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New clubs in the East of Scotland


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28 minutes ago, Ginaro said:

Whoops, some bad maths from me (I counted 16 and not 12 applying) :1eye - so yeah 25 min, 27 max.

Or perhaps neither will be promoted, as  Threave look to be the likely champions of the SoSL, so there could be a SoSL/EoSL promotion play-off.   Current situation  (top 4):

*Threave Rovers                          20          49

Mid Annandale                             21           48

*St Cuthbert Wands                  23           45

Lochar Thistle                                19           42   

* licensed clubs

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2 minutes ago, Robert James said:

EoSL might lose Kelty or LTHV, promoted to the Lowland. Regarding the latter, when is the Licensing Committee meeting (in April ?) as I have heard that they have submitted a licence application. 

If Kelty (or LTHV if licensed) get promoted they would be replaced by Hawick so no loss to the EoS, however if Threave won the SoS and play-off, then Hawick would be a gain for the EoS.

And if Cove get promoted to the SPFL, the EoS could gain another team if Vale of Leithen finish 15th.

The PDF with the current licensed clubs has a column with "Last Licence Committe Review" wich has Feb/Apr/May/Aug/Oct-17 - guessing the committee meets sometime in those months? https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/2913/201217cl-current-status.pdf

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8 hours ago, kefc said:

Rumour is it’s extemly unlikely that tomorrows deadline will be extended for new applicants into the EOS League for next season although clubs can put an application in tomorrow pending any EGMs or meetings they may have after the deadline.

Looking like any club not part of the EOS will remain Junior for next season, you’d think it’s too late for the SJFA to come to an agreement with the LL, EOS and the SFA to merge or join for next season especially up until the last couple of weeks the SJFA’s stance has always been that their clubs aren’t interested in the pyramid, hence “they never seen it coming” quote this week. The questionnaire blew that stance out the water.

Hearing as of today there’s 12 clubs applied so far 11 East, 1 West -

4 Superleague, 4 Premier, 3 South Region, 1 West

Based on what I've seen on and heard this is what I think. No idea about West team or 2 of the South teams but I've given an educated guess. 

Superleague-Bonnyrigg Rose, Camelon, Hill of Beath Hawthorn, Newtongrange Star

Premier-Blackburn, Dalkeith Thistle, Dunbar, Musselburgh, (Haddington, Tranent?)

South-Edinburgh United, Easthouses Lily?, Craigroyston?

West-Dunipace?, Forth Wanderers?

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Based on what I've seen on and heard this is what I think. No idea about West team or 2 of the South teams but I've given an educated guess. 
Superleague-Bonnyrigg Rose, Camelon, Hill of Beath Hawthorn, Dundonald
Premier-Blackburn, Dalkeith Thistle, Musselburgh, Haddington (Blackburn,Tranent?)
South-Edinburgh United, Easthouses Lily?, Craigroyston?
West-Dunipace?, Forth Wanderers?


Changed a few based on what I’m hearing
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3 hours ago, kleptomaniac said:

 


Changed a few based on what I’m hearing

 

May get confirmation of the number of applicants next week ? No club names though until  later in April.

'Put the names to the numbers' would be an interesting challenge for everyone.

 

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6 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

If clubs decide not to apply now, they might just be biding their time for the pyramid to take shape before moving.

Suspect some/many/most of the 12 applications may even be withdrawn this season due to that and what will be sorted out next will be how an EoS merger with the ERSJFA is going to be engineered and under whose control. That's not straightforward if 16 Tayside clubs are really in the HL rather than LL catchment, so I suspect a mass migration of Fife & Lothians clubs to the EoS could still happen eventually.  The optimal time to negotiate getting everything semi-pro under tier 5 to be under the auspices of the SJFA was when the LL was being launched. It's a bit late in the day to try to do it now.

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3 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Suspect some/many/most of the 12 applications may even be withdrawn this season due to that and what will be sorted out next will be how an EoS merger with the ERSJFA is going to be engineered and under whose control. That's not straightforward if 16 Tayside clubs are really in the HL rather than LL catchment, so I suspect a mass migration of Fife & Lothians clubs to the EoS could still happen eventually.  The optimal time to negotiate getting everything semi-pro under tier 5 to be under the auspices of the SJFA was when the LL was being launched. It's a bit late in the day to try to do it now.

The SFA will not allow 2 separate East feeder leagues, nor an integrated East feeder under the control of the SJFA.

I agree that it must be too late for the SJFA regarding the East. Do you think that there will have been any/many Tayside clubs applications this time ? 

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3 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Suspect some/many/most of the 12 applications may even be withdrawn this season due to that and what will be sorted out next will be how an EoS merger with the ERSJFA is going to be engineered and under whose control. That's not straightforward if 16 Tayside clubs are really in the HL rather than LL catchment, so I suspect a mass migration of Fife & Lothians clubs to the EoS could still happen eventually.  The optimal time to negotiate getting everything semi-pro under tier 5 to be under the auspices of the SJFA was when the LL was being launched. It's a bit late in the day to try to do it now.

I'm not so sure any of those applications will be withdrawn.  I very much doubt any sort of merger will happen beyond clubs leaving ERJFA and joining EoS, there's nothing to be gained by the EoS negotiating any merger.  Join or don't, and clubs leaving it for the SJFA to sort out are gambling where they will end up.   I very much doubt two parallel leagues in the East covering the same geographical area will be entertained.

