Marten

The EOS AGM is 7th June, so no structure will be decided before then anyway, regardless of Linlithgow's decision.

Congratulations to the Bo'ness fans on here who wanted this to happen. Quite astonishing how fast this has come. I have read back a bit as I have only been on P&B for a short time. Just over a year ago people were posting the EOS is dead and Kelty would be very unwise to move...

I'd have no problem with some kind of cup competitions with other smaller countries, but this is never going to work. And I can assure you that in The Netherlands there won't be much enthusiasm for it.

And how do you know it will be 1 up/1 down next season considering promotion/relegation has not been decided yet?

As said, I won't rule it out, but time will tell. And obviously you ignore many other arguments, from myself and others...

Khufu, you can keep bringing up the 1up/1down situation, but all signs are that this will change, possibly to 2up/2down soon. If a WoSFL gets established with the top sides in the west, maybe it will go up to 3up/3down, which I would support. As explained already in my previous post, you can't just claim certain teams are superior than others if they don't play each other in a league. Time will tell how Kelty and then next season's promoted team(s) will get on in the LL. And if the big junior teams are really that superior, chances are that them ending up in the LL will also improve the standard/crowds of other teams.

Cup results can't be compared to how a team would perform compared to others over the course of a whole season, even not if there is a clear pattern in cup results. A clear example is The Netherlands, who are also in a painfully long process to get a properly working pyramid. Before there were national divisions for the top non-league sides, everyone was convinced these sides were clearly better than any team in the bottom half of the 2nd tier. There was a clear pattern in cup results after all, with the top non-league sides almost consistently beating the bottom half 2nd tier team, only on rare occasions they lost. When a new tier between the 2nd tier and the old top non-league regional divisions got introduced, the top non-league teams & bottom 2nd tier teams started. The bottom 2nd tier team was expected to struggle because of the cup pattern & the fact they lost nearly half of their squad after relegation. Instead, they won the league and went straight back up. The first non-league side to get promoted have been near the bottom for a few years until their relegation last year, in previous seasons they were only saved because no 3rd tier teams wanted to get promoted (promotion is currently not mandatory). In reality, the gap between the divisions is bigger than anyone expected and the cup results are now (more accurately) explained with the fact that the 2nd tier sides often struggle with the completely different style of play of the 3rd tier teams in one-off cup games rather than actually being weaker. That can easily be the case in Scotland too. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Kelty end up near the top of the LL and Bonnyrigg (or whatever team(s) might come up next season) will be soon as well. But we simply don't know for sure yet. Kelty's LL performances will definitely be something to watch.

Tbh, I think that's what will happen. There will almost surely be more relegation from the LL and the best east teams will get into the LL. The strongest East teams + the stronger LL teams (EK/Shire/Spartans etc.) and obviously Kelty will make an interesting league, which will eventually get west teams on board.

With pretty much all East juniors south of the Tay moving over, the LL will be much more attractive in a few years time. I'd fully expect Bonnyrigg, Bo'ness, LTHV, Linlithgow etc. to all be there. Some less attractive teams will then drop out anyway. And that's even ignoring a WoSFL.

Thanks for mentioning. Brilliant.

I don't see the problem? They can just go to 3 groups.

I wonder with Tweedmouth, if they were to win promotion to the LL (unlikely, I know!), do they have to accept them seeing as it's a club outside of Scotland? Or could the EOS/SOS in theory accept any club from Northumberland/Cumbria and they have to be given the chance to move up the leagues in Scotland? I know there is a precedent in Berwick Rangers being in the Scottish Leagues, but they have been playing in Scotland from the early days, so that might be an exception to any rules if they exist?

The EOS rules are pretty clear, normal applications should come in by the end of April, but any applications in time for the AGM (by 31st May latest) will be considered at that moment. Kelty made a late application last year as well. Nothing changed.

Interesting Twitter discussion. Jeanfield Swifts meeting this week to decide their position.

LTHV are licensed, so EOS currently have 5.

Yes, I know indeed, seems fair enough to me.

It's obvious there is huge population difference between the HL & LL area. But there are simple geographic reasons for this. If the boundary is redrawn to match the population in both areas, then you'll get absurd travel distances like Wick going to Stirling for games. The HL can't really cover a larger area due to that reason. For the LL that is different. That league is central belt dominated and the travel distances in that area are fine for teams that level. I think it makes more sense to have a better quality league with the best teams together rather than split it. To reflect the difference in areas, the PO could become a 4 team PO, with 2 LL teams, 1 HL team and the bottom team of SPFL2 (although I'd ideally like to see automatic relegation from SPFL2).

Tbh, if the East/West superleague would happen, the Tayside teams will probably end up collectively moving to the north region. Going to places like Aberdeen is much easier travel for them than regularly going to Ayrshire.

Sauchie Juniors v Bonnyrigg Rose tonight, 1-1.

Some decent pubs there on the seaside as well. Make it a bit of an afternoon out if you go there, it's worth it.

You could go to FC Volendam, 2nd tier, decent trip out. Nice seaside town and some good pubs. No railway station but about 30 minutes north of Amsterdam by bus. Telstar (2nd tier as well) is also not a bad trip, in the seaside town of IJmuiden. Again no railway station, but a train to Haarlem and then a short bus ride gets you there, total travel time about 50 minutes. In the semi-professional leagues, Katwijk is also a nice seaside town. They have 2 teams: Katwijk (3rd tier) and Quick Boys (4th tier). Both good grounds & both clubs are amongst the largest non-league clubs in the country. Train to Leiden then a short bus ride to Katwijk, total travel time around an hour. Just let me know if you need more detailed travel advise on any of those.

Difference is that the East Superleague is not getting any better, the EOS is.

You are the one only looking at next season. The teams moving over will look further ahead...

Is it so hard to understand that there are good (LTHV / Leith / Hawick) and poor (Tweedmouth / Ormiston) EOS sides and there are good (East Superleague / top half East Premier) and poor (South division / amateurs) sides moving over? Yes, there will be both "dross" and good sides in the division, but that's the whole point of a transitional season. The "dross" sides drop into EOS Division 1 and the good sides form the EOS Premier (or whatever names the divisions will have from 2019). People who are pointing out that the likes of Bonnyrigg will thump teams like Tweedmouth with double figures might be right, but they are highly unlikely to be in the same division for more than one season. After one season, the better teams play each other and have the chance to move up to the LL, while the poorer sides can just enjoy their football at their level against each other. Exactly the whole point of a pyramid!

What don't you understand about the EOS moving to 2 divisions after a transitional season? The top 16 in the EOS looks like a more attractive league than what remains in the East Superleague, especially if Penicuik & Newtongrange Star are also moving over. The "dross" will end up in EOS Division 1 or something like that.