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This has been a common criticism throughout this thread since the flurry of applications to the EoS started. The logic behind it essentially being that as the likes of Blackburn and Dalkeith aren't as good on the park as the likes of Linlithgow or Bo'ness, they had no right to apply to the pyramid ahead of those clubs who are better on the pitch and are therefore trying to pull a fast one by artificially propelling themselves to a higher level ahead of clubs who outperform them on the pitch. What no one making this argument has been able to do is offer an alternative solution to what those clubs were supposed to do in the circumstances. If Blackburn wanted to join the pyramid but larger clubs didn't, were they supposed to just accept remaining in the Juniors, potentially for several years, until Bonnyrigg, Penicuik and every other club bigger than them decided they were ready to go? Basically giving Blackburn no right to decide their own future in the meantime? It's perfectly apparent that some of the bigger clubs are only now going because their hand has been forced. If Blackburn, Dalkeith and the rest hadn't applied to go for next season then Linlithgow and Bo'ness wouldn't be considering going for next season. Far from the smaller clubs stealing a march on bigger clubs by applying, they've been the catalyst for the bigger clubs to move. If they hadn't done so they'd still be sitting twiddling their thumbs in an organisation they didn't want to be part of, still getting no progress on fixtures, licensing and Scottish Cup access. What else were they supposed to do?

Being involved in the initial discussions of the Lowland League. The offer of the SJFA at Tier 6. Twice, during the initial discussions and supposedly guaranteed more recently according to TJ himself. The offer to retain the name of the Scottish Junior Cup. The Lowland League being restricted to the lowest possible number of clubs to allow for Junior clubs to enter. Hey, if you want a licence now you have to commit to the pyramid. Nudge, nudge,wink, wink, take the hint and get in here already. Kelty being allowed to be a late applicatn to the EoS last year. The EoS guaranteeing Tier 6 status for all applicants for the 2018-19 season. The SFA PWG listening and confirming that the West of Scotland feeder to the Lowland League will be looked at and are involving the SJFA in the make up of that solution. EDIT: Clydebank having a deferred application accepted to the EoS when quite clearly they are a West of Scotland club. EDIT: The EoS offering to help establish a WoSFL at Tier 6 for those interested. None of those are an example of respect being paid to the junior football clubs?

Well played mate. My connection to Dundee is that I was student at the uni 2008 - 2009. I watched United first but found it too ‘family friendly’ for me (shit atmosphere Tbf). I went to Dens after and thought - this is proper. This was when Antoine- Curier was up front. Went to a fair few games that season. Been following ever since.

We can become a top six team. Unfortunately we probably won’t but I’m OK with that. I never supported Dundee searching for trophies, unlike many of the supporters of a certain other club did. I supported Dundee because that’s what my dad, grandad and great grandad did and the fact it’s this city’s oldest and finest professional football club.

69 days until the start of the new season - the length of Franck Sauzee's management career at Hibs.

Big shout out to the right wing Christian weirdos who spent all that time and money travelling from backwaters like Idaho to Ireland to try and guilt trip folk into voting no, only to take an absolute drubbing at the polls. Get it right fucking roond ye.

Jeff is so thick he can't even spell 1690.

Cheers mate that was clear to make out. Again goes back to my opinion smaller junior clubs going is bewildering as there will be even less chance of progression for them in the EoS strange imo Junior leagues offer no opportunities for progression beyond Super League, EoS offers chance to get into the SPFL - its not bewildering to understand why clubs are looking to move. Yes a lot of clubs will never get anywhere near the LL never mind the SPFL but the opportunity for progression is now there for the likes of Dunbar and Blackburn that wasn't there previously. In one year Kelty have gone from East Junior Champions to being in the LL and one division below the SPFL, if they had stayed put last year the best they could have hoped for is winning the East Juniors again.

You seem just about thick enough to be a Happyaccie alias. Also, they weren't in the same sentence, or even on the same fucking line

lives

This is cool and good and why there should be cheap student tickets. I have no family football history at all and ended up following Dundee because orange is a horrible colour to make anything except oranges. I also like an underdog which in the mid-90s we definitely were. Those were the days eh dayglows. Those were the days...

