Marten

Big chance we'll again be near each other at a game this season as Whitehill Welfare are on my list of clubs I still want to go to this season.

Literally posting up minutes that show that @Burnie_man is correct and then still saying he is wrong. There is simply no reasonable argument for 2 routes to the LL in the East. There is no reason why the East Juniors & EoS can't merge (or at least those East juniors in the LL area if the boundary doesn't change). It's important to finally get rid of the artificial divide in non-league football. There is no difference between juniors & senior non-league. It's all non-league and other than a label and different governing body effectively the same.

Why would it be so terrible for Tayside to come under a HL? Travelling will not go up, the teams around Aberdeenshire aren't further away from places like Dundee than many of the Edinburgh/Lothian teams, leave alone the ones further south. The only real outliers are Wick & Brora, but Gretna/Annan is also quite a trek from Dundee...

Fully agreed. It's probably wishful thinking from my side as usual, but if a LL2 in that way were to happen, I think it would be very positive. The juniors get their desired tier 6 entry, there is a proper way into the LL for the better clubs currently outside it, yet it forms some sort of safety net for the existing LL teams. Add in a proper cup tournament for all of non league and a decent structure north of the Tay and it will be a great set up. I can but hope...

I think that would make sense indeed. Form a HL2 with the bottom 2 HL teams and add the strongest North/Tayside juniors (and maybe a NCL team). If Tayside remains under the HL than a 16 team Tayside league will be undesirable due to the difference of standards imo. Imagine Lochee United v Coupar Angus, that's going to result in scorelines that would even shock Fort William .

With the people currently in charge, I think with @Burnie_man as the ruler of Scottish football things can only get better.

You sat very close to me then, lol. It was good entertainment, I almost forgot there was actually a football game going on.

If there is a structure like 3 up/down between LL1 and LL2 & LL2 gets formed of the best clubs below the LL it will be good. For an immediate return, you'll only need to finish 3rd in a division with the likes of Auchinleck Talbot, Beith, Bonnyrigg, Linlithgow, Bo'ness, Camelon, Hurlford, Pollok etc. Should be easily achievable.

If that's a concession that can lead to a proper promotion/relegation structure rather than just 1 spot now which will be unsustainable in the long term I'm all for it. Although I'd prefer just 2 feeders directly under the LL, with SoS merging with WoS & only 1 route in the east. Then both champions can be promoted with play-offs for the runners-up.

Considering they're talking about July/August, it will probably just replace the current lucrative pre-season tournaments to something that's not just a bunch of friendlies, but more structured with an actual trophy connected to it (and commercially even more interesting).

I moved to a different block just before KO as it was really busy where I was and the view wasn't that great, whilst there was a largely empty block not far away. View was good from there, and I had a great view on a fistfight close to me...

Maybe that's a sign that they're trying to get the Tayside teams on board by splitting the LL into East/West? As you already said, a boundary change north needs to be combined with that...

I didn't encounter any major problems, it seemed ok to me. Not worse than at Hampden. Having said that, it obviously made it easier that Hearts were one of the 2 teams involved and many fans live locally. Probably a large chunk of Hearts fans just walked home. So this is no guarantee how it will go if 2 non-Edinburgh teams were playing there.

From what I heard: no, not even close. It seems to me that they just want to play football in their area against teams their level and don't really care about the label attached to it.

A potential no-deal scenario because one side is shouting about what they will "definitely" get without checking how realistic that is and what conditions exist. Now, where have I heard that before???

Largely agreed with that. The only way how I can say the EoS agreeing to this if they agree to bring the 2 East leagues together within a certain timeframe. If it's meant to be a temporary step toward full integration it's fine, but 2 east feeders shouldn't exist for the longer term. It does make most sense indeed to have the Dundee clubs in the HL. I don't see the large issue from a traveling perspective either. Most HL clubs are in the Aberdeen area. That's easier to get to from Dundee than the Borders for example.

Indeed, and to be fair to the Hearts fans around me on the platform: most were absolutely cringing during the sectarian songs. Probably the same on the "Celtic platform".

The worst I saw was on Haymarket station where one platform was full of (mainly) Celtic fans waiting for the train to Glasgow whilst I was on a platform full of (mainly) Hearts fans waiting for the train to Inverkeithing/Kirkcaldy. There were some sectarian songs and was some intimidation between the 2 sides, but it stopped when police got on the platform. Plus there was some fighting in the block I was in as some Hearts fans discovered some undercover Celtic fans and started a fistfight.

Been there today. Seemed well organised, transport not an issue. I sat in the Hearts end, with fans directed towards their end and Celtic on the other side to theirs. Seemed no issues with it at all. Was easy enough to get away after the game as well. Only downside was the pubs being packed before the game so it was difficult to find somewhere to drink, ended up in one of the pubs near Tynecastle stadium. Although I can imagine plenty of fans just went into the city centre, which I didn't do.

Took the opportunity to watch football at Murrayfield today. Hearts v Celtic.

Ross County 5-0 Greenock Morton, a good trip to Dingwall, I enjoyed it. Nice ground too. Game was very one sided though, Morton were woeful.

In England there is always a dividing line between the Southern/Isthmian Premier and the Southern/Isthmian First divisions. Those dividing lines are flexible though as they don't have a fixed boundary. There is not specific promotion/relegation between the different steps at that level of the game in England. Instead, they redraw the leagues based on the teams taking part that year. It's quite common for clubs to be moved across from one league to another.

If this were to happen, the "German" approach to promotion play-offs can be done in giving the larger region an extra spot. That could mean numbers 1 & 2 in the LL, HL champions & #10 SPFL2 playing in a 4 way play-off for 1 spot in SPFL2. Although, in my opinion there should be automatic relegation, but in that case the SPFL2 #9 can join and for example a round robin can be played with the top 2 playing in SPFL2.

Exactly, I still haven't heard one reason why juniors are any different from senior non-league. It's all non-league, there is no serious difference. ERJFA & EoSFL should just merge (with obviously the boundary issue to sort out as well).

In the west & north there is still a decent chance for that to happen, true. But in the east that's a big question mark. Time will tell what will really happen...