Athletic Article: League One and Two Seasons to be abandoned next week

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Applies to you too mate , one of your melts called Andy crying that you should be awarded the title as Swindon game in hand is Cheltenham away which I'm sure is incorrect anyway ( Praise and grumble )
I actually thought he was going to burst out crying.

Their game in hand I believe was Mansfield away or Scunthorpe at home. I don't know which game in hand they actually played in all honesty cos they had a couple called off. Be nice to have won a title but it's not going to give us a 10 point head start next season so it's not worth giving a toss about. Cheltenham's game in hand was against Newport.

 

[Richard Cranium]

It was against us. They'd have won about 14 nil

 

[AdamStag]

It was against us. They'd have won about 14 nil

Ah yeah I remember that game, just got back to Mansfield after travelling half the country and got called off just as I got the pub haha.

 

[valefan16]

Carol has confirmed we did vote to end the season to back the clubs who couldn’t of afforded to do so. Went in the meeting wanting to finish it but when it become apparent the costs £125k plus for testing would kill some clubs we went to support those clubs.

Can’t grumble at that. Had it been Smurf he’d have scraped it to stop having to pay it with the Hugill money! So at least we’ve done the morally right thing as gutting as it is that we can’t see the conclusion to the story of so far a season with some great memories. No one can take that moment at the Etihad of us when we passed Man City apart to equalise so we have had our moments and shame that book won’t be completed but now got to hope we can get a full season in next year.

 

[darren gregory]

Vale and Bradford just praised on Radio 5 as apparently was all done amicably and for the greater good of the division.
They described the League one meeting as like a bun fight

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Could you imagine the egos though? Donald, MacAnthony, Pilley, Pompey's lot, Oxford's lot, Palios and Marcus Evans of Ipswich. Absolute murder.

Good on L2 for forcing their hand. DMAC knows the gig is up. Only reason that letter was signed was when he found out it was unweighted PPG, Posh would become the biggest losers. Wonder if he'll make good on his promise to sell up now? And good luck getting £13 million for Ivan Toney too.

 

[valefan16]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1261365651454787584

We’ve had some right bad eggs running this club but we’ve hit a good one finally!

 

[Crewelad87]

Fair play to Carol, she's come across very well the last few weeks. Everything she has had said has been level headed and genuinely for the greater good. It's like chalk and cheese when comparing to her to Smurf.

 

[valefan16]

Fair play to Carol, she's come across very well the last few weeks. Everything she has had said has been level headed and genuinely for the greater good. It's like chalk and cheese when comparing to her to Smurf.

We’ve struck lucky after Smurf and before that V2001 and all the eggs they hired in!

Hopefully under new ownerships both clubs who lets be fair have spent much of the last 10-12 years in the doldrums after the sides of the 90s/early 00s for you can start to look up again and at least get this derby that isn’t a derby but might be a derby played regularly at higher levels in the coming years!

Said earlier in the season we are six months behind you in the turnaround from rattling around the bottom of L2 and probably turned out the case as we hit the levels in the new year so hopefully can do what you guys did and take this form into the new season.

Good luck in League One, we’ve generally caught you at your worst in this 18 month spell you’ve had but the results don’t lie.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Ah yeah I remember that game, just got back to Mansfield after travelling half the country and got called off just as I got the pub haha.

We had a better afternoon though!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Could you imagine the egos though? Donald, MacAnthony, Pilley, Pompey's lot, Oxford's lot, Palios and Marcus Evans of Ipswich. Absolute murder.

Good on L2 for forcing their hand. DMAC knows the gig is up. Only reason that letter was signed was when he found out it was unweighted PPG, Posh would become the biggest losers. Wonder if he'll make good on his promise to sell up now? And good luck getting £13 million for Ivan Toney too.

Am I right in thinking whatever PPG they use Pboro will end up outside the play offs in place of Wycombe?

 

[AdamStag]

We had a better afternoon though!

Very much so!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Am I right in thinking whatever PPG they use Pboro will end up outside the play offs in place of Wycombe?

If they used weighted PPG, Posh would be in and would play Fleetwood and Pompey would be out.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

We’ve struck lucky after Smurf and before that V2001 and all the eggs they hired in!

