Dev

Maybe BSC will find a permanent ground-share close to home sooner rather than later now that there are so many grounds available or which could be made available with local Senior (no longer Junior) clubs? Some sort of arrangement along the lines of Yoker/Clydebank may now be possible. Are there any West Seniors which are going for a licence in the next season or two?

Presumably Talbot wouldn't have dreamed of "putting pressure" on the WRJFA behind the scenes in any way would they?

Fair enough but there's also votes in it if it can be achieved!

Any speculation out there about which Inverness Amateurs may even have a suitable ground/changing rooms for the NCL? Loch Ness have already declared their intentions. Are there any possibles from elsewhere, in addition to the Inverness Amateurs? Black Isle United (Culbokie) have a good (from Streetview) ground. Inverness & Dist Amat Lg 2020 Prem Avoch Contin Ferrybache ICM Electrical IRN Security Loch Ness Maryburgh NMM Sams Nth Kessock(?) Tomatin Div.1 Ardersier Balloan Black Rock Rovers (Evanton) Charlestelona Culloden Blacksmiths Hill Rovers (Farr) Innes CI Merkinch Muir of Ord Rovers Div.2 Black Isle United (Culbokie) Conon Bridge Drakies PDG Fortrose & Rosemarkie Union Gairloch/Aultbea United Highland Aviation NHS Highland Norbord Cleanco Tomatin United Uncle Bob's

NLS has a tweet from Ashfield about an announcement coming up shortly. May not be anything to do with Under 20's but there's an Hash Tag Academy label to the tweet.

Maybe the UK and or Scottish Governments will have access to cheap "instant" tests by the autumn. The UK Government has already gone public about working on this possibility. IF that happens, and it is a massive IF, then they may be available to everyone for free. Big MAYBE's and IF's but things are changing very quickly

St Cadocs now look certain to apply after post on NSL.

I wonder if, by then, whenever that may be, there will be free testing available from the Government(s). They'll be keen to help normal healthy outdoor pursuits won't they? Rugby will have a problem for much longer than most activities.

Presumably that's being taken into account by the cautious approach being proposed? This isn't going to happen under the current situation but under much improved future circumstances re the virus.

Yes you're right. Who knows but maybe players and officials, etc, can change at home and go straight home after the game? There'd be wet kit but the games could be played. A bit like Sunday amateurs used to be. Some clubs in Australia are doing that apparently because they are desperate to get games on!

has Whitletts decided to put a team into the Lowland Under 20's Development League? There was mention of this being a possibility somewhere on P&B recently.

Judging by these posts and those on the WoS section the present position looks to be something along these lines re new applicants etc: Applied/Applying/Accepted: West (9) Bellshill Athletic Carluke Rovers Clydebank Darvel East Kilbride Rossvale FC Shettleston Juniors Troon Vale of Leven East (6) Edinburgh South Gala Fairydean Rovers Glenrothes Kennoway Star Hearts Kirkcaldy & Dysart Whitehill Welfare Possibles: West Irvine Meadow Johnstone Burgh Kilwinning Rangers Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Largs Thistle Neilston Newmains United Pollok Juveniles St Cadocs Yoker Athletic

Talbot were, I believe, the best side but they went about matters the wrong way off the field. If this goes badly for them they can only blame their off-field team. We shall see what happens.

