Footballfirst

No point. It's an SPFL competition.

Can you show me where it says that in the rules? The champions of the HL (Brechin) and LL (Spartans) are granted a place in the group stages. Should either of those teams win the SPFL (Club 42) play off, then the relegated club (Albion Rovers) will be granted a place. There is no reference to relegation in earlier seasons in the rules. Participants 4.2 The Competition shall be contested by: 4.2.1 all Clubs in the League in the relevant Season; (all 42 SPFL Clubs for season 2023/24) 4.2.2 by the League Champion Club, as provided for in the Pyramid Play-Off Rules of each of the Scottish Highland Football League (Brechin) and the Scottish Lowland Football League (Spartans) ("Recognised Leagues") in the immediately preceding season, subject that, in the event that a Club shall have been relegated from the League through the Pyramid Play-Off Competition at the end of the immediately preceding Season then such relegated Club (Albion Rovers), in substitution for the relevant League Champion Club of the Scottish Highland Football League or the Scottish Lowland Football League, as the case may be, in the immediately preceding season, which shall have been promoted to the League and which will be a Club competing in terms of this Regulation 4.2, shall be eligible to participate in the Competition; and 4.2.3 such other club(s), if any, identified by the Board. The Board may, if it considers appropriate in any Season or Seasons, alter/vary whether any of the classes of participant Clubs or clubs identified in this Regulation shall be invited to and shall participate in the Competition in any one or more Seasons and to make such changes to the rounds of the Competition and the balloting for such rounds as it shall consider appropriate. If the structure and/or participants in rounds and/or categories or numbers of participants in the Competition and/or rounds of the Competition shall be altered by the Board then the Board shall give written notice of such change(s) to all Clubs and any other person or club with an interest therein.

From the Scottish Football Archive - Club Directory. http://sfha.org.uk/

Did Hearts fans boycott Spartans when Hibs entered into a deal with Spartans about player development by any chance? https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2014/06/hibs-and-spartans-in-unique-collaboration/ That arrangement ended in tears, of course. Spartans / Hibernian Transition Academy Posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2015 Responding to reports in today’s press relating to the termination of the Transition Academy arrangement with Hibernian Football Club, Spartans Chairman Craig Graham said, “Unfortunately it has become clear that Spartans and Hibs have different approaches to the development of young players. “It is a great shame that the project did not work out as we had hoped. We obviously wish Hibs youth development all the best for the future but we will now focus all our attentions on developing the promising youngsters we have at Spartans.

It's a guaranteed £22,000 for participating, even if you finish 5th in your group. Easy money ....................................... if you keep on the right side of the powers that be..

With today's SFA AGM, any newly licensed clubs will formally be accepted as members. Thus far only Glenafton Athletic in the WOS has confirmed their award. I've seen it suggested elsewhere that Carluke Rovers and Creetown were in line to get their memberships too. Glenafton Athletic Official · CLUB STATEMENT Following the SFA Annual General Meeting that was held at Hampden Park earlier today, we can confirm that Glenafton Athletic have now been granted membership of the SFA. A representative of the club Steven Kerr (Development Officer) was presented a certificate onstage at the AGM in recognition of the club being granted membership of the SFA, having met entry level licensing requirements. Achieving our club license not only allows progression within the pyramid system, but it also means the club now have automatic entry into the preliminary rounds of the Scottish Cup starting this season. Steven Kerr (Development Officer) added: "Achieving our club license has been a long process, and I would like to once again thank everyone who has assisted with our application. There is probably too many people to mention, but I would like to once again thank Keith Stewart from East Ayrshire Council for the help he has given myself with the application, it is greatly appreciated. Over the course of the last year, we have made massive improvements to the Loch Park infrastructure which will be of great benefit to the club and community going forwards. Through grant funding we have been able to install 300 LUX LED floodlights, upgrade the Hunter Suite and Pavilion, build a disability shelter, and we also now have a medical room facility as well within the park" We are sure our supporters will be delighted with this news, and we all look forward to seeing the Glens participate in the Scottish Cup once again.

