NFR - Football League getting a shake-up

[Rhys Lightning 63]

English football could be heading for its biggest shake-up since the creation of the Premier League in 1992.

The Football League wants to create an extra division with 20 teams in each from 2019-20.

It would mean England had 100 teams in five divisions, up from 92. Currently, there are 24 teams in the Championship, League One and League Two.

The Football League says the move would tackle fixture congestion and boost the finances of its members.

The Premier League and the FA have backed the proposal "in principle".

The current 72 Football League clubs will decide whether they support the move at their annual general meeting in June 2017.

"There are clear benefits for everyone," Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey told BBC Sport.

"It is about taking a step back to try to work out what is best for English football. We hope that the Football League taking this first step is the catalyst for future change."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36335384

[Rhys Lightning 63]

I'm 100% behind this move

[MJG]

Quick reaction.

Four less home games of income for teams. How will they make up the difference... Ticket prices?

Seems they want to reduce midweek games... I quite like them but if they stopped sending London teams to Manchester on a Tuesday in December and maybe had a more local game that might help.

[lomotd]

So many questions! How would you reduce the Champipnship to 20 teams? Relegate 4 teams and promote none? Imagine if you won League 1 and weren't promoted.

[Rhys Lightning 63]

So many questions! How would you reduce the Champipnship to 20 teams? Relegate 4 teams and promote none? Imagine if you won League 1 and weren't promoted.

I think you'd relegate six and promote two, or five and one.

Like when the Premier League went from 22 to 20, they sent four down and brought two up

[Rhys Lightning 63]

We'll be back in the Premier League before this all kicks in though, so don't worry about it

[bill taylors apprentice]

There's got to be promotion during this change otherwise the season will be a non event!

I doubt very much that it would all be done in one season eg six down and two up.

Would they want to do away with the play-offs for two seasons and then relegate 4 clubs and promote 2 because that would be the simple answer with the least amount of fuss IMO.

[westcliff white]

I see this as a way for the big clubs to have a b team in the football league, so not surprised they and the premier league would back the plan

[Lighthouse]

I hate change. I hate change for the sake of change. I am not sure how this will benefit anybody. Other than that I am all for people with too much time on their hands ignoring the problems of football and trying to invent new ones.

[dannyboi-ffc]

I appreciate that all ideas that have succeeded in the game were probably once frowned upon and this could be exactly the same. But imo.....what a load of nonsense.

I don't really see the point of it and MJG makes a brilliant point. Smaller divisions will mean fewer home games which can only result in clubs that depend on that income to survive losing revenue. UNLESS, they do the obvious thing and increase ticket prices to compensate for it. Some brain box then creates a pointless 5 tier pyramid and the fans lose out once again.

And surely if there are 8 more teams, they will be Conference clubs some of which probably won't be ready for league football. They will be put in a position where they have to spend out of their comfort zone to survive or be relegated which is never a good idea. In turn the little TV money those league two clubs get from Sky will shrink as it will be shared amongst 8 more clubs and they will all be on live even less if at all.

So who exactly benefits from this change? I can't see it as the premier league is the money maker and that won't be edited. Change for changes sake to me

[westcliff white]

Dann premier league clubs who want a b team benefit

[Whitesideup]

And what is wrong with the number of championship teams? We don't have 19 Europa league fixtures to add into the equation.  Our cup runs are generally shorter than premiership teams. If you want to scrap meaningless fixtures, do away with the league cup .. whatever it is called nowadays.

Oh and while I'm at it, scrap friendly week-end internationals that cancel all real football over week-ends, including Easter this year. Let them play these meaningless fixtures on a Wednesday night between a proper fixture list. They are in reality only training games after all.

Onwards .. in a real football kind of way ...

[dannyboi-ffc]

Doing away with midweek games will ruin football. Like MJG says above the way to make midweek games plausible for everyone is to arrange them around geography. Which means we play QPR away rather than Middlesborough.  Then the home club are likely to get more income from away followings.  You can't blame midweek congestion and then sanction pointless international friendlies 3 times a season.

And again a B team scenario would ruin football in this country. It might work in Spain but no other country has the infrastructure we have throughout the leagues. There isn't room for B teams and this stupid idea proves it.

Instead of B teams, how about forcing the big clubs to play some youngsters instead of get around the homegrown limit with another loophole.  If they gave them a chance instead of splashing cash on the next best foreigner then they wouldnt need a B team.

Surely it isn't rocket science. Is it?

[David Allen Crankshaw]

I can't see league clubs agreeing to having four less home fixtures with the obvious loss of income.

[dannyboi-ffc]

It will also mean an extra promotion required to reach the big time. Ok that is a long way off for these little clubs but by adding an extra division you give them one more hurdle to climb and make it a lot harder to survive as every division will have 4 less teams. We would have gone down both this this season and last if that was the case.

[EJL]

Would mean either dilution of limited TV time for lower league clubs or more meddling with fixtures from Sky, along with less gate money as a result of fewer home games. Fewer midweek games, higher ticket prices -- losing all round.

[aaronmcguigan]

theyre looking to improve the product to appeal to a global audience, which will inevitably mean the introduction of some kind of gimmick .
I know it sounds gimmicky or Americanised but my idea would be to have a derby weekend where all the teams in the league played their main rival or local team. Ie we play qpr, Birmingham play villa, burton/Derby/ forest etc and all games staggered to be televised but at accessible times. It should show off the passion and intensity of the league and big selling point for investor or sponsor.

However to say to cut down 8 games a season will improve the football, or attendances is just pie in the sky.

[dannyboi-ffc]

Like that Derby week idea but not every club has a Derby in our league do they?

[westcliff white]

I loathe the idea of premier league "B" teams, that's all about making the rich richer

[AnEssexFan]

This looks like an attempt at a stitch up to me, by the Premier League and the FA.

The Premier League and the FA want to move the FA Cup to a mid week competition to free up more weekends for Premier league games to be screened on television. The FA Cup can't be played midweek if there are lots of Football League matches going on. So, scrap midweek Football League matches and insert the FA Cup.

The Football Leagues argument that it will help raise the quality of it's "product" to attract a larger worlwide audience is nonsense.  How can playing Football League matches solely at weekends, when the Premier League will be being shown on TV all over the world, attract new viewers to the lower tiers of English football?

Then there's the income that clubs will lose.  Do the league expect players to take a 20% pay cut? We know they won't, so that means ticket prices have to at least stay the same despite there being 4 fewer games to go to, but prices could even rise to cover the loss of income from the missing 4 matches.

Personally, I think the football league should look to more midweek games, and even Monday, Thursday, and Friday games if they really want to boost attendances and viewing figures.

If the League were interested in what us supporters think, then they could have sent out letters or surverys to club members or season ticket holders.  I love mid week games, and the most memorable games I've been to tend to have been evening games, so I'd be very disappointed if this change came about.