Samsonite

Great post so the HL clubs should have paid for testing so that they could turn the league into a cup competition, cant understand why the clubs never went for this great option...... Could slightly understand your post if LL had played at least 50% of fixtures. Both leagues have explained the reasonings on why they had to come to this outcome pretty well, a decision no doubt made easier due to the fact both teams that "won" last season were top again this time around.

HL fan here but this sounds very promising, this will greatly strengthen the HL in years to come and the league needs a few fresh faces as at the moment there is a huge gulf in standard from top to bottom. The bigger Tayside clubs & Banks o Dee will no doubt be in the mix for promotion this time next year, NCL wise Golspie are currently the only team that meet the criteria in terms of SFA membership, although a few murmurs Invergordon (who are sponsored by Roy Macgregor's company) are going to be pushing for this also and will be developing their facilities accordingly, watch this space with regards to them.

Would appear the HL will be going down the PPG route also, not a massive fan of the decision due to the very low number of games played but understand to that to keep the SFA/SPFL happy the HL have to declare a champion based on final league standings as opposed to nominating a team due to the threat of them losing the play-off spot, which likely would have applied to the LL. Having said that the 2 champions from the previous season are top again which I suppose would have made the decision slightly easier/fairer.

Sorry if this has been asked/posted before but can someone give the round to round breakdown of prize money for this season’s competition, can’t find it anywhere online.

Even if the Colts proposal doesn't succeed, some form of reconstruction has to happen for L2 the current set-up of the bottom team not being automatically relegated rewards failure, L2 & some L1 teams are happy with mediocracy, the lower leagues need refreshed one way or the other and now is an ideal time to do so. They at least need to change to the set-up of L1 & L2 10th automatically relegated and 9th in the play-off. Can see this being voted through though as the power the OF have over the SPFL seems to be growing by the year especially now Rangers have won the league and the extra income that comes with it, they are both more powerful than ever with the smaller clubs seriously struggling after receiving very little in the way of income other than Gov grants over the last year.

Great that both L1 & 2 will be be back playing shortly, surely an 18 game season would be the most sensible situation. Will be interesting to see how many positive cases there will be amongst the clubs, as the players in the main have other primary employment therefore will be mixing more with other people than Prem or Champs teams, worst case a full team has to isolate for 10 days due to positive cases, with such a crammed fixture list they could miss potentially 3 or 4 games, what will happen in this scenario?

Personally don't think there would be a lot of appetite for cup competitions in April/May/June, the majority of teams were unhappy playing league games without fans which would still be the case for any any Spring/Summer cup comps, also from a playing point of view would players have enough time or a desire to get match fit for potentially 2 or 3 games to then stop again for a month?! There is also the unknown that testing maybe required during this period which is a non-starter, clubs would also have to potentially pay players unless they agree to waive their wages to play in these competitions.

I think its a great idea much needed funds for L2 teams and will open up the pyramid system for ambitious LL & HL teams, the current format is heavily in favour of L2 teams happy to cling on to their league status, which for me needs to change. I follow the HL but ultimately it will be LL and some current WOSL teams who will come to the fore if this proposal gets the go-ahead in the long term

The Highland League have already confirmed this (if the season goes ahead) one round of games each team playing each other once.

Brora are no different from every other team from Championship & below with regards to having no competitive game in 7 months. With regards to them playing Hibs I totally agree, don't think there is ever an easy time to play Hibs for an HL club but this occasion will be particularly challenging for them.

We all want football and fans to return asap but just cant see it unfortunately, I follow Clach in the HL and the league is not going ahead as things currently stand without fans teams simply cant afford it even with players from the majority of clubs already agree vastly reduced pay. Can see this happening in a lot of the lower leagues unfortunately.

This result will have reinforced Tatters view that Brora should not have been promoted, could be a tough season for Elgin on paper they have a very average squad with the huge loss of Shane Sutherland.

No surprise at the new sponsor as RSE are owned by the Macgregor family, County were maybe struggling to get a new “outside” sponsor on board. In reality more money pumped in by Roy just indirectly through one of his companies.

