Lowland League 2020/21 General Chat

[LongTimeLurker]

On 09/04/2021 at 21:45, Bundesliga Boy said:

You can't be that naive surely?

So he is stepping down apparently due to his club fighting relegation and therefore it's the right thing to do - they were in same boat last year and he didn't go.  Last year he knew there was a (borderline) legitimate reason not to have the playoff due to all playoffs being scrapped.  This season there is no such excuse therefore he can't be seen to be L1/2 rep on the SPFL board if they intend to end the pyramid playoff and his team happen to be Club 42 at the time.  So he goes now!  (it's almost comical!)...

Who was being naive. There was nothing in the rules that could stop it this year so although the directors of Brechin and Cowdenbeath could huff and puff and get it sent out to legal review they were never going to be able to blow the house down.

On 20/04/2021 at 19:25, gaswork said:

Of course Scottish football has fully embraced a so called pyramid what a joke and sham

Maybe finally come to terms with the fact that there is a pyramid now. Flawed certainly but very much here to stay.

[Marten]

2 minutes ago, morley said:

Now that a decision has been made on the club 42 play off I wonder if we will see an imminent announcement from the HL launching their tier 6 feeders. In particular the Midland league. Didnt Brechin last year float the argument about which T5 they should go into? The launch of the Midland league feeding in to the HL kills that argument.

That can only be announced officially when the SFA approve it. It's all basically sorted & the last step seems no more than a formality, but it does take time.

[Bundesliga Boy]

Just now, LongTimeLurker said:

Who was being naive. There was nothing in the rules that could stop it this year so although the directors of Brechin and Cowdenbeath could huff and puff and get it sent out to legal review they were never going to be able to blow the house down.

Maybe finally come to terms with the fact that there is a pyramid now. Flawed certainly but very much here to stay.

I think you’ve gravely misunderstood what took place today.

I was proved correct - the SPFL took it to arbitration to try and get the playoff overturned, something on here almost everyone saw coming the minute Ferguson resigned. 

In the end it had to go to a judge to decide what should have been the obvious thing to do all along.

Fortunately the pyramid prevails - in spite of Ferguson’s, Brechin’s and the SPFL’s attempt to prevent it!

Praise that judge!

 

[LongTimeLurker]

3 minutes ago, morley said:

Now that a decision has been made on the club 42 play off I wonder if we will see an imminent announcement from the HL launching their tier 6 feeders. In particular the Midland league. Didnt Brechin last year float the argument about which T5 they should go into? The launch of the Midland league feeding in to the HL kills that argument.

We'll probably never hear all the gory details but Brechin City may well have burned the bridges that they needed to keep intact to have any hope of winding up in the LL catchment in future with what happened last year on the playoff. They had a legally valid get out of jail card due to the lockdown last year but using it and not volunteering to participate in a delayed set of playoffs through a spirit of Corinthian fair play severely antagonised at least one and probably both of the tier 5 leagues.

[Guest SJP79]

Compairing the three side's who do you favour to win the final ?

Only team ive seen is Brora in the Hearts cup game. 

[Samsonite]

27 minutes ago, SJP79 said:

Compairing the three side's who do you favour to win the final ?

Only team ive seen is Brora in the Hearts cup game. 

Must admit haven't seen Kelty or Brechin, going by squad on paper Kelty have the strongest squad of the 3 teams, Brora have a very strong starting 11 but 2 games in 5 days  after such a long lay off will be tough and squad depth will be important.

Winner of HL v LL will go up in my opinion and think that will be Kelty.

 

 

[Born To Run]

55 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

We'll probably never hear all the gory details but Brechin City may well have burned the bridges that they needed to keep intact to have any hope of winding up in the LL catchment in future with what happened last year on the playoff. They had a legally valid get out of jail card due to the lockdown last year but using it and not volunteering to participate in a delayed set of playoffs through a spirit of Corinthian fair play severely antagonised at least one and probably both of the tier 5 leagues.

No gory details needed, enough is openly known. The boundary will not be moved after the aggressive manner in which they tried to change it last summer.

[theboke]

Slightly alarmed that Kelty are heading to Brora on the 4th for a 7pm ko, yet Brora are preparing for a 7.45pm ko. Sort it oot!

[LongTimeLurker]

The other way around would be a bigger problem.

[Vodka Vic]

I see the wild conspiracy theories about Brechin’s influence over the SPFL’s final decision has proved to be a pile of shite. 

[Marshmallo]

15 minutes ago, Vodka Vic said:

I see the wild conspiracy theories about Brechin’s influence over the SPFL’s final decision has proved to be a pile of shite. 

The only reason it went in front of a judge is the SPFL took it that far.

[Nimmo's Notes]

Thank goodness they made a decision before the social media boycott started! 

[bravehearts dad]

3 hours ago, SJP79 said:

Hopefully the BBC will put on the final. 