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Don't see these clubs withdrawing an application. For the committees to have made the decision to move to the EoSFL, they probably won't be swayed by talk from the SJFA. Most of them put in their applications weeks ago and haven't gone public. They could of been cheerleading for change in the Juniors but decided going Senior was the best course of action for their clubs. Nothing's changed in that regard.

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13 minutes ago, Robert James said:

The SFA will not allow 2 separate East feeder leagues, nor an integrated East feeder under the control of the SJFA.

Overlapping east feeders was the plan only a few years ago, if the SJFA had wanted to participate from the outset.  I have no idea how you can state that so definitively and on what basis. The east region feeder scenario is actually the relatively easy bit for them given there are so many clubs showing a willingness to switch grades and do something different and the tier six feeder is happy to oblige. The bigger problem for the SFA is going to be what happens in the Highland League catchment given the tier five feeder in that part of the country doesn't appear to really want to be part of the pyramid and doesn't want to open itself up to new clubs and hence is likely to go apoplectic when the prospect of having to admit any newly licensed Tayside junior teams enters the discourse. Interesting times ahead with issues that are unlikely to be fixed neatly by 2019-20, which is when the mass migration scenario of central belt clubs able to get licensed might become the path of least resistance approach to break the logjam.

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Can’t see the logic in any team wanting to join the pyramid withdrawing its application because the SJFA are going to speak to the SFA. The best outcome they can get is tier 6 as there is no way they will be merged with the established Lowland / Highland. The SJFA have always been opposed to the pyramid so any progress is likely to be at glacial speed if at all (I fully expect more pish about keeping the Juniors separate but play off with LL/HL) teams that move now will be at Tier 6 next season the ones that sit on their hands could well find themselves at Tier 7 or even 8 in the East and it may take years to catch up with the likes of Kelty who will be in at least tier 5. The West and North teams may have good bargaining positions against the SoS and NCL due to their poor geographical areas but the EoS isn’t likely to roll over and let the Juniors jump them and with every Team that joins them their position becomes stronger.

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18 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Overlapping east feeders was the plan only a few years ago, if the SJFA had wanted to participate from the outset.  I have no idea how you can state that so definitively and on what basis. The east region feeder scenario is actually the relatively easy bit for them given there are so many clubs showing a willingness to switch grades and do something different and the tier six feeder is happy to oblige.

Not sure there was ever any "plan", maybe there was, but given that many Junior clubs are switching to the EoSFL, there is no reason for that league to agree to another body operating in its area at the same level in the Pyramid. It's common sense.   If the SJFA manage to convince the SFA/LL/HL/EoS/SoS that they enter intact (unlikely IMO), then it will be at a lower level than the EoS in the East and as a feeder to it.  Just an opinion on my part but I cannot see any circumstance where parity would be agreed.

 

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The ball is in the SFA's court at the moment. The easy fix is all three regions in as is at tier 6 and slowly reconfigure from there and that would be in line with what would have happened if the SJFA had been on board at the outset according to the rhetoric at the time. The financial implications of 160 new clubs trying to get licensed  over the next few years to secure automatic Scottish Cup entry is the other angle that makes the easy fix unlikely to be viewed favourably at Hampden, because from the SFA blazers' standpoint the SJFA were never expected to engage with the process and that could reasonably have been expected to prevent anything too radical from ever happening. If east region clubs are gung ho about licensing best to proceed with EoS applications before some new obstacle to progress can be dreamed up by the powers that be basically, but it might be difficult to persuade a club EGM of that right now, because on the surface it looks like all is rosy and 160 SJFA clubs will all be in the pyramid after next season. Time will tell.

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36 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

Not sure there was ever any "plan", maybe there was, but given that many Junior clubs are switching to the EoSFL, there is no reason for that league to agree to another body operating in its area at the same level in the Pyramid. It's common sense.   If the SJFA manage to convince the SFA/LL/HL/EoS/SoS that they enter intact (unlikely IMO), then it will be at a lower level than the EoS in the East and as a feeder to it.  Just an opinion on my part but I cannot see any circumstance where parity would be agreed.

 

Burnie Man, I agree

Assuming there are enough applicants to the EoS to form 2 divisions for next season, they may decide to limit the league to no more than 3 divisions overall (in future) ,, The 2nd and 3rd divisions should be regionalised, both at Tier 7 level, feeding into the EoS Premier (tier 6).  Initially these would be EoS north and south divisions, which would give the SFA time to look at the HFL/SLL boundary problem, including detailed consultation with the clubs immediately affected, with a view to resolving this matter by 2020/21 or 2021/22. 

This will facilitate consultation on, and implementation of  the proposed WoSL in 2019/20, organised on similar lines to the EoS (tier 6 as above) with a Premier WoSL (tier 6), and 3 geographical divisions at tier 7 (one of which would be the SoSL). It will also give 'wavering' clubs a chance to further review whether they want/don't want to become 'senior., based on the experience of the junior clubs which have already transferred.'

'Senior' East & West Tier 8 leagues would be unnecessary, as these should be within a realigned SJFA framework for junior clubs which  have rejected the pyramid.

 

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If the above is legit and neither poster is the type to wind people up on something like this, it could be related to Linlithgow Rose coming out in favour of pyramid entry and a push to get into the SPFL in their local paper:

On 3/30/2018 at 14:22, Auld Heid said:

FB_IMG_1522406182743.jpg

 

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