5 Tiers, 100 teams - A New Football League?

[SaddlerJonny]

They're just trying to sneak B teams in the back door since their first direct approach didn't work. Dressed up all fancy like but still the same turd.

 

[GFC4EVA]

Not totally opposed to the idea as long as its not b teams or Scottish teams taking the places of proper lower league teams.

As been said how they sort out the promotion relegation the season before needs to be clarified properly

 

[Coalite]

Premiership
Championship
League One
League Two North
League Two South

If we had assurances that this is not some half baked scheme to get Premiership reserve teams in the FL by the back door I reckon the plan might have something about it. Less teams in a division so more meaningful games, meaning higher attendances especially with L2 regionalised to offset the loss of the 4 games.

York, Wrexham, Torquay, Darlo etc all get a sniff of getting back in the league where, frankly, they belong.

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

Premiership
Championship
League One
League Two North
League Two South

If we had assurances that this is not some half baked scheme to get Premiership reserve teams in the FL by the back door I reckon the plan might have something about it. Less teams in a division so more meaningful games, meaning higher attendances especially with L2 regionalised to offset the loss of the 4 games.

York, Wrexham, Torquay, Darlo etc all get a sniff of getting back in the league where, frankly, they belong.

Frankly, no, they don't. All were relegated on merit - twice in Darlington, York, and Torquay's case.

As for this scheme, fuck right off about sums it up.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

You can't lose the league cup ...win that and you're in the Europa League , win that and you're in the Champions league ....I'm not saying Hartlepool could do it , but imagine if a biggish team like Preston or Sheffield U were champions of Europe without being in the Premiership ! That would stop thier meddling

 

[ThisTinpotLeague]

My two thoughts are that this is obviously about B teams, and they're still not consulting with supporters. They can FRO on both accounts.

The JPT has been ruined already. It's easy to scoff at, but our games against Swindon, Millwall and Barnsley last season were all well-attended and great fun. I won't attend any games in a competition where we're competing with B teams.

 

[Gassy]

JPT is the perfect competition usually. If you get through (and now against local teams) then great and some extra revenue/possibility of Wembley on the cards, but if you go out, who cares? Win/Win in my eyes.

With the B teams though, well I doubt i'll even tune in for those games.

 

[Indian Dan]

Losing the revenue from 4 home games, supposedly replaced by a group format for the JPT is nonsense.

4 homes games at an average of, say, 7000 against maybe 6 JPT games where you'd struggle to get above 2000.

And when would they be played? During the fucking week!

 

[Gassy]

You can all vote on your opinions for this idea here; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SEBo9t5u4p-v8UMUmhpdR4WgHwbuZnCcSpE5s8oHtCQ/viewform

 

[barnet_pls]

So, it seems that losing 4 home games would be a major deal - nowhere does it say how that income is replaced ? Also, if the FL do belive that there are a further 6/8 teams in the conference that are of FL quality - then they should just introduce 3 up / 3 down for the current L2. I'm not convinced. It also makes it much harder for L3 clubs to actually get to the championship, given there's an extra league to navigate . . . .

 

[Freethinker]

Not sure how they go about shifting the leagues. As Joe says, that final season would be a bit ridiculous. I really don't see a way for them to work it. .......

Just did a mental exercise in my head to work out how this would work. Worked out that if the leagues were to switch to 20 and expand from 4 to 5 from 1 season to the next, 8 teams would have to be promoted from the conference in one go and and 12 teams from L2 would have to be relegated into the new division three. I don't see a viable way to expand the leagues that won't cause a serious stink.

The initial thought is that this seems entirely unfeasible. Need way more details.

1958 all over again.

 

[Camborne Gills]

Why don't these suits stop fucking well meddling around? What is wrong with tradition ffs

 

[JJ1532]

Frankly, no, they don't. All were relegated on merit - twice in Darlington, York, and Torquay's case.

Well, depends on your perspective. Yes, the teams on the pitch didn't deserve to stay in the league, but they have the fanbases and infrastructure that deserve FL clubs. You could argue that they only fell out of the FL because teams like Fleetwood and Crawley bought their way into the FL and forced these proper clubs out. I'd happily swap those kind of clubs with Wrexham, Stockport, Lincoln etc.

 

[Silver Stone]

Hey do we count as one of the "deserved" ex-league clubs? We do have more fans than many of them after all.

