THE DIGEST: More moronic meddling from the SPFL spells danger for lower-league clubs

The moronic meddling from those that ‘lead’ the SPFL looks set to continue after rumours of more lower-league mayhem surfaced earlier this week.

Changing the play-offs without just making them proper play-offs – with two semi-finals and a final – was the first golden nugget.

Then it was the size of the leagues that were again being drawn up on the back of a fag packet. In fact, it started to feel a bit like an unhinged bingo caller. ‘16, 10, 8, 14, 12.’

Rest assured, some ham-fisted attempt at change is coming – and fans should be wary of it.

The SPFL does not have a history of changing the game for the good of the many. However it is dressed up, regardless of how much sugar is coated, you better believe there is an end-game here.

You would hope supporters groups will be paying close attention. Usually, the sweetener is quickly followed by a bitter after-taste when you realise just what has been sacrificed to keep the bigger clubs happy.

For example, the more cynical among us would perhaps look at this week’s announcement that the Challenge Cup was being revamped – with the new set-up including 10 Premiership ‘B’ teams – and think that might be paving the way for something else.

Of course, there’s more prize money. But also more games for lower-league fans against the top-flight kids. Something many of them have boycotted in the past…

No stopping East Kilbride as they set their sights on a place in League Two 

Having won four Lowland League titles in the past nine seasons, East Kilbride have been one of the big success stories in Scottish football in recent years. However, the ultimate prize of promotion to the SPFL has thus far eluded them.

That could all change very soon, though. Kilby are back in the League Two play-off final for a second consecutive year, having come up short in agonising fashion last time out, losing two extra-time goals to Stranraer in a 5-3 aggregate defeat.

Former Darvel boss Mick Kennedy has got his side back on the brink of promotion again, winning the title by seven points, then saw off Highland League counterparts Brora Rangers in the pyramid play-off. Kilby won 4-1 in the first leg at home before a 3-3 draw in the follow-up.

Now they face a two-legged tie against Bonnyrigg Rose for a place in the SPFL. The first leg gets underway at 3pm on Saturday at K-Park, before the return leg a week later at New Dundas Park.

The Rose will be plenty motivated to keep their SPFL status, however, after a tumultuous campaign that saw them controversially deducted six points in November for a slope on their pitch. The club have since been fundraising to help resolve the issue this summer.

But for now their biggest battle is to ensure that surface is still playing host to League Two football come next season. The Rose won at Stranraer on the final day of the season, only for Forfar’s goalless draw with Stirling Albion see them finish bottom on goal difference. They paid the price for having the league’s leakiest defence and they now come up against a side who scored 114 goals en route to the Lowland League title.

Jonny Stewart’s men at least have the advantage of hosting the second leg, but will need all the spirit they can muster to give this most difficult of campaigns a somewhat happy ending. For Kilby, this feels like their best opportunity yet to make history and shed the tag of nearly men.

The world will be watching when Trump’s Aberdeen links host Scottish Championship 

The Scottish Championship might not have got a lot of attention had any other golf course been hosting it this summer.

Now the world will be watching after this week’s news that Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeen will be venue for the tournament from August 7 to 10..

Make no mistake, Trump Turnberry’s bid to host The Open may very well depend on how things pan out in the north east.

Let’s hope for the sake of the Scottish Championship that all goes smoothly.

However, it was to become a circus because protesters cause mayhem, then the R&A may just decide that any prospect of The Open going back to the Ayrshire coast is a non-starter.

In 2021, the R&A’s then-CEO Martin Slumbers said The Open would not be returning to Turnberry ‘until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself, and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances’.

That was a nod, of course, to Donald Trump’s ownership of the course.

The R&A’s stance appears to have softened of late, with CEO Mark Darbon revealing last month that they were ‘doing some feasibility work’ regarding a potential return to Turnberry, which last hosted the tournament in 2009.

While it wouldn’t be true to say the Scottish Championship is being used as a dry run for the US President’s chances of bagging a major at Turnberry, his prospects will certainly be enhanced if we’re talking about the golf afterwards and not a few days of unrelenting chaos.

Nice little earner for Josh, but athletics fans deserve some bang for their buck too  

Well done to Scottish runner Josh Kerr for landing $100,000 in prize money in Miami as part of Michael Johnson’s new Grand Slam Track League.

But don’t expect the rest of us to be cheering on from the sidelines when it all just sounds like an excuse to make athletes some mega cash.

The world 1500m champion hit the jackpot following his fifth-place finish in the 800m.

Eh? Run that one by us again?

Well, just to explain, he had already won the 1500m in the men’s short distance category the night before to take the maximum 12 points from that race.

Points from the 1500m and 800m are combined, you see, to produce an overall winner.

Kerr finished level on 16 points with American Yared Nuguse after their performances in the 800m, but Kerr was overall winner based on having the highest individual finish.

Are you still with us?

No-one begrudges a superb athlete like Kerr making some decent money in a sport where the best performers aren’t always properly rewarded.

But surely someone could have come up with a format that left athletics fans feeling like they had got some bang for their buck as well?

Don’t miss out on this brilliant chance to catch Luke Littler and Co  

Darts fans in Scotland would be advised to move quick and seize the chance to see the sport’s leading lights in the flesh next week.

Night 15 of the BetMGM Premier League Darts roadshow hits Aberdeen’s P&J Arena on Thursday, with PDC world champion Luke Littler and world No1 Luke Humphries among the stars on show in the Granite City.

The majority of the weekly stops have been sold out well in advance, so the chance to see the action so close to the final play-off event of the month is one not to be missed.

True to form, it’s Littler and and Humphries who are the men to look out for, the pair sitting first and second in the standings — on 35 and 26 points respectively — and nailed on for the semi-final shootout at the O2 in London on May 29.

But events in Aberdeen could prove crucial in determining who joins them on the bill.

Each of the 16 stops on the circuit features an eight-person knockout bracket, with players receiving two points per semi-final finish, three points per runner-up finish, and five points per final win.

Prior to last night’s event in Leeds, Gerwyn Price sat third in the standings on 22 points, with Michael van Gerwen in the final remaining qualifying spot on 20 points, one ahead of Nathan Aspinall on 19.

The three of them look set to duke it out for the two remaining final places over the last two match nights and that’s why the atmosphere in Aberdeen could be electric — especially if Van Gerwen’s fans have anything to do with it!

Grab a ticket while you still can. Fancy dress is optional but a good time is obligatory.