At the end of the day Talbot are probably the best West Junior side in 2019/20 but the West committee failed to figure out an appropriate way to get them their usual Scottish Cup nomination. If Mr Chisholm had consulted the SFA before the committee met and voluntarily came to their "incorrect" decision then maybe they would have made the "right" decision in the first place. Unfortunately, the committee got it wrong and it's minuted. The minutes were given to the media who then made good newspaper copy out of it. This, in my view, means that the WRJFA has been shown to be disorganised and incompetent. Worse, in my view, it has brought Scottish football into further disrepute - on top of years of failure at national level, the SPFL Dundee fiasco and the unilateral attempt to block the pyramid. The SFA needs to look at all of these matters as a matter of urgency if they want to regain any credibility. The SJFA/WRJFA, whichever arranges the "independent" investigation to the Chisholm fiasco, will be setting the terms of the Independent Inquiry. It is the terms which will specify what is investigated and the extent of the investigation. It is also they who decide who will be the "Independent" investigator. It will be interesting to see if another mess is made out of the Investigation. Does anyone really believe that the WRJFA will accept that they got it wrong and accept full responsibility for this and act meaningfully as a consequence? Sadly for Talbot and their genuine supporters they may well need to lose their Cup place as a result of all this. If they don't then they will never live this down.

If the Management organises this the one thing it won't be is independent. They're trying to deflect the clubs from making the decisions about this.

Big Stitch-up under way from Management? How do they define Independent? Cannot be independent if they've anything to do with it. They're trying to deflect the clubs from making decisions themselves over this.

They should be looking over their own shoulders at their clubs too.

To be fair Talbot's rep at the Juniors made a good job of making supporters of rival clubs jump up and down. If that was his aim he succeeded - but at what cost to Talbot?

That is a fair assessment, in my view. However, the Juniors admin couldn't work out what to do to and blew it.

Surely the issue which comes out of all of this is the incompetence of the WRJFA. They wished to put forward a club to play in the Scottish Cup next season, as usual, but couldn't figure out a way to end the season and still come up with a Champion club which would be acceptable to the SFA. They then allowed themselves to be drawn into this nonsense by an individual whose club has an interest in being nominated for the place in the Scottish Cup. They couldn't even bring themselves to consider that maybe there were other clubs which may also have had a case to put forward as being the best club in the league. How many of the WRJFA committee and or officials fancy themselves as being fit to get involved in running the WoS League? How much more incompetence do they need to show before even staunch ex-Juniors now in the WoS realise that they aren't remotely suited to positions of influence or responsibility?

The point seems to be that none of the SFA, SPFL, HL or LL has the power to change the agreement on its' own. If, e.g. , the SPFL choose not to comply with what they've already agreed with the SFA, HL and LL then they might be in a difficult situation legally? That means they need to get a grip and deal with the other three parties to the arrangement - whatever that means in practice - who knows?

It seems as though there may have been some mysterious decision-making associated with football authorities in one form or another. Maybe not such a mystery any longer? In the non-league scene it's easy to gain the perception that the SJFA or one or more individuals associated with it and or its' Regions seem to have a surprisingly great influence on their apparent superiors at the SFA. How is that possible? They are not part of the Pyramid and never wanted to be. Or is it that they "know something" or have some sort of behind the scenes "Hold" on football? Is there some behind the scenes activity or involvement and or co-operation with one or more other elements in Scottish football which may have lead to what, some may possibly consider, under non-football settings, as chicanery (at best)? Pure speculation, of course! Given the dire performance of the National side over too many decades you have to wonder what exactly is wrong at the heart of football here. Everyone knows that the national side has under-performed and this is a huge problem. However, once a problem has been spotted it is necessary to identify the cause of the problem as soon as possible - before even more damage is caused and it becomes even harder to turn around a ship which seems determined to head for the rocks! Yet nothing happens. There are issues flagged up by tonights' newspaper revelations which affect the non-league game. This follows a similar mess at the SPFL (although some may consider that the SPFL is not in a mess - work that one out!). There is something which links the two. What or who is it? Will there be further newspaper revelations soon? Will heads roll in an attempt to avoid further damage to already tarnished reputations? Pure speculation, of course.

Because those clubs left in the ERJFA (and the whole of the NRJFA) don't count in the eyes of certain individuals. They've been shafted again.

Just for the record. The Interim General Secretary of the SJFA West Region is who???

It is a really sad night for true Talbot supporters. If Talbot don't take immediate action to sort out any Talbot people who may have some association with this debacle then the club will never be allowed to forget this.