A club (more often than not) is where it deserves to be.

 

[JJ1532]

Hey do we count as one of the "deserved" ex-league clubs? We do have more fans than many of them after all.

A club (more often than not) is where it deserves to be.

Ok, but by that logic, Crawley and Fleetwood deserve to be football league clubs, even though they simply bought their way to success.

 

[valefan16]

If done correctly it will be ok, the way the National Premier is now you have easily 8 clubs that should be football league size wise and most now are full time anyway.

It should be considered but:

No to Celtic and Rangers - Although i am not totally opposed
No to B Teams - Totally opposed to this.
No to losing the FA Cup Replays
Keep the JPT
Less midweek games

The main concern is how it would be switched over...

Would be wrong to have the League One Champions denied promotion but you'd end up with 6 or 7 relegation spots from the Championship to accomodate it whittling down to 20 teams and League One-Two would have potentially 9-10 relegation spots.

You cant have a situation where teams are playing the season before to win a title but not getting promotion or it would be a farce.

It would have to be:

Championship Down 6 teams
League One Up 2 Teams (1 Auto, 1 Play Off?)
League One Down 10 Teams
League Two Up 2 Teams (1 Auto, 1 Play Off?)
League Two then has 12 relegated teams to merge with top 8 national league sides to make 20 League 3 sides.

Then the restructure of the National League sides below that with no relegation to the NL and 4 up no one down from each of the NLN/S

If Celtic and Rangers were to join it would have to be into League Three and have only 6 NL sides up.... but thats another debate alltogether.

 

[Silver Stone]

Ok, but by that logic, Crawley and Fleetwood deserve to be football league clubs, even though they simply bought their way to success.

As I said, more often than not. I don't see many people trying to kick out Yeovil, Wycombe, Burton etc.

 

[This Charming Mike]

We need to know what the motivation is for the change. If it's the introduction of B sides, they can bugger off. But I'm not sure it is.

There is the matter of fewer games = less revenue but, on the up side, there would be greater mobility for teams in the lower leagues which could make things more interesting. There are plenty of teams in the 3rd & 4th tiers who seldom switch divisions. Town aren't a bad example, as it happens. I wouldn't dismiss this out of hand.

The proposal is for 5 tiers of professional clubs, each with 20 teams. That's 100 professional clubs vs the 92 that we currently have. In that respect, it's not a massive departure. I'd like to hear more.

 

[Gassy]

No surprise that the conference teams have basically all summed up the following:

Teams pushing for promotion/ex league clubs : Great idea

Teams who struggle and rarely move down there: Terrible idea

 

[valefan16]

No surprise that the conference teams have basically all summed up the following:

Teams pushing for promotion/ex league clubs : Great idea

Teams who struggle and rarely move down there: Terrible idea

With the strength of sides in the NL we should have three up and down between the FL and there anyway by now so can understand those clubs like FGR and Wrexham who have racked up high points tallies to only fail on the play offs would want it... That said in essence they'd still be in the fifth tier as they are now.

 

[Gassy]

Totally agree, it's a bit of a bottle neck thought there for sure, speaking from experience.

However? The reviews did make me laugh as it was so predictable who would support and would wouldn't

 

[Muzzle]

Tell the premier league and Sky to filter down 10 times the money they do and we may think about it

 

[SpireLine]

Am I the only one that actually likes a midweek away game then? I quite like having a free Saturday now and again during the season.

 

[TomPNE94]

Am I the only one that actually likes a midweek away game then? I quite like having a free Saturday now and again during the season.

Nope, nothing better than a Tuesday night game imo. Atmosphere is always better under the lights.

 

[ThisTinpotLeague]

Well, depends on your perspective. Yes, the teams on the pitch didn't deserve to stay in the league, but they have the fanbases and infrastructure that deserve FL clubs.

Never taken a wee at York then?

It should only ever be about being good on the pitch and avoiding being catastrophically bad off of it. Most of those teams "undeservedly" in the Conference fail on both counts.

Giving them a bump up that they haven't earned seems pretty unacceptable. Presumably if we did the same for Villa and Newcastle there'd be outrage.

 

[blade1889]

Cant find it now but wasn't the restructuring of the JPT mentioned in these proposals? Which would suggest they're seriously considering it...and prem B teams are creeping in already.

 

[Shrimper92]

Fuck this shit. People saying they'll boycott already, hope they do.