The Ups and The Downs
May 10, 2008
The English leagues are not the only ones with exciting end of season play-offs. Naw, here in Scotland we have them too. All the same things you get down south, you get up North too. All that is except the television coverage. And the crowds. And I’m not just talking about that daft idea they have in the SPL of splitting the league in two and that results in the team finishing 7th has more points than the team finishing 6th, or even 5th.
No, like in England’s lower reaches, it’s in the lower divisions that the real excitement is to be found. So, for the uninformed and mildly interested, here are this seasons Scottish Ups and Downs (you might want to keep Google Maps handy in case you dont know where any of these places are).
Scottish Premier League
Well, thats easy. That’ll be Gretna then. The imminent demise of Gretna could, in an interesting twist promote Airdrie and Raith Rovers to the First and Second respectively in a sort of strange, weird way that I don’t understand and therefore can not explain, should Gretna not survive beyond May 17th.
Division 1
Hamilton Accies go up to the SPL after a fine season which saw them lose only 6 games all season. Pushed all the way by Alex Rae’s Dundee.
Going down this year are Stirling Albion who managed only 4 wins all season. Nearly joining them where Clyde, but an inspired 3-0 win over Second Division hopefuls Airdrie saw them keep their Division 1 status.
Division 2
Ross County, the UK’s most remote league team are promoted back to Division 1.
Berwick Rangers drop down to Division 3 having sacked manager Michael Renwick. The former Hibernian player was let go after Berwick finished bottom following a spate of high scoring defeats. Joining them are Cowdenbeath after losing their play-off semi-final against Arbroath, who were fourth in Division Three.
Division 3
East Fife are promoted as champions and Arbroath go up with them following the end of season playoffs which saw them beat Stranraer in the playoffs.
Although Forfar finished bottom, there is no relegation from the Third Division. A change in the rules at the start of the 2005/06 season stated that any team finishing bottom twice in a row would lose full membership status and would be allowed to continue in the league for a further two seasons at which point the league would decide whether or not to allow that club to continue. The rule has not been applied yet, though East Stirling came close.