As long as it’s no they imposters frae premier sports.

C’mon The Rose

[LongTimeLurker]

1 hour ago, andrew21 said:

You mean the SPFL that had their QCclaiming the opposite of what the judge on the panel decided?

Have access to a transcript you can show us or are you just making that up to fit your preferred narrative?

[FairWeatherFan]

17 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Have access to a transcript you can show us or are you just making that up to fit your preferred narrative?

propably the closest thing

https://brorarangers.football/2021/04/29/pyramid-play-off-update/

Quote

We are pleased to be able to confirm that the play-off matches between ourselves and Kelty Hearts will go ahead.

 

The first leg will be played at Dudgeon Park on Tuesday 4th May 2021 with a 7.00pm kick-off. The return leg to take place at Kelty on Saturday 8th May 2021. Kick-off at 3.00pm

 

The original QC opinion of the SPFL advocate was contradictory to that of the SFA’s QC but the matter was arbitrated by a Supreme Court judge over the last few days and the decision was found in favour of the games going ahead.

 

For now we can look forward to a just reward for both Kelty and ourselves, with the games given the green light after a most challenging two weeks.

 

W Powrie

Chairman

 

[morley]

The statement in particular the SFA part says so much here. The SFA are labouring the point that their original guidance was right and will not have liked that the SPFL have challenged this and pushed it as far as it went. That will not have come cheap. I wonder how much money has been spent by all parties on lawyers and the judge. spfl should be made to pay for all costs.

Edited April 29, 2021 by morley

[Kelheart]

Glad everything appears to be going ahead next week , midweek trek for our boys and really hope we get something but going to be tricky , seen Brora beat Hearts in the cup and are a really good outfit so fingers crossed , as much as I would love it to be us I think our  lack of game time will favour Brora who I think will go up

[LongTimeLurker]

23 hours ago, Bundesliga Boy said:

I think you’ve gravely misunderstood what took place today.

I was proved correct - the SPFL took it to arbitration to try and get the playoff overturned, something on here almost everyone saw coming the minute Ferguson resigned. 

In the end it had to go to a judge to decide what should have been the obvious thing to do all along.

Fortunately the pyramid prevails - in spite of Ferguson’s, Brechin’s and the SPFL’s attempt to prevent it!

Praise that judge!

The main problem with a Brechin and the SPFL board were in cahoots all the way through narrative is why Brechin City would have needed to send the letter after Ken Ferguson had already stepped down that got leaked and reported about in depth by STV and the Daily Record:

I seriously doubt that most full-time clubs care in the slightest whether Brechin City are in the SPFL next season or not. The interests of the full-time clubs will tend to dominate in SPFL board terms. Having colt teams in the Challenge Cup being an example of how the full-time clubs can set the tune in a way that lower division clubs and their fans are not keen on. Looks to me more like it took an immense amount of lobbying behind the scenes by Brechin and Cowdenbeath to push things to arbitration rather than it being something that was carefully choreographed all the way through by Ken Ferguson and the SPFL board.

Edited April 30, 2021 by LongTimeLurker

[Gordon EF]

2 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

The main problem with a Brechin and the SPFL board were in cahoots all the way through narrative is why Brechin City would have needed to send the letter after Ken Ferguson had already stepped down that got leaked and reported about in depth by STV and the Daily Record:

I seriously doubt that most full-time clubs care in the slightest whether Brechin City are in the SPFL next season or not. The interests of the full-time clubs will tend to dominate in SPFL board terms. Having colt teams in the Challenge Cup being an example of how the full-time clubs can set the tune in a way that lower division clubs and their fans are not keen on. Looks to me more like it took an immense amount of lobbying behind the scenes by Brechin and Cowdenbeath to push things to arbitration rather than it being something that was carefully choreographed all the way through by Ken Ferguson and the SPFL board.

Whilst I don't necessarily disagree with your point, I don't remember the addition of colt teams to the challenge cup being something the part-time clubs at tiers 3 and 4 were generally against and full-time championship clubs were generally for. The SPFL voting structure means it's almost impossible for full-time clubs to impose something part-time clubs largely don't want.

[LongTimeLurker]

My recollection on that is that the format of the Challenge Cup is at the discretion of the SPFL board and colt team participation in that context didn't require a membership vote.

https://spfl.co.uk/admin/filemanager/images/shares/pdfs/SPFL Rules and Regulations 16-Mar-21 (MASTER COPY) CLEAN.pdf

2Title

The Competition shall be known as The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup (“the Competition”) or by any other title, including by branding, naming, sponsorship or the like, assigned to it from time to time by the Board.

3Board Powers

3.1The Board shall have full power to conduct, operate and control the Competition in terms of these Regulations and where a circumstance is not provided for in these Regulations, the Rules or in the Laws of the Game the matter shall proceed as determined by the Board.