Cheers mate that was clear to make out. Again goes back to my opinion smaller junior clubs going is bewildering as there will be even less chance of progression for them in the EoS strange imo Not sure how you work that one out - it's just totally incorrect. You can gain promotion out of the EoS, but you can't go anywhere once you win a regional Superleague in the Juniors. Also you haven't said what these "wrong reasons" are. Is it wrong for Dunbar to move over when all of their local derbies disappeared? (same goes for Linlithgow/Bo'ness if one moves) Is it wrong for Blackburn to move over when they have good facilities but must join the EoS/pyramid to apply for an SFA licence? Is it wrong for Kelty or Bonnyrigg - who have won the past 4 Superleagues - to move over so they have a chance to progress up the leagues? Is it wrong for Easthouses or Craigroyston - who left the EoS a couple of years ago because of the lack of teams - to move back over as the EoS now has more teams and local games? I've seen this type of comment mentioned a few times in this thread - basically saying it's ok for the Superleague winner to move but not the diddy teams. Well then, let's take that to its logical conclusion - the Juniors will lose 1 member each year and eventually there will be hardly anyone left. It's basically a pyramid system but without relegation from a higher league, and exactly what is happening now but on a much faster scale! Remember - the majority of the East Juniors said yes to joining the pyramid in the survey, so if the SJFA isn't able to join the pyramid intact then it's up to individual clubs to join tier 6 if they wish. If it ends up with most Juniors in tier 6, and others following them to ensure local rivalries continue - then what's the problem?

Surely this is a two way street? Where is the respect for the likes of Dalkeith and Blackburn and the hard working men and women behind them who have thanklessly strived to keep football alive in their communities over many decades? In this regard they are in no way different to the ‘bigger’ clubs you want respect for yet, along with other clubs looking to make strides in the East Region, they are mercilessly denigrated by several posters on here. It really is poor, poor stuff.

Every single group that were publicly in favour of no were either Irish Catholic or American Christian. They 100% tried to make it a religious issue, and were deliciously and deservedly bodied like the backwards, bigoted cuntbags that they are. Religion of all kinds, and anyone that follows / props up their antiquated, homophobic, misogynistic skyfairy believing cesspools can get fucked. Well done Ireland, about time.

Well done is exactly the response. This isn't a vote to say everyone should have an abortion. It's giving women choice and removing the need for incredibly dangerous backstreet operations, illegal purchasing of medication online and preventing girls getting arrested at airports for the crime of trying to get to England to have a safe procedure. It's increasing safety and autonomy and reducing the strain on care settings for unplanned babies. It's stopping women having babies they don't want. It's lowering the chances of neglect of children. Damn right I'm saying well done.

What street is this word on? Sesame Street..

It means woman with babies who aren’t going to survive don’t have to wait until that baby physically dies and potentially further complications to the woman then this is a good move. It means survivors of rape aren’t forced to travel to abort the resulting pregnacy then this is the correct move. Abortions aren’t happening ten a penny. It’s a horrendous decision to have to make. As I’ve already said one I made following failed contraception. I cried going to hospital, cried waiting, cried as I was on trolley and until I was put under. It was still at that time the correct decision. I would hazard a guess that late abortions are more often due to viability with failed contraception ones being early. This will always be an emotive subject but Ireland’s hardline stance had seen woman die due to sepsis as the doctors couldn’t legally intervene. So two lives lost, one which was never going to survive anyway.

Hopefully Tierney watched that and thought, "I could be doing that". But I bet he didn't, because the height of his ambitions is to be interviewed by Michael Stewart about the hoopz.

http://nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=6299;guest=68405259 http://www.clydebankfc.com/club-statement-3/ You can hunt for yourself the distributed version of TJ's emails saying he's got a guarantee for a minimum Tier 6 entry and the more recent WoSFL league will be looked into as part of further discussion. I will specifically answer the response to 2 however. It's not every comment, quite clearly it isn't. The criticism of the SJFA is of the organisation not the clubs and most people confuse the two. All the SJFA does is run the Cup and the national team and very little besides. Those roles can be taken over by the SFA in an integrated pyramid. The ERSJFA, WRSJFAS & NRSJFA can continue either rebranded or integrated with the other senior leagues to create new regional bodies to run the leagues. The only other role of significance that the SJFA as a body do is represent its membership on the likes of the PWG. TJ has been on working groups like this since at least 2005 and during that time there seems to have been very little communication to the membership of what's actually on offer. Then when there has been communication there seems to have been scaremongering leading to recurring jokes over £150k toilets. The SJFA acts out of self interest for the body and has failed in its duty of care to its membership aka the Clubs/the Juniors/Junior Clubs Tier 6 is there for Junior clubs that want it, its been there all along. The SJFA just don't want you to know it because it means the blazers get left behind or risk redundancy through integration.

Surely @Burnie_man and his grade destroying powers could have it set up by Tuesday!