Hopefully under new ownerships both clubs who lets be fair have spent much of the last 10-12 years in the doldrums after the sides of the 90s/early 00s for you can start to look up again and at least get this derby that isn’t a derby but might be a derby played regularly at higher levels in the coming years!

Said earlier in the season we are six months behind you in the turnaround from rattling around the bottom of L2 and probably turned out the case as we hit the levels in the new year so hopefully can do what you guys did and take this form into the new season.

Good luck in League One, we’ve generally caught you at your worst in this 18 month spell you’ve had but the results don’t lie.

I remember the dying days of the mad axeman and dodgy car salesman Bill Bell and we all remember nearly a decade ago the likes of Bill Bratt and Perry Deakin doing all they could to obliterate your club. Followed by a chancer in Paul Wildes who brought Norman Smurthwaite in and it was like a soap opera for years.

But Carol Shanahan is a class act. Having seen the likes of most the local lower league clubs fucked over in the last two decades or so, Vale had to get the right person in or I felt they'd be next up for the drop to non league. But no such thing will happen now after they've experienced the stability we did last year, and turned themselves into a side who will be given the respect they deserve next season. I always think Shrewsbury were very hasty sacking Askey and were too busy expecting the reincarnation of Paul Hurst to come in, but their loss is very much your gain.

If the boot was on the other foot it'd absolutely pain me and I'm sure most Crewe fans to see an excellent season not go to a conclusion, but I'd like to think, as likeminded clubs that don't overspend, we absolutely would've done the same. I think most clubs would at this level. Bar Dale Vince, we don't have an irrational egomaniac in League Two. A few may overspend but we all know we're usually hovering just above the breadline. And it's a massive crisis for a lot of good clubs that we need to negotiate through now.

Whilst I'm delighted annual 1-0 defeats will be coming to an end in the short term, I have to say this bogey run against Vale is karma for when we held the Indian sign over yourselves. When we were at our worst under that pillock Davis, we always got a result at Vale. It's very different under Artell, but you'd rather beat the rest and lose to Vale than lose to the rest and beat Vale. Like yourselves, we've also been taken over at the right time, and had Corona struck 2 months before, we'd have potentially been screwed. But we have the fans and an excellent group of local businessmen ready to establish us back at League One level, where we need to be if we're to build the club to what it was 20 years ago.

The biggest battle now lies ahead. I hope the self-serving in League One get their acts together because L1 and L2 clubs this Summer need to sit down together and find a way forward for the future of our game. The transfer market will collapse, salary caps are inevitable, revenue will be down at every club. Clubs like ourselves will be in a stronger position than most, so we need to promote sustainability and long-term planning and philosophies so the bottom two leagues can negotiate smoothly through this crisis. Today was a minor obstacle, and a promotion is nice even if it's not how I envisaged winning, but now I'm looking more forward to seeing how we go forward with our game. Because promotion is worthless if 10 clubs in the league above end up dying. So we have to now work together and find a consensus for us all to prosper.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Am I right in thinking whatever PPG they use Pboro will end up outside the play offs in place of Wycombe?

They are now looking at the possibility of increasing the number of teams in any play offs for League 1. Which if so, surprised Vale did not suggest that for L2. Though I simply cannot see any play offs happening anyway.

 

[AdamStag]

They are now looking at the possibility of increasing the number of teams in any play offs for League 1. Which if so, surprised Vale did not suggest that for L2. Though I simply cannot see any play offs happening anyway.

How would you do that then?

Obviously it doesn’t work with 5.

The conference do it where 2nd and 3rd playing the winner of 4th vs 7th and 5th vs 6th - so if you were 7th you have a game away at 4th and if you won that you’d be away at 2nd in a one off game before the final.

Whereas I think it works well in the conference and the conference north/south as there’s only 1 auto spot I don’t really like the idea of it in the league.

 

[Kenneth E End]

My only argument is that it doesn't take into account remaining fixtures.

The PPG is flawed, but what system isn't .

All irrelevant but say that the Premier League used it

Villa have played Liverpool, City and Chelsea twice for example.

Bournemouth still have all 3 to play.
But based on current games played Villa would go down.
All hypothetical and pointless really but just an example of how flawed it is

Do I have an alternative, nope .
It is what it is but I think I'm more peed off if Stevenage get a reprieve that would be totally undeserved

The only fair way is to make the whole league system nul and void - it's the only level playing field without have to go into averages and complex mathematics.

