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The reaction to our reaching the Scottish Junior Cup Semi-finals has been truly amazing. We are humbled at the number of messages we have received from well wishers, our friends at other clubs and from the people of Wishaw. Thank you all. Still living the dream. C'mon The Wishy.

I can't believe anybody has addressed the really big issue here, i.e. Tom Johnstone's blatant and unprovoked use of the word "promulgated".

What I've learned from all this, is there's a lot of people who are fans of structure and organisation, rather than actual football. I've never played computer games, but this is how I imagine some might be. The football landscape would be vastly different if we were starting out now, but we're not. The above chart is naive at best and ludicrous at worst. To be implemented you'd be asking teams to relegate themselves and possibly go out of business. I don't mind an argument between the pro and anti pyramid, but shite like the above adds nothing.

It’s all too late for the SJFA. They can only fit in underneath a West Of Scotland Senior League once it’s set up.

So the answer to the question in the topic header is simply - Clyde. End of thread.

Statement from TJ put out public, its on Twitter @scottcam67 Reads to me as Junior clubs put your faith and trust in the SJFA to negotiate the very best scenario on your behalf. He stuck 2 fingers up to the pyramid and Licencing for the past 10 years and now clubs got wise to the situation he’s now been booted into action. His idea looks like we will join en masse alongside and we can get our clubs licenced, enter the Scottish Cup, have referees provided but we will keep our Junior grade and the Scottish Junior Cup for those clubs that stick by us. While your at it give us some extra Scottish Cup places too. Non League needs to be all in with everyone working together for the greater good, having splits can’t work. Get every club in together under 1 banner with different regional leagues and boards under tier 5, all clubs can get licenced, Scottish Cup Entry, Scottish Junior Cup open to all non league clubs with possible regional ties for the 1st few rounds to ease travelling for smaller clubs. Good on TJ for being pro active on the statement but working in different groups and organisations is partly why this mash up is happening, TJ doesn’t seem to see it, deluded, self preservation mode who knows.

* First the GOOD NEWS (for some): The SJFA questionnaire has confirmed that the majority, but certainly not all Junior clubs want to join the "current pyramid" A substantial minority of other Junior clubs want to remain with the SJFA The SFA is not seeking to 'close down' the SJFA The extensive range of SFA financial and other benefits available to its Member clubs (see earlier post, not from me), will be extended to Junior clubs as/when they join the Pyramid. * Now the NOT SO GOOD NEWS (for some): The SFA will not allow a second Tier 5 feeder league for West clubs, now or next season The SFA does however want a West league asap, which could by adopting the West Super League en bloc as the 'senior feeder to the SLL, at Tier 6 The SFA will never accept two Tier 6 leagues in the East. To do so would be insane The SFA has no intention of 'demoting' the EoSL, and its existing member clubs would reject it Some East Junior clubs will be elected to the EoSL for next season (numbers still speculative). * Now the BAD NEWS (for some ) The SFA will not licence Junior clubs who decide to remain in the Junior Leagues The SFA will need to give SoSL clubs the chance to join a new West feeder league, but applications are unlikely from any clubs (except Threave ?) before realigning the SoSL at Tier 7 The SFA will not agree to play-offs between 'senior' and 'junior' clubs for promotion to the SLL (nor to the HFL). >>>>>>> 5 days to go until the EoSL & SoSL deadline for new clubs, closes. Arguments will no doubt continue , but will these make much if any, difference to the eventual outcome for 2018/19 ? We are where we are, and there is no perfect solution for all interested parties. NB : The above are my personal views.

Scottish football needs a strong Renton.

Nothing in the west needs to change the new 16 team league next season simply just needs to be put into the pyramid at the same level as the EOS. It is not rocket science

All it means is the SJFA will probably have a meeting with the SFA. SJFA ask to join at level 5, SFA piss themselves laughing, meeting over.

