Celtic’s B team could be playing in a new look SPFL 3 next season after two terms playing in the Lowland League.
So far the door has been closed to the SPFL with a variety of concerns thrown up by part-time clubs anxious to protect their senior status.
Over the last decade East Stirling, Berwick Rangers and Cowdenbeath have dropped out the senior ranks with little prospect of getting back as progressive teams like Cove Rangers, Kelty Hearts and FC Edinburgh quickly cut through the deadwood in League Two, the fourth tier of the senior game.
With the Lowland League winners playing off against the Highland League winners to face the side in bottom place in League Two a bottleneck of progressive clubs are being held back while sides like Stenhousemuir and Albion Rovers cling on to their senior place.
Celtic’s B team are currently in a league that includes Edinburgh University and Civil Service Strollers but next season they could be elevated to League Three which would provide another buffer for toiling SPFL clubs and keep Darvel, East Kilbride, Tranent and others further away from joining Cove Rangers in the Championship.
In the Daily Mail, Stephen McGowan reports:
Darvel manager Mick Kennedy claims the SFA are hatching plans to parachute Celtic and Rangers B teams into a new SPFL League Three.
Currently guesting in the Lowland League, Sportsmail understands Celtic, Hearts and Rangers B teams are unlikely to be invited back to the fifth tier next season.
And with the pathway for players aged 17 to 21 under threat, the governing body are reviewing the pyramid structure in a quest to find a long-term solution. One option is a new League Three featuring Premiership colts teams and sides from the Lowland and Highland Leagues.
Kennedy, whose team are currently top of the West of Scotland League, expects League One and Two clubs to relax their long-standing opposition to the idea in return for new SPFL entry criteria which makes it harder for clubs like Darvel to progress through the pyramid and displace them in the senior ranks.
Speaking ahead of his team’s Scottish Cup clash with Aberdeen on Monday, Kennedy said: “SPFL 3 is coming. If it’s not this year then it’s coming the following year. I have spoken to enough people in the game to know what’s coming down the tracks.
“The sticking point is the League One and Two sides. They usually team up to block the vote. But I think clubs there will be assured by proposed changes to SPFL entry criteria for clubs like us which will give them a degree of protection. The quid pro quo will be that Celtic and Rangers won’t vote for that unless they also get an agreement to get their B teams in somewhere.
“For me, SPFL 3 is definitely coming — and changing the criteria will be how they get everybody on board.’
Celtic, Hearts and Rangers B teams were granted Lowland League places last summer in return for an undertaking that the SFA would review the pyramid structure.
Unhappy with the lack of progress made so far, clubs in the fifth tier are now expected to end the experiment. With Hampden chiefs under pressure from Celtic and Rangers to create a competitive environment for their best young players, SPFL League Three offers a potential compromise.
On Monday Darvel host Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup in front of the BBC Scotland cameras.
University of Stirling, Drumchapel United and Linlithgow Rose from the Lowland League and West of Scotland League are in Scottish Cup action this weekend.
