Coronavirus could mean end of an era for Cumbernauld United

Cumbernauld United's time as a junior club may be over

Discussions about SJFA West Region clubs moving into the pyramid system as part of a new West of Scotland League were already under way before last weeek’s suspension of all football.

And - if as looks increasingly likely the current season has to be abandoned - attention will then turn to next season and where clubs will be playing.

There has been a proposal for a new West of Scotland League which would feed into the Lowland League.

It has been suggested that the teams in the current West Premiership would make up the bulk, if not all, of that division.

United currently sit second in the Championship and by gaining promotion Cumbernauld would expect to be in that group.

But the suspension now means they may not go up after all.

Club chairman George Watson said: “We’re all in limbo because we’ve got this pyramid situation.

“If the West clubs go in at tier six it would probably be clubs in the Premier League so if we got promoted this year we would like to think we’d be in that division.

“If we don’t get the leagues finished - and it would be disappointing for me because this is first time in 10 years we’ve got a chance of getting back into the big league - everybody would have to go over en masse and they could end up seeding clubs and go into a conference.

“You might end up with four leagues of 16 teams with four seeds in each section and at the end of the first year the top four in each would form the top league.

“It’s all up in the air and I don’t even know if the lay-off just now helps things or hinders things.”

However like most George appreciates there are more important things to consider at the moment.

He said: “Everybody’s health has got to come before anything else and we’ve just got to fall in line.

“We’re sitting with no income coming in through no games. We’ve not had any games for about six weeks anyway, so this just goes on top of it.

“We’re no different from other clubs and will sit down with the players and come to some sort of compromise. At the end of the day, if there’s no money coming in how can the money go out.”