Only 10 months ago after our meeting with Boness and Bonnyrigg, we asked if we could get himself and all East and West Superleague clubs round the table to see if there was appetite for change from the top down as 1 working together. I asked him and it was totally dismissed within a second of him getting asked, not even want to chat about it. The same dismissal the SFA got when talks began on the pyramid 10 year ago, the same dismissal he gave at the last AGM when we left that we were wrong. He’s had plenty time and It’s looking very likely that it’s him that’s got it very wrong. A blind man could see change was coming when LL and EOS clubs were able to get licenced and reap the rewards but some of the biggest non league clubs couldn’t because they were part of a different association. It was only a matter of time before trust and faith was lost and clubs researched what they were missing out on due to bad leadership, no wonder clubs decided to look after themselves.

The statement in Scott Campbell's article that "15 of the junior clubs who responded are currently club licensed" is incorrect. Only 3 are - Banks O'Dee, Linlithgow Rose and Girvan. The other 12 can only be said to CLAIM that they "meet Entry-level Club Licensing criteria" as the survey asked. The quote there from TJ that "most Highland and Lowland clubs are licensed" is of course also incorrect. If it was meant to refer to all Highland LEAGUE and Lowland LEAGUE clubs , then of course ALL of them (not most) are licensed.

What age until he’s wearing someone else’s face?

I don’t know if it’s because he’s so outspoken and erratic, if it’s because he’s never been on the sky / matchroom hype train, or maybe even because he’s a gypsy (or maybe a bit of all three), but Tyson Fury has never received anywhere close to the credit he deserves for outboxing one of the most dominant heavyweight champions in history, and I suspect that even if he beat Joshua, Wilder and Parker in the same night he still wouldn’t. I would absolutely love him to make a proper comeback, clear out the division, unify the belts, and shut all the “he got lucky, Klitschko had an off night” detractors up.

To all those elitists out there who think the juniors only revolves around a few teams think again, those of you who know Bill Robert and Alex and others know how much work they have put in over the years at times just to survive but as time goes on move the club forward to the heady heights of the Scottish Cup semi-final. To other smaller clubs take note what can be done by hard work and determination. Good Luck in the semi final and mind my ticket for the final.

What 'scientific' evidence is there that the Holocaust didn't happen? I assume said 'evidence' can explain away the eye witness accounts from thousands of Allied soldiers, the actual camps themselves, the photographic and video footage, the survivor accounts, the trials of various Nazis, the mass graves, the satellite images, the many pieces of physical evidence such as the 'ledgers' and prisoner uniforms and loads of other stuff. Any Holocaust denier is a mentalist and a disgraceful racist who should be utterly shunned from society.

And you wonder why some people think the Juniors are arrogant? Moreover, whilst you may think they're "shite" they're still made up of hard working folks who commit time, energy and, in some cases, money to ensure they survive.

The cynic in me might believe that although the majority of Junior clubs now want to join the pyramid, the SJFA negotiating on their behalf will just make unfeasible demands like joining at the same level as the LL. Then claim that they tried their best for their members and revert back to what we have currently with a few Junior clubs taking matters into their own hands and leaving.

A big NO from me. Where would an extra 4 games fit into the fixture list ? Why should Linlithgow go straight into the LL ?

The short summary of this is “chaos”. You cannot be an SJFA Club in an SFA pyramid - one or the other. If this progresses the SJFA should fold and let one national pyramid be set up and administered by the SFA. Easiest way.

If he was as hard as he thinks he is, he would have had it against the Northern bit. Nonced out of it by the sounds of it.

”Britain’s youngest taxidermist” They have done a no bad job on the kid though, looks almost real!

