parsforlife Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 18 minutes ago, RampantFM said: Agree with you. Although, I think there is a problem with 2 automatic promotion spots and how it would work with 3 feeder leagues. Licensing in the Lowland League is predominately down to the Scottish Cup entry, hence why there's unlicensed teams in the East of Scotland with no issues. Only Vale of Leithen don't have floodlights installed now but that is soon to be eradicated after they got funding from the council. Their 5 licensing is more of a big deal to maintain the relationship with spfl. Licensing is great for Scottish cup and works really well on a club by club basis. But the reason it’s implemented at league level is to ensure that league has a base standard that all clubs follow, and by having a base standard you can fit into the pyramid structure. Kelty don’t care if Edinburgh uni weren’t in the Scottish cup, they do care if Edinburgh uni didn’t meet licensing criteria and spfl used that as a reason to refuse movement between the leagues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 10 hours ago, RampantFM said: Agree with you. Although, I think there is a problem with 2 automatic promotion spots and how it would work with 3 feeder leagues. Licensing in the Lowland League is predominately down to the Scottish Cup entry, hence why there's unlicensed teams in the East of Scotland with no issues. Only Vale of Leithen don't have floodlights installed now but that is soon to be eradicated after they got funding from the council. Licensing was more about being able to link up with the SPFL and create a pyramid in the first place. When Gretna 2008 went bust, it was slim pickings from the applicants quality wise. Annan Athletic had to do a lot of upgrades to make the move. My thoughts are that two promotion spots with the current playoff format actually works better. Give it a year or two and there would only be the occasional worry over the South providing a champion. Which would give the West and East automatic promotion. Then if the South is involved the West & East should be the stronger to bag 1st & 2nd. The current playoff with one promotion spot when 3 licenced champions are in it will by and large come down to the West v East game where one of those get home field advantage. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 13 hours ago, parsforlife said: I don’t think the play-off is done by licensed clubs, Is it not an agreement between the leagues?... Any change has to be made by agreement between the SFA, LL, EoS, WoS and SoS and this is what made it possible for the EoS to veto east region entry at tier 6 despite the SFA Board wanting them in. No change in format to open up a second automatic promotion place was made recently when the WoS were inserted into the mix. Back when around 25 east region clubs were defecting to the EoS three seasons ago my recollection is that Burnieman was posting regularly that the playoff format would be adjusted to make promotion easier after the east region clubs joined. When the issue got discussed at the LL AGM that summer that got knocked back, however, with the word at the time being that there was little chance of any change being made for the foreseeable future: https://nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum/gforum.cgi?post=877791#877791 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 (edited) Lowland League's 2018 AGM was on 29th May 2018. The EoSFL deadline had been moved back to May 31st. There was a licencing embargo and upcoming PWG meetings once Iain Maxwell took charge. Lopsided pyramid to the East with a bunch of unlicenced clubs. 2019 AGM followed the real breakdown of the PWG meetings and there was all that talk around the SFA over rule changes having to be done by December 31st. Lopsided pyramid to the East and PWG hanging over everything. 2020 AGM COVID and already relegating anywhere from 2-3 clubs to balance back to 16. Edited September 7, 2020 by FairWeatherFan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 On 05/09/2020 at 19:33, Burmah Oil said: Kelty vs Auchinleck in the cup. Bazza will want revenge for getting shown up on T.V. last year. And Talbot will be up for it. Gala Fairydean vs Sauchie / Kilwinning, Largs vs Dalbeatie, Hurlford vs Civil Service, Gretna vs Penicuik, Lowland teams could be strugglin to get past them. Strollers manager Gary Jardine did knock out the then Junior Cup holders Talbot and Shotts from the Scottish Cup when he was at Edinburgh City but it is a tough tie. