Yalay

The last couple years it was initially scheduled for the same season, but each year it was inevitably postponed to the next season.

Aye, which is why they have been almost uniformly eliminated. The real problem is with the arbitrary nature of the penalty shoot-out. When the alternative was a coin toss, PKs were an improvement. But FIFA and the worldwide football community can surely devise a superior replacement, such as extra time with the removal of some players.

Agreed, but replays are on their way out everywhere. The only competition in the whole world I'm aware of which still uses them is the English FA Cup. The FA Trophy and FA Vase abolished replays in the last few years, and even the FA Cup has eliminated them from the fifth round on, with persistent calls to remove from from the third and fourth rounds as well.

Unsurprisingly, replays are now completely abolished. The end of an era.

The EoSFL fixtures have no mention of the 2023-24 cup. Have we finally given up the pretense of the city cup happening in the same season as the qualifying cup?

As others have noted, the problem at this level is not that there are too many fixtures, but rather that certain clubs have too many fixtures. A club participating in the SRCC can play as little as one match or as many as nine. The Junior Cup can go up to eight matches this year (six for licensed clubs). The WoSFL League cup as many as seven. A simple solution is to take cues from higher up in the pyramid and elsewhere in the world and let strong clubs enter later in the competition. For example, a very simple change to the WoSFL League Cup would be to have the first round comprise of those in the third and fourth divisions, rather than the 32 who lose the draw. You could go a step further by having only the second division enter in the second round, then only the first division enter in the third round, until the premier division enters in the fourth round (round of 32). That gives premier division clubs two fewer potential matches than under the current formula. Something similar could happen with the SRCC. Using league placement to determine starting rounds would be tricky given the setup, but one option would be to let clubs who reach the previous year's round of 32 start the next year in the round of 64, with other clubs entering in earlier rounds the worse they did in the previous year's cup.

I will assume you have never put together a fixture list before. Let me assure you that it is far more difficult and tedious than it may appear from the outside. Multiply by five for the WoSFL and it's a mountain of thankless work. Inevitably you cannot satisfy everyone's wishes, and the only feedback you will ever receive is criticism.

Wouldn't that be just 13 byes? I count 14 clubs participating in both the junior and senior cups: Auchinleck Talbot Beith Juniors Benburb Carluke Rovers Carnoustie Panmure Culter Cumnock Juniors Darvel Glenafton Athletic Irvine Meadow XI Lochee United Pollok Rutherglen Glencairn Tayport It seems a preliminary round will be required.

The LL rules don't allow for any possibility of two promotions in a single year. So it would be no relegation, unless the LL receives a relegated club from the SPFL without promoting one in return, in which case one club would be relegated.

I don't fault the WoSFL for not wanting to exceed 80 clubs. But now that the league is in the enviable position of having more qualified applicants than there are positions available, it is time to negotiate a promotion/relegation agreement with the Amateurs.

I’m curious to know what everyone would prefer if you had to choose: 1. This conference league monstrosity 2. No conference league, but B teams are allowed to enter at the bottom of the pyramid and can earn promotion all the way up to SPFL1 If the B teams absolutely cannot be kept out, then I prefer option 2.

If Abbey Vale wins the championship, as seems likely, and Creetown attains SFA membership, the Alba Cup will be very lonely next season with just five participants (six if Glasgow Wellington is approved).

The Lowland League already has automatic relegation. Are you talking about the rare possibility where if the LL has a net loss to the SPFL then no club is relegated? Or did you mean to say increasing promotion to the LL to more than 1 place?

Probably 11, assuming Linlithgow Rose win promotion.

At this point, is it safe to assume that the 2022-23 East of Scotland Cup will once again be postponed to next season?

I doubt the WoSFL would admit a reserve team into their league.

I say separate into two tiers of 10 clubs each, but here's the twist: still play the clubs in the other division. Play everyone in your division home and away and everyone in the other division home or away, for 28 matches. Normal promotion and relegation between the two levels would follow at the end of the season. This formula gives fewer mismatched games (although there are still some) while avoiding having to play the same opponents three or four times per season. Traveling fans get to visit every ground in the league at least every other year.

Nobody is suggesting that amateurs should be forced up if they don't want to go. The promotion playoff would be available only to clubs who want to go up and meet the criteria for acceptance into the league, which isn't many. In most years, exactly zero amateur champions would enter the playoff. This is basically the election system that the Football League used for many years. If it were instituted here it would turn out very similarly to how it went in England where existing teams were almost never voted out.