It'd probably be a good move for him tbh coz his first team chances will surely be limited behind the two French lads & Spence + Kamara & Gowser (if they're still with us) but after watching the meet the manager interview I'd imagine any loans won't happen til McCann has seen them in pre season. One player you guys should def be after if he's still in the country is Kosta. Decent solid defender who did a good job for us most times he played til he fell out of favour and didn't play last season. Didn't get much chance under McCann and was loaned out but is a stylish, coffee shop loving chap whose goal helped relegate the dabs

Feel like shit just want Alex Harris to f**k x

Has it occurred to you that the good people of Musselburgh might be more tempted by SPFL opposition than they were by Darvel? Like me, they might have had to use Google to find out who Darvel were, and then decided they had better things to do.

Taking your example, Dunipace may or may not find it tough next year. At this stage, it's guess work. But you are assuming they are moving under the same conditions that saw them finish in that position this year. They are not. They will be playing in a new ground, on a new surface, with a new management team and have already announced they have changed a third of their squad and will be adding a development team at under 20's next year (rather than running and under 20 team at times at first team level last year!). You only need to look as far as Royal Albert to know that on field outlooks change in the non league on an almost seasonal basis. That said, DRS is right, it's not about instant on park success, it's about going to the best place to grow the club for the long term.

Cheers mate that was clear to make out. Again goes back to my opinion smaller junior clubs going is bewildering as there will be even less chance of progression for them in the EoS strange imo I suppose the bigger picture has to be considered for the smaller clubs... Switching focus towards youth (if it's not already in place) - taking any existing U19 sides out of the SYFA set-up to go into the EoS/Lowland/SoS U20 set-up. I know Fauldhouse have a boys club at U17 level in the West Lothian set-up.. http://www.wlayfc.org/index.php/under-17/u17-league-tables The Lowland & EoS Development League is much higher profile in terms of its members, refs appointed by SFA etc... http://slfl.co.uk/table/development-league/ though obviously will need to consider its set-up with the new clubs coming in, some of whom have links to youth sides already. While the knock-on will be a weakening of the SYFA set-up, it does strengthen youth for these clubs and I'd see that as a benefit, putting these clubs much more to the centre of their footballing community - Junior clubs have a tendency to be islands and links with youth clubs are just that, they're not able to be part of the same club in terms of registering players (at Pollok we have a link to Pollok United Soccer Academy 19s and our existing U21s are affiliated too). Junior sides are limited to signing 25 players at one time - the LL Development sides will also have a pool of youngsters to call on come season end without getting bogged down in delayed transfers etc - no need to put out 7 or 8 trialists either! I know there's a provision to sign 20 youth players in the SJFA but not sure the ins and outs of that in terms of signing players beyond 31st March. I've not mentioned money once there but it is a benefit (to the smaller sides) of moving - I'd have thought it easier to recruit better players for the LL Development set-up than it would be to play in the local SYFA leagues. Better players at U20 will benefit the smaller sides. And who knows what the future brings after that? For the bigger sides, Lowland League is the goal and that has added benefits such as entry into the big Senior cups - Irn Bru and League Cup depending on league position.

I agree the SJFA have not acted as from my personal circumstances just now is we don't know what or where we are playing next season. My club and players have worked their arses off all season on and off the park to gain promotion. We have now done that instead of celebrating we don't know what's happening it's very frustrating

Samson is one of these players that plays well for a big club but doesn't seem to bother his arse at clubs like Killie/Dundee.

Fair dos, Again, personally speaking, I feel that the farce that is the leadership of the SJFA has caused a lot of this. They have done nothing to honestly re-assure clubs. All they have said have turned out to be, at best, half-truths. When you have no trust in the leadership but can't realistically change it, then you are left with one alternative. Get out!

I'd like to think most reasonable people in Dundee would, growing up, realise that Dundee fc is the only logical choice. You will get the odd wee fanny who likes bright colours but f**k them, odd freaks anyway.

Having never heard of this '1966 World Cup', I'll have to concede defeat and take the relegation I deserve. Who won?

Our fans talk an absolute power of shite, tbf, and are best ignored. Some whopper in the pub was trying to convince people Sammon had been fined £500 for missing his penalty in the playoff game.

Totally agree with this. The snobbery of some of the fans of the bigger junior clubs is ridiculous. This situation could have been avoided if the SJFA had supported, and engaged with, the development of an appropriate pyramid system. They didn't and we've now got a bit of a mess in the east. There's still time to learn and avoid this mess in the north and west, but the evidence suggests they'll adopt an even more obtuse and conservative position.

The fact it's a forum is precisely why people should use proper English and punctuation. If we end up with a thread full of people posting like leefy then we may as well pack it in.

Imagine a potential manager saying the budget would need to be in line with the expectations of the board. That sort of sensible thinking has no place in football.

