The promotion of Queen’s Park and Kelty Hearts’ rapid push for the SPFL looks certain to alter the make-up of Scottish football.
Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters has expressed fears Kelty, should they come up, of being immediate title contenders because of the resources they have available to them.
A Kelty squad featuring Nathan Austin, Kallum Higginbotham, Tam Scobbie and Michael Tidser – players with significant SPFL experience – as well as former Peterhead trio Scott Hooper, Jamie Stevenson and Paddy Boyle, swept Brora Rangers aside in the pyramid play-off.
Brora did have Joe Malin and Mark Nicolson, who had spent a significant part of their careers in the SPFL, but the depth in the squad is not the same.
Kelty’s squad is one not just built for promotion to League Two. It is one ready-made to kick on immediately and challenge for the League Two title, shaking up the established order in the process.
Likewise can be said for Queen’s Park. Their squad has not just been built to win League Two at a canter, which it did, but to be immediately ready to challenge again.
Since shedding their amateur status last year, they have blown others away with the strength of their recruitment.
Ross MacLean, Craig Slater, Louis Longridge, Grant Gillespie and Simon Murray all come with recent Premiership experience. Peter Grant, Bob McHugh and Darren Lyon have all been regulars in the Championship. Off the park they have appointed Leeann Dempster as chief executive and, while they are in the search for a new manager, the ambition is blatant.
Elgin have long carried a desire to get out of League Two, where they have been for more than 20 years. But that task gets harder with Kelty’s arrival and one of Edinburgh City or Dumbarton staying in the league.
Peterhead have largely recruited from the central belt of late and will face increased competition for players with Queen’s Park and potentially Kelty stepping up.
The Spiders’ challenge may well impact Cove Rangers more, however, with the Aberdeen side also keen to progress through the leagues.
It could be said that Cove had done a similar thing to these two clubs; Ryan Strachan, Jordon Brown, Scott Ross and Mitch Megginson all dropped down from the SPFL to help them get out of the Highland League. Blair Yule had been at Cove previously and returned from Arbroath to help them finish the task.
Apart from Brown, all remain key parts of their side in League One. They added what you could term as a “marquee” player last season with Fraser Fyvie joining, but by-and-large their recruitment since joining the SPFL has been younger players released from professional clubs or loan signings.
Cove came close to promotion this season and will strengthen again for another tilt at promotion in 2021-22.
The landscape in the SPFL is certainly shifting. Clubs who have been settled in their roles for years are now being jolted by ambitious, well-backed teams from the lower leagues or non-league, grasping the opportunity open to them by the pyramid system.