new non league structure

[CANV EFM]

i guess most people agree the structure for the season after next will be

conf..

a northern and southern league..

and then 2 or 3 feeders into these..

with 4 down from the conf (and hopefully 2 up to the league).. this leaves 2 up and 2 or 3 down from the northern and southern feeders.. with a single promotion slot and a play off spot for the next 4 places i think this will make non league footy much more exciting.. relegation from the conf wont be as desperatly depressing.. also it would be great to see chelmsford in the southern league playing the other essex teams (if they dont get promoted next year) .. do most of you agree this format is better or not? also are there any other teams like chelmsford that seem to be playing in the wrong league geographically?

[Simon BTFC]

I am very much in favour - certainly in as much as our division (imho) isn't competetive enough. The current structure is too broad - there are too many teams (IMHO the Ryman premier is particularly guilty of this) who have no intention of ever getting promotion and are too good to go down so the sole aim of a season is to have a cup run or two and not get into financial difficulties.

[David Holden]

The current scheme being touted by the FA still has three down from the conference.<p>The 3 up will be the winners of each semi national league plus the winners of a play off between teams 2 - 5 of each league. That keeps the season going long enough so that even Aldershot will still be playing for something in March

[Guest]

I think A northern and Southern will make for a more competative league and I look forward to watching Grays Ath playing in it

[Cressing Toad]

Has a statute for the new setup been thrashed out yet? Are Ryman prem clubs guaranteed to be part of it? If so will clubs from Beazer, Ryman and Unipart be considered equally? Will invitations to play in the new two feeders go out on merit ( final position in league)or will it be a fix up?<p>With regards Chelmsford, they haven't even got a ground, i don't suppose the arrangement to share with Billericay is permanent. All the ground applications they put forward hit snags. Its clear they've been away from the county town for too long already. Every season that passes they lose sympathy in the town they take their name from. I fear time is running out for them.

[Guest]

Hi<p>The FA have submitted 5 different restructuring proposals for the non-league pyramid.

Does anyone know anything about this?

[Colin, Germany]

According to the official Chelmsford City site pyramid page, the most likely re-structuring involves the scrapping of the Isthmian League (Ryman League), with the clubs from that league joining the Southern League. This seems very strange. Surely the Isthmian League (Ryman League) should be kept as a feeder or two feeders for the new semi-national Southern League. Otherwise, the Ryman One regional clubs would have to change leagues en masse.<p>If the play-offs for the third promotion place are between the eight clubs finishing second to fifth in the new semi-national northern and southern leagues, will these play-offs be on a knock-out basis? If so, it would add excitement to the end of the league season if the teams finishing second or third had home advantage in the first round (quarter-final) against the teams finishing fourth and fifth.

[Guest]

Any system which opens us promotion a bit has got to be good since it means more teams have something to play for past March (and yes Dave, that includes Aldershot).<p>Personally, I would prefer four down from the Conference and two promoted via the play-offs.<p>I will suprised if eight teams are involved in playing off for one place

[David Holden]

There was a summary of all of the options in last weeks NLP, and there is supposed to be a further article next week giving more details of the various options.

[ChrisA2002]

I agree with Andy, four down from the Conference would be better.<p>But I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Conference was only going to allow as many teams to be promoted to it, as they were allowed into the League. I.e ONE<p>This meant a playoff between the two league champions to see who went up. Has this changed , or did I imagine it ?

[Colin, Germany]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Dave GNFC:

<strong>There was a summary of all of the options in last weeks NLP, and there is supposed to be a further article next week giving more details of the various options.</strong><hr></blockquote><p>I am not able to get NLP very easily in Germany, or is it on the Net? I would love to have more info about what is going on.

[David Holden]

There is a web-site:<p>Non-League Paper

[Colin, Germany]

Thanks. That was a very interesting site, but I didn't find the article. So I'll have to look out next week.

[David Holden]

I believe that is in one of the options, but is was the one that involved having a "Conference Division 2" This was rejected by the FA back in 1999, but has been resurected as part of the review.

[SteveP]

I had an idea after talking to a football scout, they were saying to me that 3rd Div teams are starting to go part time, which seems odd when you consider that now the majority of conference teams are going pro.<p>So this is my plan. Take League Division 3 and the Conference and regoionlise them North and South with a north and south Feeder league in to each one.<p>There is little future in a 3rd feeder league and the Ryman is the one most likely to go. So some of the higher Ryman clubs should be invited in to the Southern League with some of the more Northern Midland clubs going in to a Northern League.<p>All of those leagues North, South and their respective feeders should have 3 up 3 down including promotion play offs (Each regional league having 2 up to the 2nd Division). Surely that would lead to a more exciting competition.<p>Everyone can see that the existing set up is stifling any quality teams which is such a waste.<p>What d'ya reckon?

[David Holden]

Ah but now you are bringing the Division 3 chairmen into the equation, and we all know what a selfish greedy bunch they are.<p>They won't agree to this unless the Division 2 clubs compensate them for the extra travelling when they get promoted.<p>Seriously though, it sounds as good as any other scheme that's been put forward.

[Guest]

There are 5 scenarios that have been put out to the feeder Leagues for their comments and vote. BSFC have voted for option 'C'<p>The spectre of a Conference League which basically incorporates 2 Divisions was mooted by myself a year ago. It is now certain to be fact. There are variations which include a Premier and a Div 1, a Premier and two regional Div 1s' and a regional Premier split North and South. Whatever the nuances, it is clear that the majority of DML, Ryman and NPL Clubs will find themselves one notch lower in the pyramid pecking order. <p>The Isthmian (Ryman) will miss out to their DML counterparts by 2 teams....16 from DML and 14 each from Ryamn and NPL will form part of the new Conference structure. The Isthmian are still the sticking point to an absolute resoltion, but undoubtedly Turvey and Co will be washed along with the FAs' determined tide on this subject. It is clear that some teams at level 6 and 7 will miss out on the upper echelons of feeder League fottball initially, but have the chance to right that on the pitch if they choose to make the investment and the effort.<p>Level 8 is really the loser unless the 3 current feeder Leagues (Ryman DML & NPL) regularise a formulae to allow for ambitious teams to progress up the pyramid. results alone cannot count in the face of todays fiscal pressures at this basic level.<p>Of course, still up for grabs is the realignement of teams within the fedders and although the despised Isthmian M25 style parameter is frowned upon, it could still survive such a rationalisation as the DML and Isthmian bicker over membership. All fun and games, but hopefully this long awaited and seriously overdue shake up will happen sooner rather than later. Watch out for your team being moved into another League, nail biting end-of-season play-offs and the Non-League European Cup which will surely follow the pyramid rationalisation. Can't wait.<p>BSFCSC

[Colin, Germany]

If the 14 top Ryman teams are 'promoted' to the Conference Division Two South at the end of next season, does this mean that the Ryman Division Two will be abolished just one year after the same fate overtook the Ryman Division Three?<p> <img src="graemlins/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" border="0" alt="[rolleyes]" />

[Guest]

Doing some basic maths, the new Ryman Premier club would contain the 8 clubs not in Semi-national south plus 16 clubs from Divisions 1 North and South.<p>The new Divisions 1 North and South would then contain the 32 clubs not in the Ryman Premier. Therefore to bump them back up to the full compliment of 48 you would then bring in the 16 Division 2 clubs.<p>I hope I've counted everyone!

[matthew oliver]

what a fascinatingly boring conversation.....

I say keep all the leagues the same, but oreint and dagenham should be put in the premiership to replace Man U and Liverpool