The SFA have announced the 12 teams that will make up the new Lowland League as part of creating a pyramid system allowing new teams into the the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and also teams to be relegated from there to the Highland or Lowland Leagues. The following link leads to a BBC article detailing the successful teams.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22945742
Interestingly despite active canvassing by the SFA, no junior teams applied for a slot and there is a suggestion that they are going to create their own super/super league consisting of the best junior teams from the east and west. It suggests to me the junior teams are quite comfortable with their business model.
The one team in the Lowland League that intrigues me is East Kilbride. This is an amalgamation of a number of amateur teams in the town and has nothing to do with EK Thistle, the junior team or the recently renamed EK Clyde and I would have thought this puts paid to EK Clyde's move to the new town. The EK team that has won a place in the Lowland League is backed by a local builder who has land and apparently is keen to build a stadium. All he lacked was a team. So if EK are successful over the next few years and gain a place in the lower reaches of the SPFL presumably they will be playing in a brand new stadium which leaves EK Clyde groundless so to speak!
Looking ahead if there is a senior team in EK, I wonder what this might do to Hamilton's already low attendance figures. If the Clyde experience is anything to go by gathering support from a new town base is not quite as simple as might be thought. Without a team, individuals have no doubt been attracted to the Old Firm and it can take a long time to break such habit if it can ever be broken. Whatever no one can say that scottish football isn't going to be interesting over the next few years as teams come and indeed go!
This blog is about Hamilton Academical Football Club - the Accies.
The way things are going, I wonder if one of these teams will be promoted to the fourth tier before a ball is kicked? And a new incarnation of Hearts (or Dunfermline) finds themselves in the Lowland League? "May you live in interesting times"? We're currently experiencing the biggest upheaval in Scottish football in living memory.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to read about EK team. As a resident of EK, I'd assumed it was EK Thistle and didn't know about the new team.
ReplyDeleteI'd spoken with a Clyde supporting client recently and he was excited at the prospect of returning to "up the road from their spiritual home". Guess that's been scuppered.
The newco novelty factor may gain it some fans but the likelihood is most EK residents will continue with Celtic, Rangers, even Thistle as the majority of people in EK would associate themselves with Glasgow rather than Lanarkshire/Hamilton.
I don't realistically consider EK a potential untapped fanbase. The EK team will be of little consequence to either Accies or the OF.