Clayhole Blue Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Incidentally - this idea that "letting in" X number of clubs then dismantling the pyramid is a viable alternative makes no sense. At whatever point you draw the line, there will be a number of clubs just below who'd then be wanting to ascend. Agree with you HJ - think it's an idea being mooted among some SPFL fans as there are so many teams further down the pyramid who 'apparently' don't want to come up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Hopefully soon we'll get an automatic promotion and a play-off between League 2 and HFL/LL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I agree with letting in those few HL and LL clubs who want to come in, say 6, but it can't be good to risk established clubs year on year possibly dropping out when it could be avoided quite easily by increasing the number of clubs in SPFL2. If said 'established club' is in fact bumbling around the bottom of the national setup, is shit enough to finish bottom and then lose a two-legged play-off, then it should absolutely be relegated, every single time. The closed shop is thankfully gone and it won't be coming back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elginite Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Congrats to edinburgh city Shame for east stirling im sure theyll be pushing for promotion near this time next season good luck to both teams and look forward to edinburgh city Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 If we ever go to a 3 or even 2 national league set-up I'd like to see the winners of both the highland and lowland go up automatically, bottom 2 down automatically and then 3rd bottom in the playoffs with the two runners up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtgilphead Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 If we ever go to a 3 or even 2 national league set-up I'd like to see the winners of both the highland and lowland go up automatically, bottom 2 down automatically and then 3rd bottom in the playoffs with the two runners up Why? Is this yet another example of you spouting off with no knowledge of the subject you are talking about? How many matches have you seen at League 2/Highland /Lowland level this year? Under the system you outline, Arbroath & Shire would have been relegated & Montrose would have comfortably beaten the winner of the HL/LL 2nd place playoff. Today, Shire weren't significantly worse than the winner of the 2 best teams in the HL/LL. Arbroath beat shire 10-0 over 4 games this year, and beat Brora away in the cup. Even at their worst, the Lichties would have put 3 or 4 past either side today. I can accept that LL/HL teams deserve automatic promotion after they prove that they deserve it by achieving results in League 2, but on today's performance, Edinburgh City will start as favourites for relegation next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawro Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 If we ever go to a 3 or even 2 national league set-up I'd like to see the winners of both the highland and lowland go up automatically, bottom 2 down automatically and then 3rd bottom in the playoffs with the two runners up Fuvk that. Lofty positions can quickly change . Let me tell ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the philosopher Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Lookin forward tae the Social Club & Wee Jimmy's - brilliant. The Plough too at Forfar No been tae the capital for ages. Great If yer good enough yer in otherwise yer doon but ready to rise again if u have any back bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Let's hope the SFA now extend this to cover all senior football in Scotland. Doesn't it? If winners of EoS and SoS are licenced they can go up to Lowland League. There is no viable Senior level below Highland. I think the OP means including Juniors. He should have said non (national) league, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Archer (Raconteur) Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 The Tony Macaroni arena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Today, Shire weren't significantly worse than the winner of the 2 best teams in the HL/LL. Arbroath beat shire 10-0 over 4 games this year, and beat Brora away in the cup. Even at their worst, the Lichties would have put 3 or 4 past either side today. Linlithgow Rose and East Kilbride knocked out teams from the division above you in replays, so the Scottish Cup can also be used to argue that there isn't a huge gap between the bottom two SPFL tiers and the top "nonleague" sides, and that stretching things out over 180 minutes does not necessarily give the SPFL club a significant extra edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 As for the Juniors, they'd add massive amounts to the structure which is why it's just an annoyance that they aren't in the system. It's only going to happen if the top junior clubs act in unision. There's going to be no mass exodus to the EoS and SoS leagues any time soon, because most clubs have a membership that can vote at an AGM and the older generation that dominates things won't be interested. I suspect the so called superduper league that involved a merger between the top east and west superleague clubs was aimed at finding a way to enter on par with the LL and HL while keeping junior cup entry, but although there was some enthusiasm in the east and in the Glasgow area, the Ayrshire clubs are said to have been deeply opposed due to the extra travel involved and the probable loss of more local derbies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtgilphead Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Linlithgow Rose and East Kilbride knocked out teams from the division above you in replays, so the Scottish Cup can also be used to argue that there isn't a huge gap between the bottom two SPFL tiers and the top "nonleague" sides, and that stretching things out over 180 minutes does not necessarily give the SPFL club a significant extra edge. Linlithgow Rose don't play in the Lowland League, so don't currently have a route into the SPFL. I would agree that EK had a decent run in the cup this year, but they haven't exactly made a habit of it over the years. It would be interesting to compare all the HL/LL results against SPFL sides over an extended period. I would expect theSPFL clubs to comfortably hold the upper hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerwickMad Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Why? Is this yet another example of you spouting off with no knowledge of the subject you are talking about? How many matches have you seen at League 2/Highland /Lowland level this year? Under the system you outline, Arbroath & Shire would have been relegated & Montrose would have comfortably beaten the winner of the HL/LL 2nd place playoff. Today, Shire weren't significantly worse than the winner of the 2 best teams in the HL/LL. Arbroath beat shire 10-0 over 4 games this year, and beat Brora away in the cup. Even at their worst, the Lichties would have put 3 or 4 past either side today. I can accept that LL/HL teams deserve automatic promotion after they prove that they deserve it by achieving results in League 2, but on today's performance, Edinburgh City will start as favourites for relegation next year. Exactly my thoughts. Let them walk before they can run. I look at the Lowland League and you could probably count on one hand the number of clubs potentially as big as the teams in League 2. A big turnover every season would be silly, especially at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 A question about how the pyramid works: Edinburgh City and the Shire swapping places works out fine, and last season if Brora had won the playoff then presumably Montrose would have gone into the Highland League. But what would have happened if it had been Brora who beat the Shire this time round? Surely the Shire wouldn't have been expected to replace them in the Highland League? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 There is a fixed boundary for the HL and LL defined by the line of latitude of the mouth of the Firth of Tay, so there is no danger of that happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 So where would the Shire have gone if there wasn't a vacancy for them in the Lowland League? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 What happens is a team drops out of the LL at the other end to either the East of Scotland or South of Scotland League to open up the space for them and keep the Lowland League at sixteen clubs. From next season onwards that scenario could happen, this season the LL only had fifteen clubs, so an extra space was already available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinabear Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 The next stage is to set up a feeder in the west into the LL which is the equivalent of the EofS and SofS. It makes no sense ignoring the largest population base with the most amount of teams. Whether the juniors then get on board is up to them. If not the Caledonian League should be considered Is the Caledonian League considered a senior league? I'm surprised it hasn't already been approached to slot in at tier 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 The North Caledonian League? You are right that it is one of the senior grade leagues that is not part of the senior grade's pyramid, but the problem is it is really struggling for numbers in recent years and has a very short season of ten games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015%E2%80%9316_North_Caledonian_Football_League the other missing one is the Aberdeenshire League that Banks O'Dee and Aberdeen University get to play senior grade games in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeenshire_and_District_League Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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