Are you suggesting that the SFA would be perfectly fine with the WoSFL simply shutting the door, but would not sanction a playoff tournament to allow ambitious amateurs a way in?

I don’t have a strong opinion on whether the two leagues should merge, but one advantage of incorporating the amateurs into the pyramid is that it would allow the WoSFL to force remedies to these sorts of issues. The leagues could be denied promotion opportunities if they don’t maintain a sufficient standard. Perhaps the compromise is a promotion without relegation option. Take all the amateur champions who meet the WoSFL standards and desire promotion and put them in a playoff. The winner gets into the league with no corresponding relegation. It keeps the door open while only committing the league to a very small rate of growth. I bet most years no champion would even desire promotion, and the rate of clubs joining would roughly match the rate of clubs withdrawing so there wouldn’t even be much growth. Agreements with the amateur leagues wouldn’t even be required, meaning the WoSFL could retain complete control.

That’s why the league should establish a promotion/relegation agreement with the local amateur leagues. Annbank United could reform as an amateur club and work its way up.

Don’t forget that the Third Division is reducing from 19 to 16 clubs for next season. That leaves just one spot in the Fourth, subject to changes via promotion and relegation with the Lowland League. Of course there is no rule saying the league can’t go beyond 16 clubs in the Fourth Division, or even add a Fifth Division. At the start of this season there was a proposal to cap the league at 80 clubs (it currently has 79). I believe that proposal was never put to a vote, but we shall see what happens in the coming offseason. Personally I would like to see the league institute a cap, and then create some sort of playoff agreement with the local amateur leagues.

Any word on whether the division will be playing more than 22 matches? Are they really going to wrap up the campaign in mid-March?

The North Juniors don't even have a licensed club, and the two licensed clubs in the Midlands, Lochee United and Tayport, are not close to the top of the table. I'm not aware of any clubs looking to be licensed by the end of the season either, so it appears Strathspey Thistle will survive another season.

My proposal: Split the Lowland League into LL East and LL West with 16 clubs each. To increase the membership of the LL, invite applications from licensed clubs at the end of a transition season. Among the applicant clubs, calculate a coefficient as follows: Number of clubs you finished above in your league / total number of opponents in your league. For example, finishing 4th in the 12 team SoSFL would make your coefficient 8/11 = 0.727. Finishing 4th in the 79 team WoSFL would make your coefficient 75/78 = 0.96. All three champions would have a coefficient of 1. Suspend relegation in the LL for that year, then admit the 15-17 (depending on the result of the SPFL playoff) applicant clubs with the highest coefficient to the LL. Form the two LL divisions without fixed borders. Clubs can move between divisions from one year to the next. The SPFL playoff is expanded only slightly. All three tier 5 champions + club 42 would be drawn into two-legged ties. The winners would then play for the SPFL spot. This could be played in the normal time window for SPFL playoffs, allowing the LL/HL to end their seasons two weeks later than they do now. Promotion/relegation between the LL and the tier 6 leagues would be expanded. The last place club in each division would be relegated, replaced by the champions of the EoSFL and the WoSFL (if licensed). The 2nd from last clubs in each LL division would enter a round robin playoff with the champions of the SoSFL and the runners-up of the EoSFL and WoSFL (again, if licensed). In a normal year the top two would promote/stay in the LL, but this number could fall to as low as one or as much as all five depending on the results of the SPFL playoff and whether the EoSFL/WoSFL champions are licensed. Advantages: Balances the tier 5 regions more fairly. The SPFL would hopefully be okay with it because it only slightly increases the chance of relegation. The Highland League should be okay with it because it essentially has no impact on them. The Lowland League should be okay with it because it only slightly increases the chance of relegation while not affecting the chance of promotion. If you factor in that the LL divisions will be weaker, then if anything promotion chances are increased and relegation chances are decreased. Also the LL gets the benefit of no relegation for one year. The SoSFL is placed in a more fair position compared to the EoSFL, but they get to remain at tier 6 and still have about the same chance of promotion to the LL as before. The pyramid playoffs can be moved back two weeks because club 42 doesn't have to wait. As a result, the HL/LL won't have to end their seasons before everyone else. Reduced travel/expenses for LL clubs. Helps to fix the backlog of strong clubs stuck in the WoSFL/EoSFL. The main objection I see is that the existing tier 5+ clubs won't want to see their SFA voting power diluted. One resolution is to reduce the voting power of tier 5 clubs (maybe they only get 2/3rds of a vote), but I can't see the HL going for this. As a compromise, perhaps only the top 8 clubs in each LL division get to vote for the following year, or all LL clubs get to vote but their vote only counts for half.