Marten

Fortuna Sittard away will involve quite a long journey though...

Fair enough, maybe even just change the rule that any clubs based within a certain distance north of the Tay boundary have the right to choose.

Surely it makes more sense to just go with local authority boundaries? Perth & Kinross, Dundee City & Angus have a choice. Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Moray, Highland, Na h-Eileanan Siar, Orkney & Shetland go HL, the rest LL for example.

Sorry lads took me 2 days to go through this. Like every manager I'm ambitious but I'm also realistic. I have a lengthy contract at fauldhouse which I'm grateful of for the support in my first job. What I can say is in the future it would need to be big job cause everything I have at Fauldhouse is superb. I know where yous are going regarding the question about the club progressing through leagues ect. What people need to understand is the junior set up is beneficial for fauldhouse financial wise and its future that's more important than individuals or leagues Fair response. As said, I personally have my doubts that this new structure is going to be good for southern clubs in the ERJFA, especially clubs like yourselves. But if that's Fauldhouse's choice fair enough and good luck for the future. You've got a great set up over there and some very hard working people running the club. I'm definitely not the kind of person who'd hope you'll fail just to be able to say "told you so". I still enjoy watching junior football and I might actually be watching you play on Saturday at Downfield. Although whether or not you'll be happy with that remains to be seen as I've seen you play 3 times in the last 9 months and you conceded 12 goals...

The biggest downside of moving the boundary is that with Tayside in the LL area, that area is really much bigger than the HL area, even worse than it is now. However, if this would create a compromise to get the juniors on board, I don't think it should be ruled out. To reflect the much larger area the LL serves, the pyramid play-off could include both the LL champion & runners up, the HL champion & SPFL club 42 who all play a semi final and a final. This system is used successfully in Germany where regional leagues serving a larger area get more promotion and/or play-off spots to higher tiers. Ultimately I'd like to see automatic relegation for SPFL42 & a PO spot for SPFL41, that could be solved by making it a 4 team round robin instead with the top 2 going into the SPFL.

If the boundary gets moved AND there is a managed merger between EOS & ERJFA, the ERJFA will also need to get spots in the EOS Premier. This could realistically start in 2020 at the earliest. If that happens (and a big if as there are many things to be agreed), the 2019/20 season can decide spots in the following season. An example of what can happen is below, this assumes the ERJFA North has a 10 team Super league & 9 team Premier league, ERJFA South 9 team Super league & 9 team Premier league. Also, I assume the EOS will have a 16 team Premier division & 2 x 12 team conferences at tier 7. The structure for the 2020/21 season could be: Premier division (16 teams, 1 division): Top 10 EOS Premier Top 2 ERJFA North Super Top 2 ERJFA South Super 2 Champions EOS Conferences First division (32 teams over a north & south division): 11-16 EOS Premier 3-9 ERJFA North Super 3-8 ERJFA South Super 2 Champions ERJFA Premier 2-6 EOS conferences + winner of a play-off between 7th placed teams Second division (29 teams over a north & south division): 10 ERJFA North Super 9 ERJFA South Super 2-9 ERJFA North Premier 2-9 ERJFA South Premier 8-12 EOS conferences + loser of a play-off between 7th placed teams That would then give a clear structure for tier 6, 7 and 8. Tier 8 could be expanded to 3 divisions if there would be more than 3 applications from new clubs / amateurs. Obviously relegation from the LL and promotion into it could slightly change matters, but this could be largely workable.

Boundary changes are complex obviously. We all know what the SJFA / ERJFA think about the boundary issue, but we don't know what the EOS really think about it. Currently they aren't allowed to accept any applicants north of the Tay but who knows whether or not they've discussed this behind the scenes? If the EOS and ERJFA would both want to have the boundary moved, it would surely have more impact if both would come with a joint request to sort the issue out, probably then backed up by other parties as well.

Very good news. If BM & Talbot 1978 agree with each other it must be a good idea! I agree with you both btw. I'd be surprised if not tbh, pointless requesting a meeting with an organisation that has nearly half of its membership above the Tay Bridge boundary and not include that half of its membership.

Agreed, then there can easily be 3/4 feeders below it. In my opinion, the only way to have the ERJFA in it would be if the same path is followed as England did with originally allowing overlapping divisions and working towards a geographical split. A way can be to have an LL East with EOSFL & ERJFA feeding into it & an LL West with SOSFL & WRJFA feeding into it. In the east then (providing the boundary gets moved to accomodate the Tayside clubs), the ERJFA can (after a transitional period) become mainly the feeder for Tayside & Fife with the EOSFL being the one for the Lothians & Borders for example. Like in England, the SFA will then eventually decide who goes into which clubs & can force clubs to move from one league to the other (at the same tier) to balance out numbers.

