Spyro

I was always on the side of “the SFA are idiots and have made the LL look stupid” but after recent events and the frequency of these ‘misunderstandings’ you can’t blame folk for asking the question

So was allowing any Colts/reserve teams into tier 5, but that got changed without any problems.

Wouldn’t be the first time… First spinning the West clubs a story of everyone in equal conferences - top teams end up in a premier division. Then talk about “ventilation” in the pyramid - chose not to relegate anyone and STILL only have ONE promotion spot for tier 6 clubs. Harping on about sporting integrity - Allow 2 colts teams to enter tier 5 against the rules that were set out previously. Telling under 20’s clubs and coaches that it would be ok to play 2001 boys this season - more bs that they’ll try to pin on the SFA rather than just being honest from the start. Where is the line between ‘incompetent’ and ‘deceitful’?

Incoming…

If Hearts can look after Harry Stone, and he can learn from Craig Gordon, he could be a shout in a few seasons. Heard some very high praise about him already but the next 3-4 seasons are crucial. We’ve heard all this hype before for it to turn to nothing and we all know what Hearts recent reputation is at looking after their prospects

All fun n games until someone’s dug get “abducted”

Bonar look to have improved a fair amount recently. Hopefully that transfers into the league. Will be tough against the top teams but they might pick up a few points

Rothie Rovers got accepted into the North Juniors. That was confirmed the season before so dunno if it counts. Can’t see anymore coming in from the Midlands area anytime soon, apart from Bredalbane maybe

If it meant getting the Highland clubs involved and making a proper “non-league” Scottish Cup, I actually wouldn’t mind them regionalising Round 1 and 2 long-term. They've already split the SCC into groups of 40ish this season, so with 81 teams north of the line it works out quite nicely tbh

Maybe in the short-term yes your right. But there’s a high school and youth teams in Ullapool (Loch Broom) full of potential players that could’ve sustained the long term future of a North-West club. Maybe they could’ve changed the flow of players going (more than an hour each way) east to play at that level. It all seemed a bit haphazard, KLB and Durness hasn’t exactly been a hotbed for football recently going by their amateur results. Fair play to them for trying, like I said I really wanted them to pull it off, and the first few seasons were always going to be tough. Some of the score lines and eventually having to scratch a game at that level due to a lack of players isn’t a good look though

Bigger pool of players further south. I’m sure the KLB boys would’ve came down to play if they were good enough. Let’s face it, the KLB ammys were hardly world beaters so a collaboration between Lochinver and any Ullapool players playing somewhere easier for the majority to play would’ve meant the chances of having to scratch a game due to lack of players would’ve been greatly reduced. I really wanted it to work for them but I had my doubts right from the start tbh

Basing the new club in Ullapool rather than Scourie might have helped though

Stranraer Reserves actually won the SoS league but were unable to be promoted to the Lowland League ON MERIT because the rules state that no 2nd team is allowed into tier 5. Oh, and the next eligible club were denied the right to a playoff with the EoS champions as only the champion clubs are allowed in the playoffs... Precedent set! Good luck to the Lowland Leagues “3rd place” team getting into the SPFL playoff next season. Good job Mr Fraser and the rest of the sellouts

Which would’ve made it even more stupid to have a team from as far north as Brechin in a “lowland league”

They don’t make it easy for themselves

I can’t pull the quote by parkcirus from the West of Scotland forum but it’s there under the New Clubs in the WoS thread about no more groundshares...

This is the sensible approach. I was surprised to read that the WoS will point-blank refuse entry to any clubs wanting to ground share though. I can’t see the logic in this. As long as clubs aren’t taking the piss, then I really don’t see the problem... maybe Letham should’ve joined up with one of the other Perth teams until they got their place sorted if they were serious about joining. My personal suspicion is that they probably didn’t fancy being stuck in a league full of West Lothian teams for 2-3 seasons though

Not ALL of us Marten, but it’s absolute rockets like these which is why myself (brought up a Hearts fan) and to a lesser extent my mate from Maryhill don’t really bother about our “big” teams anymore, it’s just embarrassing. Good luck Brechin, it was a dirty move trying to wriggle out the playoffs but it’s history now. You are a great club and you will love the Highland League with new clubs, new places to visit and the added bonus of Buckie coming down and filling your stadium with their 30,000 away fans. I doubt once you’ve got your shit together you’ll be there for long... but enjoy the journey and rise above the clowns on here

Tbh you can’t really argue with this considering the last 2 seasons have been write-offs for the organisers. Hopefully it’s just temporary for a couple of seasons until everyone is back on their feet again. Its been split really well though, can’t argue with it at all

I was just going to ask about this... can’t be good if they can’t get a team together at this stage of the year. No excuses, the boys should all be buzzing to go. Gutted for the guys who have worked hard to make this happen but it was always going to be a tough task being based up there. I’m surprised they didn’t try something in Ullapool with a few of the old KLB boys

Surprised with this tbh. As long as it’s within reason (Clydebank/Yorker for example) I can’t see the problem. It’s when you have clubs trying to share at a ground 20-30odd miles away to obtain a license that I can understand them being rejected

Tbf, considering the lack of licensed teams below the HL and the fact that many didn’t really fancy it until recently. The playoff is ok for now. Plus any teams who do get into a playoff with the bottom club of the HL are more than likely going to win... unless they decide to lose 2 goals in the last 10 mins out of nowhere

These are common sense though and are only outside by a few meters, same with Harthill. Letham have 2 (or 3) other clubs from their own city playing in a Lowland League feeder and are quite clearly in that catchment. If they then go and play in the Highland League feeder league then you would be as well allowing the Dundee teams into the EoS and the West Lothian teams into the WoS... which they were told wasn’t going to happen.

I really don’t know why this keeps being brought up. They are BELOW the line, they are in Perth, they are in the EoS catchment... I don’t understand how this idea even came about!

Someone has had a bash but it was just in its infancy before Covid hit and still needs more data and tweaking to get perfect... but it’s a good effort. Hopefully it’ll be manicured over the next wee while with plenty of results to add to the database http://scotscores.theroonba.com/clubrank/clubrankam.html