Some of the teams in L2 must be running at a huge loss. So having a 5th division would surely just mean another 8 potentially cash strapped National League teams being part of the football league ?
Why change the current system? The EFL believed the move, which Harvey said had been backed in principle by the Premier League and the FA, would help: Ensure more games were played on weekends and bank holidays; THIS I CANT UNDERSTAND we play every weekend and also midweek, 20 teams is as said 8 games less so mid weeks go out the window Remove fixture congestion and clashes; are we really congested? and what do we clash with? the Prem is or the top clubs are Help EFL clubs make more money; really play less games and make more money? bit like making gold from lead! you have to wonder if the FA is not just being kind to the poor souls at the EFL by not entertaining them and commenting in a way that would make them sillier than they are!
Personally I would reduce the size of the Championship to 20 clubs (or maybe 22) - this would reduce the amount of midweek fixtures caused by the International break I would then have League 1 with 22 and have 2 Regional League 2's (North and South) both with 22 - by making League 2 regional it would save money on travel costs and in theory mean more away fans This makes a total football league (including the Premier League) of 106
But time will ruin the regional divisions. If you two relegations from league 1 and one promotion for each regional league 2. What happens if say for example Newcastle and Sunderland are both bottom of league 1? Surely then one of them have to be in the southern region. And they finish mid table next season, with Exeter and Plymouth coming down so one of those has to become a northern region. In two years you've got one furthest south team in the north region and one furthest north team in the south region. JGF would probably explain the possibilities of that happening better.
If it were down to me I'd scrap international football which is becoming a huge white elephant and continues to be run by incompetents. Nobody cares about England or anyone else come to that. The football league programme is much better and much more important without having these stupid international breaks which just compress the real football as Simon has stated.
Certainly wouldn't bother with friendlies- Cant see what we learn from a game where you can use multiple subs other than to give a player a run out. The World cup will continue as its a big money spinner. For mid week England games, if you live outside London, its practically impossible to get a train home after the game anyway.
you put it perfectly they could have an England get together for 2 days once a fortnight after a weekend club match ..its still training ... then go back to their clubs for club training up to the next game .. no interuptions there ..qualifying game .. players meet up after club game as now but play the game following weekend either a Friday night through to Tuesday night teams with more than 2 representatives play CLUB GAME on the FOLLOWING SUNDAY OR MONDAY just need to make fixtures so the champions league etc is not in that week after !
One of the teams in the middle of the country would move from the North to the South That happens in the National League now - so would be the same
It would make more economic sense to combine all teams in L1 and L2 and have them as regional divisions now. Carlisle playing Plymouth in front of a few thousand spectators is madness, aside from the associated costs of transport and accommodation for the clubs involved, and some of the attendances are pretty woeful elsewhere in the lower leagues too.
