Former Rangers coach says 'honesty required' over Conference League proposals

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Caledonian Braves boss and former Rangers youth coach Ricky Waddell has called for more honesty over what the proposed Conference League within Scottish football will represent.The new Conference containing Premiership B teams and some Lowland and Highland League teams would slot in between League Two and the Highland/Lowland setup, creating a new fifth tier for the start of the 2024/25 season.Rangers, Celtic and Hearts B teams currently play in the Lowland setup with Braves and cannot be promoted or relegated.The Conference plans have been met with opposition as it is seen to be relegating the majority of teams from the Lowland and Highland Leagues and puts another barrier in place for ambitious clubs in the tiers below to reach the SPFL.A vote on the plans, which are understood to be backed by the majority of clubs, is to be held next month.And Waddell said: “I’m for the Colt teams being in our league, but I believe that teams competing in a league need to compete, and what I mean by that is that if they are good enough and earn enough points, they can be promoted.“If you’ve got that honesty, and I’m going to call it honesty, because I think throughout the leagues there is a lack of honesty going on behind the scenes to actually say truly what that’s about.“Rangers and Celtic are selling it as a development thing, and it’s not, because one of the reasons why players can develop and why they would be in an adult senior league is because of the competitive environment.“If it’s not competitive games and you’ve not got an opportunity to win the league, it takes that element of development out of it.“I feel strongly about that.“I don’t think Scotland needs another league.