CELTIC Colts have been given the go-ahead to join the Lowland League next season, as CQN forecast last week.
The Hoops B squad will be joined by their Ibrox counterparts to participate in the division for one term only and plans will now get under way to make the required rule changes to allow their admittance.
Following last night’s vote among the clubs, Lowland League chairman George Fraser, in a report in the Daily Record, said: “With all proposals of this type, everyone has an opinion on it and rightly so.
“The SLFL Board discussed this proposal last week and, as we are a members organisation, it was entirely correct that this was put to the members to vote on.
“As a league, we have allowed our clubs to decide based on facts and not several pieces of misinformation being actively disseminated across many social media platforms.
“Our league is fully committed to the integrity of the pyramid and we have shown this time and time again, so any suggestion we are not is ill-judged and misplaced.
“The majority of our clubs have voted in favour of this proposal and we need to respect that, therefore we will progress this and have further discussions with all parties in the coming days.
“Since the start of this pandemic, the SLFL has operated with a view that no club should be adversely affected by the decisions we make and we believe that this is the case with this proposal.
“With all the tier 6 leagues opting to go ‘null and void’ this meant there was no champion club put forward to join the SLFL.
“If there was then the champion club would be taking part in the SLFL league next season.”
The benefits for the Hoops are obvious with youngsters such as Karamoko Dembele getting game time as opposed to sitting on the substitutes’ bench or in the stand when the first team are in action.
Celtic’s cream of the crop will be able to work on their match fitness to make them ready for selection to the top side if required.
Eleven clubs voted in favour of the change, five against and one abstained. Confirmation is expected at the league AGM in a fortnight.