That's true! Look I've got a lot of time for the majority of guys involved in the club and really appreciate the hard work that they put in but really, it's just all getting a bit tedious. Scottish Football issue I know but far too expensive to watch utter guff most weeks and our inability to even give those feckers along the road much of a game yet again is just depressing. Makes sense to lie down to Ayr on Saturday to guarantee 2 full houses at Bayview next season. You can point to plastic pitches and nice highlights but really who cares when we've had yet another pointless season in our recent turgid history

8 Mile I don't know this guy whatsoever, but it sounds like your 100% Correct in saying he's not giving it up. His statement reads along the lines of, I've sat on my arse and done nothing for years, but I've now been found out as to being absolutely useless and I'm now going to panic and spout some words to try and cover up my years of doing zero.

I don’t think Isa wants to answer this You keep saying this but how have they been relaxed? Whitehill reached the standard for the LL soon after it began but the standards haven’t changed since. Also people keep talking about grounds. It’s not the ground that gets the licence, it’s the club. Fair enough you need a first aid room, disabled toilets etc, but you also have to produce proper accounts going back about 3 years for starters. You have to have qualified coaches, physio, etc. Look it up.

It’s a brilliant story and Darvel and plenty teams like us would love to be in ur shoes , my dad passed away a couple of years ago but since 1976 every time he had a few drinks In him he loved telling stories about at that time the road to hampden and the actual final itself where Bo’ness beat us but guys no harm to the other teams left in it I hope it’s ur year , it gives hope to every wee junior team in Scotland that with hard work and the right attitude and no shortage of ability that Roy of the rovers stories can actually happen

Bus drivers are c***s. Not quite as bad as taxi drivers or cyclists, but c***s all the same.

Just imagine, if we had voted YES we’d presently be sitting back pissing ourselves laughing at the Brexit debacle whilst gearing up for making Scotland Europe’s financial centre and opening our country to disillusioned English, Welsh and Irish folk as well as other Europeans,

With only a modicum of respect you need to actually understand the point being made. In fact, maybe less than a modicum. At no point did I reference the structure in 2018/19. If you read the sjfa release you'll see it talks about 2019/20. This is what the vast majority of junior teams will work to now. The point made about the west was that the top league should slot in and become tier 6. Logically the 3 leagues below would be 7, 8 and 9. In the north, the top league can slot in at tier 6 too. In the east, that model doesn't work. You could never slot in 16 teams at tier 6 - and it doesn't actually matter whether you want to talk about 18/19 or 19/20. The east juniors - in comparison to their counterparts in the west and north - could never have had any more than 4 - 6 places available to them if the existing tier 6 is maintained. This is because 12 teams were already there. My response was the Kenny from Beith who - logically enough - saw a solution for the west. But if the sjfa and sfa are intent on bringing junior football into the pyramid in 19/20 - as a unit and not on a drip feed of club by club then the east cannot achieve parity with the west and north. And the sjfa has at leat an obligation to see how that can be resolved. You'd know this if you didn't miss out key words when reading what others post.

Please stop quoting H**nyAccie. My eyes are bleeding.

The boy Wolters seems like a great young talent, get him in the first team.

Juve-Milan at 7:45 and then that Golazo film at 10. That's my Saturday night sorted.

Get fences and bank machines mixed up.

