Brechin City confirm they are playing their final season in the Highland League regardless if they manage to win promotion to League Two this campaign or not
Brechin City have confirmed that this will be their final season in the Highland League, regardless of whether or not they step up to League Two.
Chairman Kevin Mackie said that even if Brechin fail to gain promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League they will be transferring from the Highland League to the new Lowland League East which will be established next season.
From the 2026/27 campaign, the Lowland League will split into Lowland League East and Lowland League West, with 16 teams in each division based on geographical location.
Brechin, who were relegated to the Highland League in 2021 after losing a play-off final to Kelty Hearts, have confirmed they will be transferring to the Lowland League East next term.
Mackie said the decision for Brechin City to transfer to the Lowland League was made on the basis of logistics.
“This will be our last season in the Highland League,” he said. “We’ll be out of the Highland League next season.
“The SFA have got a vote, but as far as I know it has all been rubber-stamped and it’s been agreed.
“We'll miss the Highland League 100 per cent. It has been a fantastic journey for us and the people north are just in a different league.
“But financially it makes no sense and I’m glad that the boundary has been changed for the future and the benefit of Scottish football. Not only that, it reduces additional travel costs to the Highland League clubs coming down to Brechin.
“I think if people were to review it from the governing bodies’ point of view they would accept that it needed to be looked at in more detail. I think what they did well was they took the travel distance from the actual football club.
“It has nothing to do with the Highland League, it’s simply the fact that logistically our players are based in the central belt, Glasgow and Tayside.”
When Brechin were relegated from League Two in 2021, the club’s preference was to be relegated to the Lowland League. But, due to previous geographical boundaries, all clubs based north of Dundee had to drop into the Highland League.
Mackie said: “We tried to go in the Lowland League at the outset but they voted against it. I think from a humane point of view, for a lot of our lads sitting on a bus on a Saturday night every second Saturday until 10 o’clock at night, it’s not particularly appealing.
“I’m not saying that's the main reason, but people have got lives too.”
Brechin City have won the Highland League once, in the 2022/23 season, and finished second twice, including finishing second on goal difference to Brora Rangers last season.
Mackie hopes that their final season in the Highland League will see them win the title and secure promotion to League Two.
He said: “We’ve always set our stall out on the basis to try and win the league. We’ve had success once and finished joint top twice.
“But we would be hoping this year that we’re building a team to be able to challenge for the title.”
Highland League secretary John Campbell says it is too early to say how Brechin City deciding to leave the division, regardless of whether they win promotion or not, will affect the competition next season.
As part of the reconstruction, the Midlands League would also transfer from the Highland League ladder to the Lowland League East ladder along with the East of Scotland League. The tier six South of Scotland League and West of Scotland League would fall under the Lowland League West ladder.
Only the North Caledonian League and North of Scotland Football League would fall under the Highland League ladder for promotion and relegation.
Campbell confirmed: “The plans that are in place are that there are three tier-five leagues with the Highland League being one along with the Lowland League East and Lowland League West. Each of the three tier-five leagues will have two feeder leagues.
“There will be two feeder leagues into the Highland League from next season.”
Any team from the North Caledonian League and North of Scotland Football League wishing to be promoted to the Highland League must win their respective competition and hold an SFA entry-level licence.
At present, Golspie Sutherland from the North Caledonian League are the only team who hold an entry-level licence, while no sides in the North of Scotland Football League meet the eligibility criteria.
There has never been a Highland League relegation/promotion play-off match since the system was introduced in the 2021/22 season.
Only Banks O’ Dee have ever been promoted to the Highland League, after they won the 2021/22 North Region Premiership.
They were scheduled to play a relegation play-off against Fort William, who finished bottom of the Highland League that season.
Since then, none of the champions in each of the tier-six divisions have been eligible for promotion to the Highland League.
Fort William were eligible for promotion back to the Highland League until they lost their entry-level licence in November.
Their application was rejected as a result of the floodlights no longer working at Claggan Park due to weather damage. They have not regained its entry-level licence and remain ineligible for promotion.
North Caledonian League champions Invergordon are also ineligible for promotion to the Highland League, but have announced their intention to meet the requirements for an entry-level licence.