Spyro

At tier 8/9, yes definitely. Probably at tier 9 in the East and 10 in the West once things settle down. Then you could basically “bolt on” the amateur league in the East. Borders, LEAFA, Kingdom, the Central gets a bit messy though... but it’s not as simple as it seems. A lot of clubs who could potentially be “promoted” have no intention, or the resources to go into as bigger region, but I suppose that’s where a stepped ground/club criteria comes into play. The west would be a much tougher nut to crack.

In the 3 games I witnessed, Rovers (full of local players) absolutely smashed Fairydean (full of toonies) in every one... says everything really! Only problem was trying to get the local boys to walk away from the Border Ammys, it means more to many of them than the EoS. Playing for your own town and loads of history/rivalry that isn’t there when you step “up”. From what I remember, Selkirk’s purple patch around 2004 onwards for a few seasons (ok, hanging onto an EoS premier league place rather than wallowing in division 1) was based on a lot of local players, including a big chunk of Earlston’s amateur league winning team following their manager. So it IS possible and there IS the talent down there to compete without blowing the budget.

Fair point... But the ONLY rivalry in Gala is/was Fairydean vs Rovers every summer! Another sad day when I heard they both had merged... I’m usually all for change and evolution but some things from your teenage years are sacred The more I hear, the more it seems possible though. The surrounding towns are all growing and there’s a decent sized catchment (Lauder to Jedburgh) with Kelso not being involved anymore. It’s not like Fairydean ever look to local players, Coldstream tend to look towards Kelso/Berwickshire/East Lothian, Tweedmouth go Berwick or Northumberland and Hawick don’t really do local either but not as bad as Gala. So there’s definitely a chance to create a bit of identity for a club right in the middle of it all. They might not be as high as Fairydean but they’ll have the potential to compete with Coldstream and Hawick and drum up more interest... unless someone wants to throw LOADS of money at it.

That’s what I thought when I saw their name in the Borders Amateur league... or there was talk about a sports facility near the hospital many moons ago. I never in a million years thought the locals would allow football to be played in their town.

Where do you warm up for the 7’s?! Anyway, day ruined now... Back on topic, I very much doubt we will see any new teams from the borders anytime soon, not even a Selkirk revival unfortunately

Sacrilege! Melrose RFC was/is more than a rugby team, it was EVERYTHING the town stood for! It’s been a while since I was down there and this has all completely passed me by! I must swat up but I fear it’ll just make me angry... The thought of Melrose even having a football team at all doesn’t sit right with me tbh, you have to have lived around there to understand!

There’s a picture somewhere with me in one of their tops and my hair sprayed blue and white. I need to try and find it! Didn’t realise the work that had been going on at Melrose though Fitba on the hallowed turf! It’s no even real grass anymore! That must be up there with the Irish football team playing on Croke Park for the rugby playing locals

St Andrew’s United and Newburgh would like a word...

The only other (million-to-one shot) I can think of is possibly Earlston Rhymers. They’ve got a great, pretty enclosed ground but would take a bit of work on the facilities going by when I last played there. It’s a really well run club though and would maybe take on the Kelso catchment a little as they don’t seem to have got their act together for years down there. I’m sure there was a season where they were NO Kelso football teams in the EoS or the amateurs! It was happy days for Gordon ammys though as a lot of boys went up there instead

That’s because TJ told them that they would have to install £125,000 toilet blocks and have Tuesday night games to Elgin... and they bought it for years. I’m sure Linlithgow had nearly everything in place for a license too so could easily have joined from the start. Even when Kelty realised it was bs, it took wee Dalkeith Thistle to have the balls to take the pledge and started the avalanche to the EoS.

Salsburgh Utd 6 - 1 Caldercruix Utd (AnC Sundays) (Central Sundays)

This is what the LL hierarchy are looking at. Another boot in the baws for the EoS, SoS and recently the WoS leagues who have been compliant and helpful every step of the way.

Looks like it was some night...

My point is that nobody (apart from BoD) have really been in a position to be “promoted” to the Highland League over the last few years. Therefore you can’t really call it a “closed shop”. I thought Aberdeen Uni had a historic license, similar to Golspie, but that obviously isn’t the case any longer

Tbf, only 3 other clubs in the Highland League catchment area are even eligible to be in tier 5. BoD: enough has already been said. Golspie Sutherland: Not interest/big/good enough and only recently got planning for lights, which I think has always been a special requirement for the Highland League Aberdeen Uni: well...

Really?! Common sense in football? It’ll never catch on...

We are only asking you to provide INDEPENDENT evidence. You know, from someone who isn’t directly involved... but it’s ok. I can’t really be arsed going round in circles on this. Suppose we will find out when a Scotland squad full of ex-Rangers and Celtic Colts players are in the knockout stages of the 2026 World Cup

The point I was making

Oh wow! I would 100% take Marten’s word on whether they work any better than the old system in The Nederland's, rather than some Guardian reporter who is being spun a story by the guys who are trying to run the current system. Yes they are the best academies, but there involvement in the leagues is questionable to say the least

Genuine Question Is the Lowland League fixture secretary not the same guy that has been the East of Scotland secretary for donkeys??? That'll be an interesting conversation in the morning... “Can you add these 2 teams into the Lowland League fixtures. But they have to all be away games, they can’t play on these dates, their games can’t clash with that game and let the home teams know that they might need to make the local police aware as there might be behavioural issues”

They might have tapped into a local fanbase now they have a settled ground to play on, I was actually quite interested to see how they got on. It was a new, interesting concept that might have took off but after reading some of these posts, the arrogance of the tweet yesterday (claiming to be the only club to ask their fans) and then essentially biting the hand that feeds in the SoS league, they can do one

Stabbing their old EoS colleagues in the back. Considering they were one of the group who were to initially allowed to leave the EoS at the creation of the Lowland League and keep their membership... like many of the other teams who have voted FOR

WANKS confirmed