EdinburghBlue

but hope the LL had a watertight contract with Rangers* to ensure that they have to pay up for 23/24

Ben Hughes signs from East Kilbride

He’ll score the occasional spectacular goal for you, but you will lose a lot of balls into the river.

Pleased, but surprised based on what I’d picked up a few weeks back on perceived benefits compared to the LL. Perhaps they didn’t want the ignominy of being the only SPFL supporters other than Celtic and Rangers*. Now time to reform the tiers 4 & 5 structure to address the concerns that were initially pushing Stranraer (and others) towards ‘yes.’

There’s no need to simplify. We know which one is a new club

So when’s the earliest season we could have a local derby between Caledonian Braves and Caledonian Locomotives?

Cammy Williamson signs from Annan

Well isn’t it obvious that the only reason Scotland beat Spain recently was because of the B teams’ addition to the Lowland League? Clearly if we promote them to the Conference League we will win the next World Cup

Pre-season friendly at home to Connah’s Quay on 1 July.

Martín McDonald (gk) signs from Hurlford

And now Dylan Forrest - completing my list of those that I really wanted back.

Last season’s player of the year Kyle Girvan signs on for another season.

Good reason for not allowing Irish teams into the Challenge Cup then

It should be a condition of membership of the SPFL that a team's name does not include the words 'the' or ‘juniors' or ‘university', can only have 'FC' after and not before the location, and cannot include the name of another club.

I think it’s very difficult to speculate at this point, when I doubt there is any side that has eleven signed players yet. And if the teams are as evenly matched as this year it could come down to luck e.g. a late late goal saving one side on matchday 35 meaning that they didn’t have to ‘turn up’ on matchday 36 for what might have been a winner takes all game?

Scott Robertson back as player coach.

Suspect that if it goes through the Conference League will only be a thing for four or five years. By then Maxwell and Celtgers/Rantic will have got their way on promotion-eligibility for their B teams, and the Lowland League will have improved (definitely going to be a better league with Albion Rovers and Linlithgow next year) to the point where current SPFL teams will accept it as a decent place to be relegated to.

There have been a few comments here about 'perennial bottom feeders'. Among the twelve sides that have finished last in the four league structure, six have spent some time in the second tier. Five have an average finishing position that would be in the third tier. Only Elgin and the Shire never made it out of the fourth tier, but both had seasons where they missed out on promotion via the playoffs. One definition of 'bottom feeding' might be number of times finishing in the bottom half of the third tier. Since the move to the four tier structure the Shire did this 18 times and Albion Rovers 17 in 29 years, so arguably deserved relegation. Montrose and Elgin have been in the bottom five 16 times each (Elgin from six fewer seasons), so maybe equally deserving of relegation? But Queen's Park (11) have been bottom five more often than relegated Berwick and Cowdenbeath (10 times each). Brechin were only bottom five three times, as often as Arbroath. So I think the analysis shows that while some serial poor performers arguably deserve to now be in non-league football others were unlucky with a bad spell, and yet others that are now in higher levels were lucky that their period of under-performance occurred prior to the establishment of the pyramid.

Struggling to think of any worse games I’ve been to this season than the two playoffs. Was surprised that Rovers finished bottom given that they were responsible for two or three of the ten best performances I saw in SPFL2 this season. But over the two legs they played like a team who finished bottom - the ‘excellent’ Rovers just didn’t turn up. But they weren’t well beaten in the way that Berwick, Cowdenbeath and the Shire were, and I think I might feel a bit unlucky over the two legs. Because Spartans weren’t very good either. Perhaps the difference between the two sides was that Spartans looked as if they had a plan and stuck to it, where Rovers looked at tactical sixes and sevens. And once Rovers fell behind today, they were only short spells and flashes when they looked as if they might get back into the game. For most of the game. Spartans strangled play (a better referee should have done something about their time wasting.) But I also think an experienced manager like Clark should have had them better organised, and a plan B for when plan A wasn’t working. Rovers weren’t helped by the referee. I was astonished in the first half when he didn’t produce any card when a Spartans defender stopped a Rovers breakaway by grabbing the player around the neck/face. And if Reilly had been more professional late in the second half and gone down when his heels were clearly clipped, Rovers might themselves have been awarded a penalty. Congratulations to Spartans on winning promotion. They have a fairly decent little ground (light years better than Bonnyrigg’s). And I hope they learn from Bonnyrigg’s mistake in sticking to the same squad for the SPFL. I think there’s maybe only two or at a push three of the Spartans squad that are good enough for the SPFL. Commiserations to Rovers. I hope they will come back. To all the naysayers who are saying that relegation from the SPFL is a one-way ticket to permanent non-league football, look at what’s happened in England. It’s taken a few years, but there are now teams that have had more than one promotion/relegation to the EFL and last time I looked there were ex-league teams playing as far down as the ninth tier. And non-league teams have made it to the top league. Eventually, the Lowland League will have a good mix of ex-SPFL and ex-juniors (and hopefully no B teams, boys clubs or University sides), and there will be teams that can spend some time in any one of tiers 2 through 6.

So the answer was Albion Rovers

Congratulations Annan… but FFS you’ve inflicted Clyde on us for next season

Josh Walker also back next season

Somebody told me that it took only eight minutes to sell out.

All ticket https://albionroversfc.com/match-information-albion-rovers-v-spartans/

Er, is this not what the continuity apologists claim they actually did?