North Caledonian League president says proposed Scottish Conference League threatens to rip out 'heart and soul' of lower divisions
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THE lower leagues of Scottish football face having their heart and soul being ripped out if the proposed Scottish Conference League involving Premiership colts teams gets the go-ahead.
That is the view of North Caledonian Football Association president Iain Whitehead who fears the impact of a new tier five division will have on competitions at levels below.
SPFL clubs are set to vote on the proposals at the next SFA AGM, which if approved, would see teams from the Highland League and Lowland League, along with colts teams from Aberdeen, Celtic, Hearts and Rangers, compete in a new 10-team division.
The division would sit below League Two and relegate both the Highland League and Lowland League into tier six level and the North Caledonian League into tier seven level.
The plans have been created by the Scottish Pyramid Working Group and if successful would be introduced for the 2024/25 season.
Giving his own views, Whitehead, who lives in Helmsdale, is against the Scottish Conference being established saying no thought has been given to leagues below League Two.
“You look at the way it is being done and there are a lot of things that are not right about this,” said Whitehead.
“We didn’t hear about this at all until being asked to go to a pyramid working group meeting last week and that is the first we heard of it.
“It appears to me that everything has been discussed and decided upon whether we like it or not, with a total disregard to our level of football.
“If they want to go ahead with it, they should at least allow us to give our point of view on it.
"I feel that they have disregarded any input from us and we should get that. The majority of football minded people would have the same opinion on the matter.”
Whitehead thinks if Premiership clubs want to have colts teams playing at senior level, the SPFL leagues should be reconfigured without impacting the lower divisions in the pyramid system.
“It is not just about being in tier five, six or seven, this says more about the top end of the game.
"If they are that desperate to have B teams playing, can they not just rejig the SPFL leagues instead of demolishing the divisions below?
"I think the Scottish Conference will pull out the heart and soul of the Highland League as they will lose a number of teams just to boost the conference league.
“Maybe teams in the Highland League want to go up and that is fair enough.
“But it is unfair there is this carrot dangled with Premiership teams involved offering £100,000 each over the course of five seasons to create the Scottish Conference.
“It sounds like the European Super League, on a completely different scale, but it is the same idea.
“If they saw the bigger picture, two years ago they would have put in Celtic and Rangers into the West of Scotland League rather than Lowland League and work their way up. I don’t think people would have had a problem with that.
Whitehead said the North Caledonian Football Association are preparing to put out an official statement on the issue this week.
Nairn County have also put out a statement objecting to the plans and Whitehead said more clubs need to let their fans know where they stand.
He said: “It would be good to see more teams be like Nairn County and give their opinion on the matter.”