Confirmation of Glenafton's licence award. Glenafton Athletic Official · Follow · CLUB STATEMENT Following the SFA Annual General Meeting that was held at Hampden Park earlier today, we can confirm that Glenafton Athletic have now been granted membership of the SFA. A representative of the club Steven Kerr (Development Officer) was presented a certificate onstage at the AGM in recognition of the club being granted membership of the SFA, having met entry level licensing requirements. Achieving our club license not only allows progression within the pyramid system, but it also means the club now have automatic entry into the preliminary rounds of the Scottish Cup starting this season. Steven Kerr (Development Officer) added: "Achieving our club license has been a long process, and I would like to once again thank everyone who has assisted with our application. There is probably too many people to mention, but I would like to once again thank Keith Stewart from East Ayrshire Council for the help he has given myself with the application, it is greatly appreciated. Over the course of the last year, we have made massive improvements to the Loch Park infrastructure which will be of great benefit to the club and community going forwards. Through grant funding we have been able to install 300 LUX LED floodlights, upgrade the Hunter Suite and Pavilion, build a disability shelter, and we also now have a medical room facility as well within the park" We are sure our supporters will be delighted with this news, and we all look forward to seeing the Glens participate in the Scottish Cup once again.

With a bit of luck they might. I would like the B Teams to accept their fate now and withdraw their applications as "guest clubs" for the coming season and for the premiership/Championship clubs to get together to form a Reserve League, with no restrictions on age, eligibility or fees to be paid.

The SFA are acting like the Tory government by withdrawing a motion, rather than face the embarrassment of losing a vote.

Annan says no. CLUB STATEMENT-CONFERENCE LEAGUE PROPOSAL The board of Annan Athletic FC have considered the conference league proposal put forward by the SFA and as a club have decided to vote against the proposed creation of a new tier. As a club Annan Athletic FC has always strived to improve and develop and another chapter in our fine history was written when we were promoted to cinch League One this season. The club is fully open to listen to ideas that develop the Scottish game further and feel more work needs to be done within the pyramid system to support clubs who like ourselves strive to continually improve and play at the highest level possible.

"We anticipate being top of the table, on alphabetical order, when the fixtures are announced, at least until the first round of matches"

The last one was probably in 2012 with their attempt to get Sevco a place in the SPL, then Division 1, before they were forced by a fans revolt to admit them to Division 3 (bottom of the "pyramid" as it was then).

I disagree about Hearts communications. They choose their statements very carefully and avoid being contentious. FOH can't even make a statement on topical issues without it being approved by the club Board. Now who owns who? As far as the EOS is concerned, I have suggested it to Hearts coaching staff previously as an alternative to CAS U18s and above, although there were concerns about its impact on SFA funding of "elite" academies. I have previously posted about the benefits of a pathway that involved playing EOS football rather than academy football for the first and second year professionals. I agree on your last point that those who are going to make it with a premiership club need to be playing at a higher level than tier 5. Re Hearts B team least season, they were generally younger than the OF B teams and took half the season to come to terms with playing against adults. They only had 11 points from the first 15 games, but turned it round and ended up with 37 points from next 21. Had they maintained the later rate of points accumulation for the whole of the season, then they would have finished on 63 points, just below EK. I've also spoken to a couple of SFA staff who are involved in player development and they both believed that Hearts got better development outcomes for their B Team players than either of the OF.

Alternatively, the SFA asked the PWG to come up with options which would subsequently be put to the member clubs, thus making it a Board resolution. I fully accept that the OF and possibly Hearts have been pushing for such an outcome. As far as Hearts are concerned, I think they only took the B Team route when clubs failed to agree on a Reserve or Development League for 2022/23 as their youths had nowhere else to play (a limited Reserve League was subsequently created a few weeks after the start of the LL season).

Have you seen the actual resolution to see who is proposing it (not the explanatory note)? I suspect that it is an SFA Board resolution, which would be why Maxwell has been doing the rounds seeking support and not Celtic Rangers or Hearts. Aberdeen says all 42 SPFL clubs were invited. That wouldn't be the case if Hearts or any other club was proposing it.