It’s that time of year again and a visit to the Spotty Bag shop in Banff to buy my 2015 pocket diary.
As I entered the dates of Locos’ league matches in the New Year, the implications of the new play-off arrangements came to mind.
Apart from one scheduled Saturday in March, and one in April, the season could be all but finished by the end of February.
That will certainly be the case if we have a mild winter with minimal postponements and for any teams which are eliminated from the preliminary or first rounds of the League Cup.
I am not convinced about the new pyramid system. It appears to be driven by Glasgow rather than the non-league clubs and there appears to have been limited engagement with the supporters.
It is rather bizarre that the SFA and Scottish League did not want to know the Highland League clubs a generation ago, but now appear to be pushing them down a road many of them may be reluctant to follow.
Brora Rangers’ misgivings have already been expressed. From a supporter’s viewpoint, and this is only my personal view, a visit to Berwick or Annan on a regular basis has no appeal whatsoever. And I have to say that I found the additional early season midweek fixtures just a bit too much.
There is a school of thought which advocates regional leagues on financial grounds and that is what the Highland League is.
It has flourished on its own for over 120 years and has always demonstrated its ability to embrace change driven from within its own structure.
Participation in the Scottish Cup is appreciated and enjoyable and supporters do enjoy the novelty of a cup run out with the North.
Why change that? And, even if Highland clubs do not progress to the Scottish league, change may be forced on them. If, for example, Spartans replace Elgin City in League 2, then my understanding is that Elgin will return to the Highland League as a 19th club. The League then returns to an imbalanced and problematic structure which was only sorted out a few years ago!
Having said all that, no one would want to stifle ambitious clubs. My proposal would be for the SFA to invite applications to join the Scottish League at regular intervals of, say, three years.
That would allow willing and forward-looking clubs to prepare properly. The club with the worst playing record over three years in Division 2 would withdraw. This is not a new concept. It was used in the pioneering days of Junior football and worked perfectly well.