Dev

Thanks. Counted 54 teams listed. Wondering who Team 55 is?

I see that the EoS has released the teams and groupings for next season with a small increase in numbers starting the season 2023/24 compared to the start of 2022/23. Up to 40 from 38. Is there any news about the teams and groupings yet for the WoS?

Hasn't Knightswood plans for a new ground, and that is how they were acceptable to the WoS?

A club or team labelled Edinburgh City Whites joined the Lothian and Edinburgh Amateur League in Division Two at the start of 2022/23 season. They are still there next season. Their edited details as at the start of 2022/23, from the league handbook: EDINBURGH CITY WHITES Secretary: David Burton Address: Alternative: Wendy Anderson Ground: Forrester HS 3G Colours: White/Black They may be a separate club from FC Edinburgh? Anyone know more?

No pyramid system is without its' issues so the Scottish one has to fit Scotland as best possible.

That was then but times have moved on rapidly.

IMO The English clubs in the EPL or those in the EFL with any dreams of playing, one day, in the EPL, are not likely to want to introduce outside competition from clubs which had the potential to take "their" place at the top table. Just not going to happen. The OF aren't big enough to buy their way in or pressure their way in.

Is it accurate, does anyone know, if Real Madrid's Reserve team, i.e. Real Madrid Castilla, has to be run and registered entirely separately within the Spanish League with transfers of players etc done as though they were entirely separate clubs. This means that players cannot play for both "clubs" in the same season without appropriate transfers being carried out. If the worst comes to the worst, in many eyes, shouldn't B teams be run, during the playing season, as separate team squads. You cannot have players chopping and changing from week to week. That would be extremely unfair on the other non "B" teams which they would be playing against as it would directly affect the final league tables (promotions, relegations, etc).

Maybe introduce "District Development" Divisions for e.g. Ayrshire, Glasgow West and Glasgow East or split Glasgow North and West South, whatever works best? Clubs wanting promotion to Division Four would follow the English example and apply for promotion by a dead-line date with say the top approved applicant from each District being promoted and the bottom three from Div.4 relegated. At least that would soften the blow of relegation to any of the current leagues. The District leagues would have to be open to applications rather than a promotion/relegation situation with the lower leagues. Applications could also be considered from clubs in Youth Leagues or even cold starts. It wouldn't be reasonable to block such clubs as such. They could get in and fail at District level if that's how it turns out but don't turn them away if they appear to be properly organised.

Glenvale (Ferguslie Sports Centre) There's a post which says they're moving to St Anthony's ground. No idea if that's correct. Anyone know?

..... so, if desired, the arrangement could be ended by simply withdrawing the "invitations".

That's about it, I believe, except that it is a top 5 position rather than top 3. Although sometimes a club seems to be able to bypass the rules for entry if there's enough room for an extra club to be received. Also space can be made for clubs which are being reformed after going bust or similar. There's also a system of relegations at the bottom of the pyramid. I understand that the bottom of the NLS is the official bottom of the pyramid. That pyramid being fed by lots of lower leagues although not all lower leagues promote clubs e.g. the Amateur Football Alliance based around London.

Then all three can be shown the door! If there was more to it legally then if one or more walks away there may be a possibility of taking action against that/those clubs. If the LL can't do it then a complaint needs to be sent (in writing and independently witnessed!) to the SFA's new boss as it would then force them to make a decision about what to do/not to do about it. That would put them on the spot though. Oh dear! Maybe a good idea?

Why don't applicant clubs which have been considered to be acceptable to the WoS just play-off for any places which are available? This would be quicker than waiting for agreements to be sorted out with lower leagues. It would also be easier and fairer than the current system of votes deciding who gets in. There does need to be some certainty that at least one new club gets into the league each year (if there are any acceptable applicants). That, in turn, begs the question about what happens to the bottom club each season.

What I had in mind was the mention that some of the former Nairn County Colts side were preferring the NCal to the North Juniors due to the travelling. Also they'd had first hand experience of playing in the NCal. Is it possible that Nairn St Ninian will have to change due to that is what younger players want? If they go will Forres Thistle and Burghead go also? There might also be Strathspey Thistle having to make the choice in years to come. That could all help to improve the NCal and improve its' standing in the Highland League area.