Can see this going through but with 14/10/10/10 will keep the majority of lower league teams happy, especially the L1 teams who are getting “relegated” in the 14/14/14 set up.

The SPFL seem determined to keep Hearts in the top flight I wonder if there is more to this "donation" from the Hearts supporting benefactor than has been publicly announced, it certainly sounds like a stipulation is that Hearts must be in the Premiership. I can see this passing with a 14 team top league & the current set-up of 3 leagues of 10 below that, too many lower teams currently oppose the 14/14/14 model so the SPFL will amend the proposal to ensure that the teams vote for the 14 team top league.

By the sounds of County along with a host of other clubs will have fairly large reduced squad size for the upcoming season. Are Vigurs, Cowie & Draper all still under contract at the club as have seen no mention of any of those 3 leaving, all are getting on in age & also have all had bad injury records in the last couple of years bit of a risk having all 3 in a more compact squad.

The problem would be the quality of product clubs are able to produce, one man in a stand with a video camera isn't going to attract paying customers or very few anyway. They will also come against the likelihood of the 1430-1700 on a Saturday TV ban being ended, will people pay to watch a Championship or lower live stream when there will be numerous "bigger" games shown at the same time?

Totally agree with the comments regarding the media & SPFL complete disregard of the lower leagues but unfortunately in reality the article is stating facts, lower league teams in Scotland and im including the majority of Championship teams cannot afford to pay 1. players & 2. the necessary testing that are likely to become a legal requirement without the revenue of gate receipts, food & drink etc. The only option to re-start earlier is if clubs are allowed to let fans into the grounds while complying with social distancing regulations which I believe can be done but if they will be allowed to do that or not is a different matter.

The NCL been called as Null & Void for this season, not a good look when they are wanting to join the Pyramid system but as with higher leagues clubs obviously voting with there own interest at heart.

I understand each league have their own governing body & legislation but I still can believe these lower leagues are null & voiding their league's when there is little to no prizemoney involved and higher divisions in this country and around Europe are declaring league winner's etc, I know it means nothing in the grand scheme of things just personally find it very strange. For people more informed than myself what is the main stumbling blocks In the North Juniors wanting to become part of the pyramid as in reality it will affect a handful of teams who could potentially make the step up the majority will still play in the same league's albeit under a different name/governing body and against the same teams they always have.

The L2 teams spouting a 14-14-14 reconstruction are using the very convenient excuse of the potential loss of revenue by adding 2 new clubs, in reality most are scared of the increased standard of teams entering the league therefore increasing the likelihood of relegation in future years and is absolutely nothing to do with diluted prize money. To highlight how bad an excuse this is If you base the costs of having x2 additional teams using this years prize pool, you would need an additional *£80k (circa £40k each to Brora & Kelty, roughly what 10th in L2 received this year) each club would have earned around £2k less this season.

Graham Tatters in todays P&J is dead against any reconstruction due to the current prizemoney pot being diluted with potentially 2 new teams (Brora & Kelty) although I understand his point, there is part of me that thinks this more down to the increased threat of his team facing more competition therefore adding to potentially being relegated at some point in the next few years. Given Elgin's recent form I don't think they have anything to worry about in that regard but with Brora being in the league there would potentially be added competition of signing North based players although Elgin seem to still have a lot of south based players in their current squad and always have had.

Delighted that the HFL is introducing a relegation to the league and it will help to improve the overall standard of the league over the next few years, be it with promoted teams or giving clubs down near the bottom a much needed kick in the a*** my own team included to improve, as we can now no longer rest on our laurels and almost be rewarded for doing so with no threat of relegation.

Have been reading this forum for a while but not posted mainly due to the repeated arguments in the juniors topic of league reconstruction. Being North based I don't have great insight into the Junior setup, what's the general consensus from fans are you happy to have left the Juniors to join the SPFL pyramid system, will the new WOS leagues now follow the rules & regulations of the SPFL or is there still some element of control from SJFA who from stories sound a bit "outdated" to say the least.