East Kilbride Thistle boss Iain Diack insists promotion and relegation in the West of Scotland shouldn’t be axed just because Auchinleck Talbot and Pollok have pulled out.
It has been a week of chaos for tier six and seven clubs with eight clubs walking away from the inaugural season and mothballing.
The decision from the likes of Talbot and Pollok means that league chiefs are now looking at making the conferences and Premier Division non-competitive.
However, Jags boss Diack has called for there to be further talks regarding promotion with October 24 now confirmed as the kick-off date.
He said: “I’ve said before that every club will have to judge starting the season on their own merits and their own finances. I knew that everyone was going to be different.
“You can see why clubs like Pollok and Auchinleck, who have big fan bases who probably contribute to a big part of their wage bill, would go with a break.
“At the same time, that’s up to them, we haven’t chosen this.
“A lot of the clubs who did pull out were the teams who made a fuss that it shouldn’t be conferences and it should be a top league as far as I can see.
“Now they are all gone.
“For me, if you don’t want to come into the league that’s fair enough and there is no judgement on that, but at the same time the league still has to go on as planned.
“All the things that were up for grabs should still be on offer.
“Why should teams like Kilwinning be punished and not get a chance to play in the Lowland League?
Why should teams not be allowed to go up to the top league?
“It shouldn’t be just because Pollok and Auchinleck aren’t happy with it, promotion and relegation is cancelled. That’s not fair.
“In my opinion they should take what is left of the conferences, redo the conferences in the fairest way possible, and the winners of those three leagues play-off to win, like they did in the East of Scotland League.
“If the league comes back and says that there isn’t going to be any promotion I think you’ll have a lot more teams dropping out of the league.
“I think they would be making a rod for their own back if they go down that route.”
With less than two weeks until the Conference C opener, Diack is delighted with how his squad is shaping up after a 2-1 win over Forth.
“It was a good result against Forth and we ironed out some of the things we didn’t like when we played Drumchapel,” he said.
“It was good to see us moving forward and everyone was fitter.
“If we can get the season going I think it would be a massive boost to everyone.”
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