Good piece. Reminds me a lot of our first run. It was so similar except we came from pretty much nothing whilst you've been operating at a decent League level for a long time now. In 1997 we were dawdling along as a part time side in what is now League 1. Not threatening to go up or down. Without a promotion since 1986. Without a title since 1951 and with no cup final appearances ever. We'd reached the semi finals of the first ever Challenge Cup in 1991 (losing 3-2 at Ayr after leading 2-0) but shown no sign of doing anything else in it since. But a run of home wins followed by a surprise 2-0 away win in the semi final at Morton had us in unknown territory. A cup final which was against Falkirk at Motherwell. It came out of nothing and ticket sales just grew and grew until we took (I think) about 4,500 to that Final. It was an unknown time of excitement at Palmerston and it felt like we could really do it. In the end much like yours we just got edged out. We possibly had more of the chances in the final but were beaten 1-0 by David Hagen's goal. All a bit of an anti-climax in the end but as I said before, it played a big part in waking the club up. In 2000 we got lucky when Hamilton's strike saw us escape a thoroughly deserved relegation to the bottom League (we've still never played in it) but in 2002 we won our second ever title and got promoted to the 1st Division. 6 months later we were back in the Challenge Cup Final and this time beat Brechin in it. We established ourselves as clearly Scotland's best part time side (a title Dumbarton have held for a long time now) before turning full time in 2007 following another Great Escape from relegation when we came from 12 points behind Stranraer at the end of January to escape with a game to spare. 12 months later we were in the Scottish Cup Final and UEFA Cup. Another two Challenge Cup Finals (one win, one loss) have followed since and, in a one season sojourn back in League One, a divisional points record and another title. It's been a pretty stellar 20 years really over the piece. Probably can't expect to follow all that but hopefully you'll be able to use the experience and interest levels raised to kick the club on a bit. Maybe be back in it sooner than another 100 years!

Small Faces - My Way Of Giving

Shameless plug time. I was asked to write a wee feature on the Cup final experience, I was full of hope that it would be one of the most enjoyable things I've ever written. In reality I went upstairs when I got in. Sat for an hour or so in silence, wrote it, and then fell asleep on my sofa. You can give it a read here. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/unlucky-sons-dumbartons-big-day-12255048#ICID=sharebar_twitter

It may not be rocket science but ... if 16 west teams are propelled to tier 6 because there has never been any previous pyramid engagement and the same happens in the north, there are going to be a lot of unhappy junior teams in the east who already had 12 teams at tier 6 (excluding the arrival of Kelty this season and whoever goes next season). And those 12 were there before the pyramid was a thing so it's chance rather than design. Effectively we're saying west and north to tier 6 and east to tier 7. If that's how it is, then that's not going to fly and the sjfa cannot negotiate that as a solution.

Was looking after my sister's cat last week. He's never been seen at the same time and place as Batman, just saying.

There effectively is a West league already. It's called the South of Scotland League.

Not going to happen, and quite rightly so. And the juniors haven't committed to the pyramid. Saying you want in at level 5 isn't committing to the pyramid.

A packed old Tannadice, possibly the home leg of the 1987 UEFA cup final v Gothenburg?

I've read some amount of pish on here (quite a bit from myself) but serial non-payers talking about bankrolling other clubs takes the biscuit,

Was damaged in the storm of 68.

This is patent nonsense given the roll call of colossally racist incompetent wankers that have held the office over the years. I don't think Corbyn himself is anti-semitic. He's just incredibly naive and is very much happy to indulge dodgy groups which hold similar views to himself. There's a very toxic element of the left that are well organised, have helped to finance Corbyn's takeover of the party and as such are likely viewed as undroppable. It would be an incredibly bold statement for him or anyone to do it but it needs done and ASAP if Labour have aspirations to build a genuinely inclusive and progressive movement. Another problem with this is that the centre-right of the party have spent so long shitting their pants over literally anything they could any day they could that there's now a siege mentality among the Corbyn left (Canary, Paul Mason etc) who are happy to dismiss this as yet another smear when it's actually valid criticism for once.

Firhill for chills...

This is between 66-67 (the Copland Road End was covered during the season) and 1973 when the seats were put in at the near side which became the Centenary Stand. This photo clears up a load of questions from younger posters about the infamous Stairway 13. Unlike Hampden, you could only exit the end terraces at 2 places which you can clearly see at the Broomloan End. So the whole crowd from behind the goals was funnelled into 2 stairways and the crush could be terrifying. Stairway 13 can be seen sticking out on the extreme left. A way of avoiding the crush can be seen - the sloping path leading from the Cowshed. There was no segregation then, you could move round the terrace. Also something I never realised before, the land must have been higher at the Broomloan End as the stairways there are shorter.

Hellooo boyysss!!!