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Lowland League promotion playoffs


EdinburghBlue

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On 23/05/2022 at 11:45, Gordon EF said:

Phew. Glad a I wrote off St. Cuthbert beforehand.

The SoSFL should be sitting alongside the bottom tier of the WoSFL. It'll let the smaller clubs who just want to play in a regional D&G league stay in that and will give the more ambitious clubs a proper and appropriate pathway to move up through. It'll also save the current D&G clubs in the LL from potentially going down and being trapped in the SoSFL where they're too good for the SoSFL and nowhere near good enough to compete with the top EoSFL and WoSFL clubs in the play-offs. A whole season of scooshing your league just to get pumped bloody in a play-offs. No sensible club should want that scenario.

What evidence is there that fucking Gretna or Dalbeattie are currently any better than South of Scotland league teams? 

There's obviously going to be a huge imbalance between feeder leagues right now because the LL absorbed many southern clubs by geography in its inception, while most of the non-league juniors foolishly sat it out. That'll take at least ten years to clear out the Auchinleck, Clydebank, Pollok, Linlithgow etc. from West and East - as well as the likes of Penicuik if they can maintain their level from this season. 

Once those clubs are through though, there's no inherent reason why a South of Scotland league can't provide a viable path upwards for ambitious clubs. And until then, they're not actually blocking any better teams from moving past them at the end of the season. 

Edited by vikingTON
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1 hour ago, virginton said:

What evidence is there that fucking Gretna or Dalbeattie are currently any better than South of Scotland league teams? 

There's obviously going to be a huge imbalance between feeder leagues right now because the LL absorbed many southern clubs by geography in its inception, while most of the non-league juniors foolishly sat it out. That'll take at least ten years to clear out the Auchinleck, Clydebank, Pollok, Linlithgow etc. from West and East - as well as the likes of Penicuik if they can maintain their level from this season. 

Once those clubs are through though, there's no inherent reason why a South of Scotland league can't provide a viable path upwards for ambitious clubs. And until then, they're not actually blocking any better teams from moving past them at the end of the season. 

In 15 years when the Auchinleck Talbots, etc. have all been promoted to the LL/SPFL, and Gretna/Dalbeattie have been relegated, the top South sides will still not be competitive with the top East/West sides. So even though they aren't blocking better teams from being promoted, they're still forcing us to have two meaningless games in the LL play-offs every year (plus two meaningless games in the Cup Winners Shield) and depriving us of having two-legged play-offs between the East and West champions which would be more fair and do a better job of distinguishing the stronger of the two clubs.

Also, as has been discussed elsewhere, if the SSFL were out of the picture, it seems more likely that the LL would agree to two-down with the East and West champions earning automatic promotion each year.

Edited by Yalay
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9 hours ago, Yalay said:

In 15 years when the Auchinleck Talbots, etc. have all been promoted to the LL/SPFL, and Gretna/Dalbeattie have been relegated, the top South sides will still not be competitive with the top East/West sides.

That's not demonstrable at all, because the 'top East/West sides' will be significantly poorer than the current ones. Which given last night's result by the Ayrshire Galacticos does not actually demonstrate that fucking Irvine Meadow will automatically waltz past any team from the South in 2037. 

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So even though they aren't blocking better teams from being promoted, they're still forcing us to have two meaningless games in the LL play-offs every year (plus two meaningless games in the Cup Winners Shield) 

Oh the temerity of asking football teams to play four cross-division games all season! 

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depriving us of having two-legged play-offs between the East and West champions which would be more fair and do a better job of distinguishing the stronger of the two clubs.

It doesn't deprive you of anything. The leagues can organise the promotion play-off in any way they wish - and if the West and East could actually wrap up their 75 league and cup fixtures in good time, then they could easily hold a two-legged final, or a home and away round robin. 

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Also, as has been discussed elsewhere, if the SSFL were out of the picture, it seems more likely that the LL would agree to two-down with the East and West champions earning automatic promotion each year.

That's wishful thinking of the highest order. The LL clubs are not concerned about dropping into the South and not recovering from there - they're concerned about dropping into any league and sinking like a stone because half of them are nonsense outfits like 'Open Goal Broomhill'. They will have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the LL regardless. 

NB: And of course, if the LL actually wanted to open up two promotion/relegation spots to the West and East then it could do so right now - secure in the knowledge that Darvel/Tranent, Auchinleck/Penicuik, Clydebank/Linlithgow would all be progressing. Only the pesky South can be both a completely predictable walkover, and yet an existential uncertainty risk for the teams above it! 

Edited by vikingTON
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7 hours ago, RealityHits said:

More a reader than a poster, but I'd like to add that at least St Cuthbert had the decency to turn up and play their games, though no doubt knowing they were on a certain loser.

A lesson for a certain Lochaber based team there...

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