It's been 5 years and counting. When the Lowland League was in the discussion phase the SJFA was involved and as a body seem to have scaremongered their membership into believing that the SFA pyramid wasn't for them. After dicussions fell through between all the organisations, the newly created Lowland League's first season stuck with just 12 clubs. Other applicants were turned down in the hopes that some bigger junior clubs would join. They didn't. Since then the likes of LTHV and Leith Athletic have all been denied promotions on the basis they didn't meet licencing. Other clubs that had applied to to join the Lowland League were denied during the open application phase it operated. Even this year either St. Bernard's or Musselburgh Windsor were told not to apply for the EoSFL as their ground wouldn't meet the required standard. Tier 6 is open for the West of Scotland as the SoSFL don't fancy being a feeder to the entire geographic area. The SFA/Senior organisations acknowledge this fact and are working to fill that void. Again the SJFA are involved in those initial discussions of what that would look like. Tier 6 is open in the East of Scotland because the EoSFL are doing everything they can to accommodate interested parties for a transitional season. They don't want the bigger clubs to be stuck behind an additional tier if it can be helped. Plenty of respect has been paid to the bigger clubs in Junior football. They just haven't been interested.

Grown men getting wound up by flegs at football matches is always a good laugh. If Celtic fans want to wave the Irish tricolour, that is their right; if Rangers fans want to wave the Union Flag, that is also their right. Personally, I only identify as Scottish, but I'm totally relaxed about others being able to express their identities as freely as possible, even if I don't share in them. I'd hope the majority of reasonable people in Scotland would be, too.

You seem to have absolutely no grasp of the ambition of either of these two clubs, or of the others who have chosen to move. None at all. It’s not to pull a fast one on anyone. It’s been laid out time and time and time again what lies behind their choice - you simply and wilfully ignore this to drive on with what seems to be your own, oft stated belief that everyone else should wilt on the vine until the chosen few in Ayrshire and elsewhere take up at their leisure what they believe to be their rightful place ahead of those you and Isa (well, I suspect everyone taking an interest knows you are actually one and the same person) denigrate and deem less worthy. I suspect Blackburn, Dalkeith and the other early applicants will be delighted more and more teams now see their future in the EoSFL.

Why would I bother to bet you? I've already got money on it with a bookie. Offer me better odds than the bookies who are currently 4/1 and I'll consider it. Robbie Neilson mentioning that the budget should match the ambition in any job isn't hurting his chances or standing. It's daft to suggest it does. Until then, I'll take anything you say with a pinch of salt given you went on a drunken rant last night on BAWA about how we should not sell JOSH Magennis for any less than £3m.

When you're a libertarian weirdo who thinks state control of society is evil and should be abolished, but wants the state to control what women can and can't do with their own bodies

A **** sight nicer than TJ's SJFA.

Now I couldn’t be happier at what’s happening right now, it’s about fucking time imo. The last week or so however has become a bit embarrassing surely. There are clubs at the forefront of this, who made an early decision and for what i believe to be the right reasons, but this last minute scrambling is cringeworthy, the ‘al go if you’re gawn’ Which now seems to be happening is cringeworthy. This should have been a far easier process for all the east clubs. The main thing is that more clubs are crossing over, but it just looks to me like an absolute clusterfuck

Love you all. Especially@bairnardo.

banana’s absolutely seething and it’s delicious

Dundee before and after relegation: 2004-05 6,880 2005-06 3,795 Dundee United before and after relegation: 2015-16 7,969 2016-17 6,584 Tasty. Must have went to Ibrox IMO.

Indeed we are pish. Completely pish, and deservedly doon. However, when I look at the table I see your mob amassed a whole 0 (zero) more points over 38 games. That's not very good, is it?

Notable he didn't list goalkeeper under his list of every job under the sun he'd done

What a slavering moron.

f**k off. Well done is exactly the correct reaction.

A few years ago I started to get some pains and tingling in my hands, went to the doctor and he said probably a trapped nerve in my neck but just to make sure he took some blood for tests, couple of days later called back for another set of blood tests as apparently I had high blood sugar. Go down to the Doctors’s and new set taken, nurse then said “you have a very low blood count “ . So put on iron tablets and told need to go for further tests including endoscopy and colonoscopy. A couple of weeks later get the colonoscopy and endoscopy done, Doc comes around and tells me “ you have cancer of the colon” I didn’t really know what to say apart from “ok what happens now “ All I can say is that by the time I got home with the mrs there was several messages from specialist nurses and doctors on my phone. Pretty much a conveyor belt and fast [emoji106] Couple of weeks later surgery done and home a few days later. About a week later I had a call from my consultant telling me that they got everything and no need for chemotherapy or radiotherapy, to say I was ecstatic was an understatement. 4 years later still clear [emoji106]