Champions = Single Round Robin or Double Round Robin over 3 or 6 match days 4 Licenced Champions = 2 legged semi finals and either one or two legged final over 3 or 4 match days While the 3 Licenced Champions route could be played out over 3 match days you're dealing with the issue of who goes first and venues for all the games leading to arguments. So i'd imagine it'd have to be agreed that a double round robin. Which extends the post season 3 times compared to what it is now for the EoS and SoS. Does that mean that all 4 leagues have to finish even earlier than what the EoS and SoS currently do? Or do players and coaching staff have to delay any post season holidays an extra couple weeks just in case they might be stuck in a playoff. And what about cups how do you organise your showpiece finals?

Is this a new email or the one from October? Because if it's the October one I don't think we can call it recent anymore.

It was always a matter of time. I'd like to think that it'll get challenged/clarified so that existing applications are honoured by derogations being accepted. It's a farce already, but it'll be even more so if the EoS Champion is unlicenced and the SoS Champion is Stranraer Reserves meaning no promotion.

That's basically my take on it. I'm sure part of where the uncertainty comes in is that to for a derogation application to be met, you've got to show how you're going to meet that standard eventually. With this being a last minute addition they aren't going to be able to say they can cover the costs and get the likes of planning permissions in place. Which is why some new applications might be rejected instead of being accepted only to face the same issue a year later. Some of the Whitehill Welfare posts related to this worry if they can meet the floodlights requirement even with a "grace period".

Technically, although going by a Jeanfield related post in the EoS forum and other posts like Locheeboy's it'd still audited under the 2019 requirements. My personal point of view is that if you're in the middle of being audited only for the licencing officer to tell you need floodlights an application for derogation should be considered. Before the floodlights revelation became public as a 2019 requirement, there was meant to be as many as 15 applications.

Junior clubs have always been able to apply and the likes of Auchinleck Talbot and Kelty Hearts were told to join the SoS/EoS. Which is why Kelty aren't a junior club anymore. You said it yourself ex-junior. Those are EoS clubs.

I don't think Junior clubs can apply at the minute due to not officially being in the pyramid and with one day left in 2018 there's only Girvan likely to be effected by this. Better to direct the questions to the EoS or Lowland League forums. Since that's where most of the news surrounding this has come from due to a number of those clubs going through the application process.

Those involved with this were given the updated manual in advance of it going public with notes on any changes. Or at least that was my take going by some posts like the one quoted below in another topic. That's where the mention of derogation applications will be considered for member clubs that don't currently have floodlights. The mention of length of time that would be acceptable until seems to come from people asking follow up questions to the SFA email. As for the mention of "This version of the Manual, referenced as 2019, will apply during the domestic season 2018/19" this only appears as part of section 1.5 of the UEFA Club Licensing section of the manual. So that's for clubs hoping to be involved in Europe next season. The National Club Licensing section that will apply to the majority of clubs has something similar but doesn't state a particular season only the year 2019.

14th and 15th have the possibility of being relegated this season. Although due to the vacancy created by Selkirk they'd have the opportunity to apply for membership.

Supposedly existing members have a bit of time on their side in terms of getting floodlights in place. 2021 rings a bell but can't recall if that would apply to 2020/21 or 2021/22. So the likes of Civil Service Strollers have some time yet to find a solution.

Stuff from the PWG really only leaks out when TJ has something positive to spin.

The only spanner in the works might be this floodlights issue that's arisen. Before that came out Bonnyrigg had already announced putting their application in, so I'd imagine they'd ticked the 2018 boxes.

The original advert made no mention of joining the SFA Pyramid. It was quickly taken down and replaced by the current one with the inclusion of the specific mention of Tier 6. Think it was added more as a response to the criticism the original advert.

There's a fair bit of overlap between Highland League area clubs and North Juniors in terms of small towns having Senior/Junior representation. Brechin City/Brechin Victoria, Montrose/Montrose Roselea, Forres Mechanics/Forres Thistle, Nairn County/Nairn St Trinian, Buckie Thistle/Buckie Rovers, Fraserburgh/Fraserburgh United, Keith/Islavale, Inverurie Locos/Colony Park.

I'm not sure how that would work in the first place. Are the West & East Junior champions playing off which each other to enter into a play with both EoS & SoS champions? Which means the Junior leagues would have to finish even earlier to squeeze in a round of playoffs compared to the EoS and SoS. Because you aren't going to fixed playoffs like: Semi finals = Junior vs. Junior Semi finals = EoS vs. SoS Final = Junior vs. Senior due to the potential of byes due to unlicenced champions.

From the EoS minutes of a meeting in October:

If you look at the South of Tay clubs still in the East Region, only 4 of them played in the Super League after going to the Super-Premier-(North & South) format. Making the move to EoSFL at Tier 7 is basically on a par to where they have been since 2013 if not higher. If you're a Premier South club not challenging for promotion you may as well investigate the possibility of move to the EoS next year. Weigh up the benefits properly.

Last season average I saw was from Nov 21st 408 Kelty 215 East Kilbride 205 Spartans 185 East Stirlingshire 132 Cumbernauld 132 Gala 126 Dalbeattie 113 Whitehill 99 Uni of Stirling 97 Vale of Leithen 90 Gretna 88 BSCG 73 Edinburgh Uni 72 Civil Service (46 Selkirk) 40 Edusport

Then what does that saw about all the other clubs that get lower attendances?

Following for ten years but only just joined. Since its the same back and forth for a while now, what's finally convinced you to sign up ?

Anything that happens next year is only likely to be a short term decision. Cobble all the leagues together, allowing clubs to get licensed. Then HL2/LL2 proposals will pop up with clubs wanting greater promotion opportunities and avoid the prospect of occasionally being denied by clubs deliberately avoiding a license.

Yes, but when are they going to do it? Are they going to want applications in by March 31st or are they going to wait until all the playoffs have been decided and say we have 1/2 vacancies please apply now.

The deadline for EoS applications is March 31st. You are supposed to have a licence by March 31st for promotion to the Lowland League and its not been exactly explained how the Lowland League will handle the Selkirk vacancy situation. If the last PWG meeting was in November, then the next should be in January. Hopefully that will have something declared following it. Otherwise this is just a clusterfuck.

Since everything's all legit, signed off and confirmed then. Can you explain where the Highland/Lowland boundary is now? What with Montrose Roselea being in the North Region and Brechin Victoria being in the East Region.