Lowland league club members have given a favourable “declaration of interest” to Celtic and Rangers B teams joining the Lowland League for one season next season at a General Meeting of clubs last night. The official SLFL statement can be read in full here. The respective rule changes required will move to a formal vote at the AGM on May 27th and if carried will see the two clubs join the league for season 2021/22.

There was a general discussion for the first half of the meeting among clubs and for the second half of the meeting we were joined by representatives of both Celtic and Rangers to answer any questions that clubs may have. We already had a decision made by our members before the meeting to reject the proposal so as a courtesy to other clubs who may have been undecided we remained silent for that part to allow the best use of everyone’s time to clarify any queries they may have had. Advocates of the proposal gave their thoughts on why it could be beneficial, whereas from our perspective we stand behind everything that we published yesterday ahead of the meeting, with some of the concerns raised already coming to fruition. The meeting was held in a thoroughly professional manner and was amicable throughout, as clubs are entitled to hold different opinions and just like our club is constituted it is one member, one vote.

We will reiterate that it is our belief that the league board approached both Celtic and Rangers with an offer with the best of intentions and in turn both teams duly complied with a set of terms. It was a proposal which member clubs were free to choose to declare an opinion either way last night and again in the formal vote at the AGM on the 27th rather than a diktat, so we are disappointed in and completely condemn some of the online abuse that has been cast in the direction of individuals overnight and would hope that these are reported in line with the policies of the respective social media outlets. As mentioned in previous communications we understand that this is a highly emotive subject that has polarised opinion over the past number of years but there are ways and means of voicing opinions that shouldn’t have to result in targeted and personal online abuse.

Lowland League clubs as mentioned above will formally vote on the proposal on May 27th and if the vote is in favour we will treat the Celtic and Rangers B sides, staff and support in the same way as all of the other sides that visit NDP and in the same way we would any new addition to the league. If the motion is passed and given that our members decided to vote against, we will add these games for free on top of the games we plan to add as part of our season ticket offering for next season.

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