Rutherglen Glencairn boss target Lowland League spot with revamp on way
Rutherglen Glencairn co-boss Joe Pryce has targeted one of the Lowland League West promotion spots from this season's West of Scotland Premier Division.
Pryce is building a squad able to compete in the top flight, with nine places up for grabs in the revamped West Division of the Lowland League in season 2026/27.
The Lowland League will be split into East and West Divisions, with 16 teams in each, running alongside the Highland League.
As an SFA Licenced club, Glencairn are virtually guaranteed a place in the new set-up, but Pryce wants to make sure.
He said: 'It looks like there will be at least eight teams from the division moving into a new league, eight licenced clubs, and we're obviously one of them.
'There will be other clubs who are shooting for their licence this year. If you want to move into this next division, your goal is to finish in the top eight.
'I know there are some clubs who don't have a licence and might struggle to get one, because we know a prohibiting factor is finance, you need floodlights and things like that.
'But from our point of view, we've just got to aim to finish as high up in that division as we can, and we're certainly going to give it a right good go.'
Pryce says his side will stick to what made they successful in their promotion-winning campaign last season and expects his side to be a force in the Premier Division.
He added: 'Teams who are up against us will know they've been in a game, and you're going to have to play well if you want to beat us, that's for sure. We want to go up and play, we're not just going up there to make up the numbers.
'We can't just sit 10 men behind the ball and kick the way we're facing, we'll play the way we want them to play, and that footballers want to play.'
Lowland clubs voted for reconstruction earlier this month, determining that relegation from the Lowland League won't take place this coming season.
However, promotion will be opened up, with champions from each of the four tier-six leagues – West of Scotland Premier Division, South of Scotland, East of Scotland Premier, East Region Midlands League – promoted into their respective division, if they meet Lowland League entry criteria.
This is Scottish FA Licence at bronze level, and meeting Financial Fair Play rules.
At the moment, the West Division would be made up of Albion Rovers, Caledonian Braves, Clydebank, Cumbernauld Colts, Gretna 2008, two clubs from the South of Scotland League and nine from West of Scotland, plus Celtic 'B' as a 17th guest club.
The West of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues would be feeders for the Lowland West Division, while the East of Scotland Premier and Midlands Leagues would feed the East Division.
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