whats the future of non league football

[Guest]

We are interested in gathering the opinions of fans of non-league clubs

on the future of grassroots football in England including league structures, grassroots investment and the womens game.

 

 

Don't let Premier League fans determine the future of you team!

 

Register now at www.fanpanel.co.uk to win prizes and have you say.

[matthew oliver]

well, i think however hard we try. were all f*****d

[FleetFanatic]

One day, we might get a sensible comment from Matthew.

[Mr Happy]

No chance, a good bit of growing up is required there

[matthew oliver]

clubs should do wat orient r going to do.

[MK James]

 

Sell their best players to bigger clubs????

[The Invisible Man]

Quote:

clubs should do wat orient r going to do.

I know I'm going to regret this, but go on then, I'll buy it.

What are Orient going to do?

[Stu B]

selling their captain aren't they?!

[carjam]

Simple really, Two conference leagues north and south. Better still combine the conference with Div 3 and have two division 3's north and south. Two up and two down from both leagues. Scrap play-off's they are unfair. One feeder for each conference ..call that the Super Leagues. Two feeder leagues for each. North South East and West and change them around each year. Re-introduce the league cup in the Conference and the Inter league Clubcall cup in the lower Super Leagues. Anybody still reading this stuff ?...........I doubt it. Introduce a winter break and extend the season into summer months. Make all teams part-time or at least all the same in the same division. Except promotion for clubs all the way down the league when those above are inadequate. Hope you all agree........not sure I do perhaps you have your own ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

carjam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

as for Orient..yeah nice idea but the Torquay Utd route is more likely to surfice

[CANV EFM]

premiership. (3 down) also a champions league slot for the winners of the f.a.cup

.

national div one. (3 up .. 3 down)

.

national div two. (3 up.. 4 down)

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div three north.. div three south.. (2 up from each.. 4 down)

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2 conf? feeders up north.. 2 conf? feeders down south.. (2 up from each)

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i think after here you need to be flexible.. i now have to country divided into 1/4's at this level and would advocate a regular review of which teams play in which regions after promotions and relelgations right up to div 3 level..

from here downwards i think it neeeds to be split into groups of counties maybe.. if you have 4 down from my conf? feeders, you could concievably have 8 groups of counties feeding those leagues with 2 up from each.. after that i think it should go county based..

 

re playoffs carjam, yes i agree they are unfair, but i think they are a necessary evil for the generation of good old hard cash

 

 

[saraholiver]

IMHO, there is really no need for regional divisions. For any club in teh conference or above costs of travelling to away games cantcost them that much, especially in comparison to their wage bill.

 

England is not even a particularly large country, and fairly few teams are distant enough to cause any problems (carlisle, plymouth etc) and regional divisions wouldn't really make much difference. carlisle is far away from everywhere.

 

All i can see that they would do is cause problems. for example, how do you draw the line between north and south? It could well rob a lot of midlands teams of their derby games. Teams in the far north or far south would still have to travel a long way to away games, so I really don't see what could be gained from it.

[FleetFanatic]

Sod all this - every season, draw 92 teams into 4 groups........

.......the winners of each group go into the champions league the follwoing season and have a mini-league for the championship.

 

The bottom team in each group gets relegated to the conference with 4 teams up to replace them.

 

More entertaining & the little clubs get a regular chance of playing the big boys.

 

Below this, leave it as it is - it works.

[The Truth]

Question - Why is it called the champions league...Newcastle haven't won the championship since 1927 but they are in it...and where exactly , other than the planet Ferguson lives on , are Man Utd champions of?

[ChrisA2002]

I would agree mostly with Canv, playoffs are essenstial to keep the fans gates up otherwise the mid-table teams have stuff all to play for after Jan. (Bit like the Ryman Premier at present).

 

Also regionalisation is necessary and I would say this should be applied all the way up to and including the current League Div 2. The reasons not so much the cost to the club of travelling, it's the fact that closer matches bring more away fans.

 

Just look at some of the stupid matches in Div 3, B'mth, Exeter, Plymouth vs Hartlepool, Carlisle etc.

 

Ps Champions of Cash == Champions League.

[Badger]

Does anyone know if any any other countries have got five leagues totalling 124 clubs before there's any form or regionalisation?

 

I only really know stuff about Austrian football (don't ask) and my knowledge there is limited, but I think they only have two leagues of about 10 teams each before they become regionalised.

[Stu B]

true bagger but the thing is,whats wrong with the current system?its not money,the money problems in football are to do with players wages,transfers etc,so where's the problem with a nationwide conference(see what i did there?!)?

[MK James]

As far as I'm aware badger, only England and Scotland have 4 or more national divisions. certainly Spain,Italy and Germany don't.Not only that, England must be the only country in the world to have 100 (give or take a couple) full-time clubs. I'd say that was a good thing though.

[Badger]

I'm not saying we should change it or anything. I was just wondering. I think that if I supported a team in the second or third division and they're regionalised, I'd be really annoyed. It's as though the FA are saying you're not good enough to be recognised at a national level.

[Stu B]

i agree with that badger,for a team like gravesend(who are in their first season in the conference)to be playing in the new league with teams from the ryman league again would be quite unfair given that we earnt promotion and are effectively losing all that we gained.

[MK James]

Yeah ,friends of mine watch Northampton and half the appeal is travelling to away grounds like Blackpool and Carlisle. And what if you support Plymouth but live in Bradford say? You'd never see your team.