Ginaro

After seeing the various comings and goings in that other threads - how many clubs do these three leagues (covering the same area) actually have now? What would it take for them to merge together - when one or two of them drop down to just a single division?

The fact you think they judge offside when the ball leaves a players foot makes your entire post worthless and just confirms my point about fans being ignorant about the laws and VAR. You also just ignored the fact that the lines are made thicker in order to account for a margin of error. Your last sentence about referees who don't use the semi-automated system not being able to do UEFA/FIFA games just doesn't make sense, as almost all competitions (except Serie A and from next season La Liga and the Premier League with SAOT) using VAR have the same Hawkeye system as we use.

You do realise that the blue and red lines are deliberately made thicker to account for the margin of error, so that if the lines were touching in Coventry's case it would've been onside? Quite a lot of fans are ignorant about officiating and the laws of the game they are watching so I wouldn't trust their "common sense" judgement or otherwise. You go on Twitter and see people talking about the ball leaving the foot, the camera not being in line, margin of error, and lines on the pitch - and you realise that the average fan doesn't know much about VAR yet will still talk nonsense. Feel free to ask IFAB to change the offside law to add even more subjective interpretation to it so the poor assistants and referee without VAR have even more to deal with in terms of judging if a player is offside based on similar criteria to DOGSO. If Aberdeen were in Man Utd's position on the receiving end of an offside decision like that against Celtic on Saturday would you have been happy to have been without VAR and conceded the goal? So the assistant has to judge how far the attacker is past the last defender for this arbitrary/subjective "daylight" to decide if they are offside or not?

Everyone at the bottom cheering on Beith and Broxburn in these next few weeks to avoid 13th going down as well.

Apart from when East Stirlingshire finished 2nd in their first LL season.

They only lost 2-3 to Dunbar in the Scottish Cup (though also lost to Harthill in July) so they've probably got a decent chance, with less travel, fewer games and a slightly later season start to help them as well.

Cowdenbeath were in the SPFL League Cup which took up the first two LL matchdays. Playing SCC or EOSQC cup games midweek doesn't work when you have a team without floodlights or you're playing a club from Ayrshire for example. Automatic relegation for club 42 (frees up two weeks) and automatic promotion for tier 6 winners would help solve fixture issues for non-league clubs while keeping an 18 team league competitive.

At the other end of the table, Strathspey are now safe with Lochee United unable to win the Midlands League.

Well that's that then, Dundee North End winning every game the only thing that can stop Broughty.

Next two weeks after Saturday, LL at home first

A Broughty win on Wednesday with Lochee United failing to win means the latter is out of the running. North End not winning means they will almost certainly be out of contention. Broughty not winning v Tayport while winning their final game, means Lochee winning all four would give them the title (but not easy games v North End, Carnoustie, Downfield)

Don't think it's the three Junior Cup games for Shotts that have been the factor in their fixture pileup... (and even if they weren't playing in that they they'd probably have played the same amount of games in the Strathclyde Cup) Also, the East of Scotland League finish their lower divisions a week later than Premier and the WOS did similar last season, so I don't see why extending the season is an issue. Certainly Campeltown shouldn't be made to play midweek in East Kilbride when they could play it on the next Saturday.

Highland League area teams in League 2 are 5 and 7 points ahead of club 42 with 3 games remaining - so unless that gap is overcome then 18th will be going down with 17th having to wait until the outcome of the pyramid and League 2 play-offs. Going to be a massive game at Raydale Park on Saturday between Gretna and Edinburgh Uni.

If you're counting regional cups like the EOS Cup, Fife Cup, or Glasgow Cup etc then there could be more.

League - 4 games SCFA Cup - QF J Haig Gordon - SF Cree Lodge Cup -SF Tweedie Cup - SF So 8 games, potentially up to 13, with 8 Wed/Sat matchdays left to crown a champion. Guess they want to try and get them played sooner so other teams aren't hanging around for any potential finals after the play-offs.

You can see a yellow socked player on the red line And it’s not the player they’ve drawn the lines against. I thought that at first (whether there was something yellow amongst all the red) but if you look at the actual footage after the ball is kicked none of the Livingston players feet are where it's been circled.

I saw a TERF making it topical by saying the SNP are handing out puberty blockers to children

Well here's the thread that started it. Seems like a problem for candidates in this area (see previously Neale Hanvey).

From the SFA website. At least it sorts out the question of offside, as it's not even close. I do wonder if the assistant probably wouldn't have even been able to see the Aberdeen player at the bottom due to three others in an offside position in the middle, so his play-on decision might've been just as dodgy as the VAR making the decision without lines.

Didn't realise this occurred as I didn't bother watching the nil-nil on Sportscene! Here's the freeze frame - is Livingston 11 at the top is playing the Aberdeen player at the bottom onside? Missing from the statement is whether the SFA have since checked the offside using the footage available and produced the lines because it would be useful to see how close it was. Also: "What this situation demonstrates, in our opinion, is that the version of VAR that Scottish football has, or more accurately, can afford, is not suitable for the purpose in which it is intended." - it's the same offside system as other leagues like England use (with fewer calibrated cameras though to help avoid obstructed body parts) and any system could fail to work at some point. This is just the VARs deciding not to just go with the on-field decision in a close offside rather than a "version of VAR" thing...

Abbey Vale's draw tonight means that a licensed club will win the title and enter the Lowland League play-off against the East winner (if not also the West).

You would need to apply for election to the WOS and join at Div 4 if my info is correct. But, the WOS is full at the moment anyway at 80 clubs. West area clubs in the LL would drop down into the WOS Premier (and would be accommodated even if it meant 81 clubs). Technically the wording rules out Caley Braves from the WOS due to their previous SOS membership but I'm sure they'd be allowed in given they are in Lanarkshire. WOS rule 15. A Club relegated from the SLFL that is a) based within agreed geographical boundary of the League, and b) was previously a member of the League or a member of the SLFL at the time of the formation of the League will automatically become a full member of the League and shall play in the Premier Division. Any clubs relegated from the SLFL that was previously a member of any other comparable league shall not be eligible for membership of the League.

With all WOS clubs in the Junior Cup it would be even more like a WOS Cup in the latter stages - you'd still need to get EOS clubs involved to get back to what it was. Unless the plan is to sabotage the South Challenge Cup with WOS clubs pulling out and making it less attractive to the EOS clubs in order to force some sort of non-league cup merger? A good change to the Junior Cup to financially incentivise clubs would be to make it so that the home club isn't paying the away team's travel guarantee, to help stop smaller clubs losing money when they host someone from a different region. If you want to attract clubs that's more important than the prize money awarded in the latter stages for which most clubs will never get close to.

Says who? Last year the season continued for another two weeks, and other leagues continue after that date (which is only for the Premier Division to crown a champion for the LL play-off).

Took until the fourth season of being part of the pyramid for a licensed club to win the EOS. And the WOS has had the same number of licensed champions as the SOS, in its two year existence.