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 We have many in the Lowland League complaining that SPFL Two don't open up automatic relegation spots while at the same time having only 1 down from 16 into three premier regional leagues with 40 clubs in total - West of 20 and East of 16 and South of 14. Either lead by example and open up more promotion / relegation spots or quit moaning about SPFL Two when Lowland League is exactly the same closed shop mentality. Or at least look to open up more in 2 or 3 years to have 2nd or 3rd bottom into at least play offs against top licensed West / East / South teams. All the while 7 teams go down in West of Scotland Premiership this season and teams just have to deal with it [emoji849] 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcastle broon Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 2 minutes ago, Shannon said: We have many in the Lowland League complaining that SPFL Two don't open up more automatic relegation spots while at the same time having only 1 down from 16 into three premier regional leagues with 40 clubs in total - West of 20 and East of 16 and South of 14. Either lead by example and open up more promotion / relegation spots or quit moaning about SPFL Two. Or at least look to open up more in 2 years or have 2nd / 3rd bottom into play offs against top West / East / South teams. All the while 7 teams go down in West of Scotland Premiership this season and teams just have to deal with it Might be the wrong thread for this rant bud. Out of interest Who's been moaning about the SPFL not opening up ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Might be the wrong thread for this rant bud. Out of interest Who's been moaning about the SPFL not opening up ? I've heard the moans on podcasts I have listened to during our extended covid break and on here that SPFL should have automatic relegation and open up more relegation spots. I totally agree with that but Lowland League needs to have an even stronger 16 team league to make the League Two teams take notice. I would like to get it to the stage that any team that drops out of League Two will be battling to stay in Lowland League and that could be case once top 5 teams in East and West come up but that will take at least 10 years.... I only posted rant as seen posts above on that 1 team will be relegated for foreseeable future from Lowland League which is disappointing but not surprised. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Shannon said: I only posted rant as seen posts above on that 1 team will be relegated for foreseeable future from Lowland League which is disappointing but not surprised. The 'forseeable future' line is from a post in another forum that's over 2 years old. EDIT: And of the 16 clubs that would of been at the 2018 AGM. Whitehill Welfare and Selkirk are no longer in the League. Berwick Rangers, Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic, and Bo'ness United are new members. Then by the time the 2021 AGM you've got promotion & relegation to play out from 2020-21 that would further change the voting membership of the league. Edited September 7, 2020 by FairWeatherFan 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockson Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 (edited) "Out of interest Who's been moaning about the SPFL not opening up ?" Just about everybody who posts on this forum. Edited September 8, 2020 by rockson Didn't add quote from previous poster. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigiemack Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 What a great discussion on the South Challenge Cup this is 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanburn Dave Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 We had about 110 posts about the cup and then it went pear shaped.... or should that be pyramid shaped. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) Arguably the subforum that should have had a thread about this topic is the Domestic Cup Football one as that's designed to accomodate topics that spread across different league subforums to keep it all in one place. Beyond that anyone who thinks west superleague teams from last season won't ragdoll clubs in the bottom half of the LL is delusional, in my opinion. That competitive imbalance is inevitably going to lead to all kinds of seethe over the issue that was mentioned in the years ahead and although it will be amusing if/when a lot of that seethe is emanating from Linlithgow it won't make what's happening right. Edited September 8, 2020 by LongTimeLurker 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) 13 hours ago, craigiemack said: What a great discussion on the South Challenge Cup this is Back on topic I expect Broxburn to be a far better team than the one we played 3 years ago in Scottish Junior Cup that we defeated 5-2. They will be strong favourites on their home ground and with our poor away form on 4g over last 2-3 years I really don't expect an upset. It will be good to play one of the top East teams again in cup competitions as that was always something I looked forward to was drawing a team east of Shotts. I really cant see Creetown causing an upset v Broxburn? Edited September 8, 2020 by Shannon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginaro Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 5 minutes ago, Shannon said: Back on topic I expect Broxburn to be a far better team than the one we played 3 years ago in Scottish Junior Cup that we defeated 5-2. They will be strong favourites on their home ground and with our poor away form on 4g over last 2-3 years I really don't expect an upset. It will be good to play one of the top East teams again in cup competitions as that was always something I looked forward to was drawing a team east of Shotts. I really cant see Creetown causing an upset v Broxburn? The only way Creetown have a chance of winning is if Broxburn suffer a Covid outbreak and they have to play their U20s. Funnily enough Irvine Meadow and Broxburn are next to each in the Scottish club rankings that someone posted over on the Junior forum http://scotscores.theroonba.com/clubrank/clubrank.