Even just saying it's contributed is quite a bold statement. Clubs who moved have their own reasons. They won't be the same for every club, but I'm pretty sure none of them will have (partly) based the decision on what's been said on P&B. And it's easy to just lump us all together. I don't agree with @Burnie_man (and others) on everything. We agree on a pyramid, our wish to have all current junior clubs included & that it's undesirable to have 2 leagues covering largely the same area. But we disagreed plenty of times on various details. That's a part of a healthy discussion... I'm not anti junior, I still enjoy watching junior football. I'll probably go to another juniors game on Saturday and I'll likely be at Beechwood to watch Talbot v Lochee in a few weeks. I do have my questions about how the game is run & I am critical of this new set-up in the East. At the same time I've also criticised the SFA on their handling of the pyramid. I have a strong opinion about this because I enjoy watching football at this level and have a lot of respect for plenty of clubs. That's why I want a decent set up for all to play in and I think a decently structured pyramid incorporating all current "grades" is the answer.

Are you seriously suggesting the exodus has been sparked by a few posters on an internet forum? If any club committee base major decisions on the future of their clubs on some posts on P&B, serious questions need to be asked...

Nowt critical, going by the comments of others they are pleased. Only the certain few seemed to be riled. There is nothing wrong with asking questions about the new setup. I don't think it's the right way forward. As I said, I respect that Fauldhouse make their own decision based on what they think is best for them. I just think it's not going to work out well. With people like you it seems that anyone who raises questions about decisions of SJFA, any of their regions or junior clubs is automatically anti-junior. I still respect JC1 a lot and I wish him and Fauldhouse all the best. I've been there, it's a great set-up and they've surely got a hard-working committee. That doesn't mean I always have to agree with them.

They are the same poster though, hardly guys Yeah, because everyone who is critical of how the Juniors are run must be the same person. Just so it's clear for me, am I Burnie Man as well?

As said, if the club thinks that's right, that's what you'll need to do. But I think you will regret this as I just can't see this league having any appeal. This all due to some misplaced loyalty to a "grade"...

No offence as you have to do what's right for you, but these leagues don't look very attractive to me. The south teams would be way better off in the EOS imo. Junior football in the East, especially south of the Tay, is dying. This will get boring and lose people's interests very soon, maybe not instantly, but I can't see it lasting for multiple seasons.

I don't think the SFA/SPFL are showing to be very keen to get loads of clubs joining. They've changed licensing requirements and don't seem particularly in a hurry to sort out the ongoing license applications. The way the SFA have handled the pyramid has not exactly been great. I've criticised the SJFA on this a number of times and I'm still critical of them, but the SFA clearly haven't helped the situation to put it mildly. I don't think there is a high degree of enthusiasm amongst SPFL clubs to have a massive influence of non-league SFA members. I'm sure some smaller SPFL clubs do feel threatened by the possibilities of the likes of Auchinleck Talbot coming up.

Even though I understand why that's a possibility, I don't think it would be desirable. The "north" in the ERJFA has major differences in standards. I wouldn't like to see a league in which the likes of Lochee & Broughty play the weaker North Premier sides, especially Coupar Angus & Forfar Albion. Regular double figure hammerings are not desirable imo.

A and b are better than c option d to join the dutch eredivisie are at an advanced stage the amsterdam coffee shops await Considering the discussions about finally setting up a proper pyramid in The Netherlands are probably even more heated than in Scotland with the speed of progress being about the same, it would be a fitting switch.

Surely it's obvious that it's quite hard to make changes during a season? There might be plans to make LK fit the criteria in the close season. As some others pointed out, it won't be that hard. If that's the case, I see no problem in accepting them.

Syngenta would join tier 7 if accepted. There is a decent chance they will be tier 8 in 2020. Imo, it makes sense for requirements to gradually go down as you get lower down the pyramid. I do agree that on tier 6 clubs should at least be working towards a license, but at tier 7 or 8 that makes no sense. These teams would need 2/3 promotions to get to the LL and nearly all of them are unlikely to ever get there. Ideally, I'd like not just all current juniors, but also the amateurs included in the pyramid. If tier 8 isn't very strict, amateurs at least have a chance of getting in there.

Wow, what a performance, very impressive from Ajax.

It's very rare for me to want Ajax to win, other than when a win for them could benefit my team Excelsior, but I am loving how they are running riot in Madrid at the moment.

Yep, that will clearly be their main argument, as obviously they won't expect to be challenging for a LL place any time soon.

That's a positive development, not just that they're going EOS, but that they're investing in the youth and are expecting to apply for a license soon. The ground itself is decent, I've been there a few weeks ago.

A bit lower than I counted, I guess they didn't count committee members etc.