But does having a such a linear league structure help the game? In Spain and Italy the leagues regionalise at the third tier - our League 1. The Spanish league's fifth tier has 60 divisions in it compared to our one, and in Italy it's nine. It could be argued that the English League is a testimony to the strength of the game in this country, but given the repeated reminders of how weak the British game is, can we really still get away with this myth? Are teams at the top of the Blue Square Premiership two degrees of separation away from their counterparts struggling at the foot of League 1?
This is how a three division regionalised third tier could have shaped up this season coming (click image for larger version):
On the face of it, you see three divisions that still look very competitive (certainly far more so that than the uppermost tier in the country). Added to this you see heavy concentrations of local clubs together, and not just in the main metropolitan areas like London or Birmingham. Small groupings in places like Sussex, Cheshire and even Gloucestershire promise a steady stream of local derbies throughout the season.
Of course many would argue that regionalising consigns these clubs to effectively being non-league. I would argue that the term 'league' and 'non-league' are irrelevant in these days of automatic promotion/relegation and money-spinning play offs between the various levels.
It could be said that it wouldn't be as attractive to TV companies, but consider the high number of derbies together with boosted attendances from increased local away support. There is also the opportunity for each region to negotiate their own deal.
The last point I'd make on this subject is this: a removal of the lengthy league ladder would provide a greater protection for fans of vulnerable clubs. If Milton Keynes had been a regional fourth tier club, would Pete Winkelman have bothered spending all that money on moving Wimbledon there?
See, the English league is relatively sane by comparison to what's north of the border. The SFL and SPL form a closed system- there's no automatic relegation from the Third Division. As a result, the three regional Senior leagues (Highland, East of Scotland and South of Scotland) often get higher attendances than the bottom of the 3rd- though it's not really that difficult to do better than an East Stirlingshire versus Albion Rovers match.
ReplyDeleteWhils the ten-team divisions are actually quite a nice idea- playing each other four times smooths out blips- with the introduction of the playoffs, at the end of a season there's only four teams in the 2nd who aren't either promoted, relgated or in playoffs.
And then there's the odd netherworld of the Scottish Junior Football Association, which has almost no formal connection to SFA competions.
By contrast, the league and non-league pyramid system in England is sane.