There does need to be a minimum set of standards, not just playing standard, to be met before any club should be allowed into the league. However, there are many on here who have supported the idea of having lower ground/facilities standards as you go down the divisions. Certainly seems a sound idea for the Fourth Division or even Division Three?

Thanks. Presumably there is no relegation from the Fourth Division even if the league grew to 81 clubs or more?

This little gem came from Troon's web site. Nice little Punch-line: Conference League Vote withdrawn 6th June 2023 We are delighted to note that the proposed vote at today’s Scottish FA A.G.M. has correctly been withdrawn. The original proposal was delivered to league bodies & to clubs in March, labelled “Strictly Confidential.” It has been very poorly received, with multiple supporter’s groups coming out against the proposal, several SPFL clubs publicly stating they would oppose it in a vote an, crucially, NO clubs publicly stating their support for the proposal. Yesterday afternoon, the SFA circulated the below email to it’s members, announcing the withdrawal of the proposal: Should the proposal have been presented & defeated, it would not be permitted to be re-submitted within the next 2 or 3 years, so the suspicion is it will be back next year in another guise. But for now, common sense has prevailed!

Do you see any prospect of Nairn St Ninian or any other of the more westerly North Junior clubs making the switch to the NCal before too long?

The WoS is evolving and trying to deal with various situations. However, .......... Given that most anticipated that at least one WoS champion club would have won the play-off for entry to the LL in the last two seasons there has to be a road-map for the situation whereby the same happens again at the end of 2023/24 and, worse, a WoS area club is also relegated from the LL. Would there be 81 clubs in the WoS in 2024/25 or what? Do the WoS rules deal with that situation? Would there be a temporary expansion of the Premier division or would extra clubs be relegated throughout the divisions, and would the bottom club in Division Four be thrown out of the league altogether. What is the plan? Surely the current rules have to cover this potential situation. Do they? The idea of some liaison with leagues from outside the senior pyramid sounds good.

Indeed but the facility was needing to be finished not long ago, having been subject to long, expensive, delays. Having said that it isn't as much fun as banging on about perceived grievances! Nevertheless, unless there is an 80 club limit in the WoS rules St Pats should have been allowed in [a] because they did meet the criteria and the league is partly there to foster football at the level its' at in the region. Surely one or two extra clubs could have been shoe-horned in i.e. with mid-week matches already being lined up for the first part of the season in order to ease late season fixture pile-ups.

It has been previously posted that St Pats are moving to the new Athletics facility in Dumbarton so they should be OK by next year at that ground.

Maybe there's a compromise? Issue an "interim" set of figures with no figure in for the missing match or put in an average figure for the club. Make it clear what it is and then issue the finished list whenever that is ready. It takes a lot of effort and perseverance to do what has been done throughout the divisions covered. Shame that the leagues in the pyramid don't do this anyway.

If this has not been done already, the first thing that the club MUST do is to get an independent valuation of Dunterlie carried out by a Chartered Surveyor who specialises in assessing the development potential and values of sites in Glasgow. Only then can the Council's proposal be judged on its' merits. In any case there is no need to lose the freehold of the new location as part of any deal. That's the Council trying it on as it makes little difference to the current value of that site and does not need to be part of any deal. The club needs to be able to compare the value of Dunterlie with the value of the new site with all works completed (if the Council are doing the works as as part of any deal. Who is to carry out the works and bear the costs of planning, design, supervision, etc etc? In any case no relocation until the new site is finished and complies with all requirements and is signed off as completed.

I hope that you turn out to be right. The EoS's conferences idea was good. It should be considered by other leagues e.g. SPFL with Divisions 1 and 2 merged and enlarged into two parallel conferences with clubs re-allocated annually in order to freshen things up. You shouldn't overlook the fact that the WoS did wish to regionalise the lowest tier of its' league but that was stopped by the SFA. Quell surprise!