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigiemack Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 The pyramid expansion is obviously the biggest and most intriguing matter in lower league Scottish football, but there are hundreds of threads already made about it and it seems that almost every thread no matter what it is about ends up with a pyramid discussion. On the cup draw, there are so many interesting ties. I'm interested in the West v East conference ties as it'll be interesting to compare the standard between the two leagues. In terms of an upset, I'd perhaps go for Dalbeattie to beat Largs. I think dalbeattie have a good squad and it just hasn't clicked in the past few years but they've made a few good signings so that could be an interesting one. Similarly Gretna against Penicuik could be good, they improved once Alexander took over and have also made a couple decent signings. They knocked Hill of Breath out the Scottish last year so they might have enough to defeat Penicuik. Hopefully fans will be back for these games as I'm sure with the right promotion and marketing decent crowds could be attained. I also heard that the Soccer shop are paying travel expenses for away teams in the cup, if so fhat is a great gesture. I don't know if there is prize money for this cup but it is now the premier non league competition and hopefully it will continue to grow and hold a lot of prestige in the coming years. Would love for the semis or final to somehow end up on TV as it could be a great advert for football at this level. Good luck to all teams, so glad the fitbaw is almost back 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 1 minute ago, craigiemack said: I also heard that the Soccer shop are paying travel expenses for away teams in the cup, if so fhat is a great gesture. I don't know if there is prize money for this cup but it is now the premier non league competition and hopefully it will continue to grow and hold a lot of prestige in the coming years. Would love for the semis or final to somehow end up on TV as it could be a great advert for football at this level. Good luck to all teams, so glad the fitbaw is almost back Previous years there was no known Prize Money. Don't know if with an added sponsor that may have changed this year. As for travel expenses that's been part of the competition for quite sometime. Possibly always been. What the rates were most recently. May well have been changed this year to reflect the changes in the competition. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginaro Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 40 minutes ago, craigiemack said: On the cup draw, there are so many interesting ties. I'm interested in the West v East conference ties as it'll be interesting to compare the standard between the two leagues. In terms of an upset, I'd perhaps go for Dalbeattie to beat Largs. I think dalbeattie have a good squad and it just hasn't clicked in the past few years but they've made a few good signings so that could be an interesting one. Similarly Gretna against Penicuik could be good, they improved once Alexander took over and have also made a couple decent signings. They knocked Hill of Breath out the Scottish last year so they might have enough to defeat Penicuik. On the LL front, Jeanfield/Lochgelly v Caley Braves will be an interesting one as they lost in the QF to Dunipace. Gala will have a tough match against Sauchie/Kilwinning, same with CSS away at Hurlford. The other tier 6 ties of Dundonald v Rob Roy and Musselburgh v Benburb, will be interesting match ups. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) Hardly the wider circumstances anyone could have envisaged... but nevertheless a historic day tomorrow, when the first truly comprehensive cup for southerly non-league football begins, most of what was left of junior football having entered EOS + WOS leagues. Single tie Friday, rest Saturday, with several streaming: Friday 23rd October Spartans v Kinnoull Saturday 24th October Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic v Newtongrange Star Broxburn Athletic v Creetown Easthouses Lily v Larkhall Thistle Irvine Victoria v St Anthonys Jeanfield Swifts v Lochgelly Albert Maybole v Vale of Leven Sauchie v Kilwinning Rangers Thornton Hibs v Rutherglen Glencairn Threave Rovers v Ormiston Vale of Clyde v East Kilbride Thistle Edited October 22, 2020 by HibeeJibee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Spartans comfortably saw off Kinnoull with 4 clinically-taken goals shortly after ko, just before HT, on the hour, and 10min before FT. Acrobatics from the Perth side's keeper kept the score down. Credit for the good quality trouble-free stream with commentary around 100 viewers enjoyed. East Stirlingshire host Spartans in R2. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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