 

[Kenneth E End]

How would you do that then?

Obviously it doesn’t work with 5.

The conference do it where 2nd and 3rd playing the winner of 4th vs 7th and 5th vs 6th - so if you were 7th you have a game away at 4th and if you won that you’d be away at 2nd in a one off game before the final.

Whereas I think it works well in the conference and the conference north/south as there’s only 1 auto spot I don’t really like the idea of it in the league.

This could also be an opportunity to even up the promotion places in each division and also expand the play offs permanently - I've never understand why they've not changed it from the old North / South days in League Two.

 

[Kenneth E End]

There is an intrinsic point amongst all of this discussion over promotion and relegation - will there actually be 72 clubs to start the next season, especially with no crowds in grounds probably before the autumn at the earliest.

Clubs will probably desperately try and get through the AGM so you can't adjust the divisions after the event.

 

[AdamStag]

This could also be an opportunity to even up the promotion places in each division and also expand the play offs permanently - I've never understand why they've not changed it from the old North / South days in League Two.

I find it odd that 4 go up from league 2 but only 3 from league 1, I guess I’ve never known anything differently.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

This could also be an opportunity to even up the promotion places in each division and also expand the play offs permanently - I've never understand why they've not changed it from the old North / South days in League Two.

There was never 4 teams promoted during the North/South days, it was just the league winners! So only 2 teams went down from the Second Division to the Third tier and then they were assigned a region.

4 teams only came when the divisions were nationalised. Personally, I'd have 4 up 4 down in every division so more teams have something to play for each year!

 

[Boletus Edulis]

How would you do that then?

Obviously it doesn’t work with 5.

The conference do it where 2nd and 3rd playing the winner of 4th vs 7th and 5th vs 6th - so if you were 7th you have a game away at 4th and if you won that you’d be away at 2nd in a one off game before the final.

Whereas I think it works well in the conference and the conference north/south as there’s only 1 auto spot I don’t really like the idea of it in the league.

God alone knows. This is pure politics so people can get the votes they need. Rational argument has no place here.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

There is an intrinsic point amongst all of this discussion over promotion and relegation - will there actually be 72 clubs to start the next season, especially with no crowds in grounds probably before the autumn at the earliest.

Clubs will probably desperately try and get through the AGM so you can't adjust the divisions after the event.

The obvious answer to your question is no there won’t be 72.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I find it odd that 4 go up from league 2 but only 3 from league 1, I guess I’ve never known anything differently.

The reason for it when it was first introduced was because the Northern and Southern clubs had spent years co-existing but could only meet each other in the FA Cup. So they wanted a regular turnover of clubs each year to make sure more clubs could play each other for the first time. At the same time, it was 2 up 2 down between the First/Second and Second/Third until 1975 when it became 3 up, 3 down.

 

[AdamStag]

The reason for it when it was first introduced was because the Northern and Southern clubs had spent years co-existing but could only meet each other in the FA Cup. So they wanted a regular turnover of clubs each year to make sure more clubs could play each other for the first time. At the same time, it was 2 up 2 down between the First/Second and Second/Third until 1975 when it became 3 up, 3 down.

Ah well obviously wasn’t around when it was northern/southern.

So in essence you had div 1 div 2 then div 3 north and south. Bit harsh if only the champions of each division went up!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Ah well obviously wasn’t around when it was northern/southern.

So in essence you had div 1 div 2 then div 3 north and south. Bit harsh if only the champions of each division went up!

That reason alone is why I'm massively against regionalisation of any kind in professional football.

Between 1921-1958, we played Barrow, Wrexham, Rochdale, Hartlepool, Accrington, Halifax and Southport every single season. We also played York, Carlisle, Gateshead and Chester every season after they all joined the league. We also played Darlington, Stockport, Tranmere, Doncaster, Chesterfield, Lincoln, Bradford and Mansfield on a near-regular basis too. When you think of the number of clubs, you realise just how insane the system used to be!

Given the Third Division North was 22 and not 24 clubs until very late on in its existence, could you imagine the same 18 or 19 trips every season? I know we'd have relegation to a lower tier and second promotion spot if it were to be introduced today, but it'd just be so boring!

 

[Camborne Gills]

There was never 4 teams promoted during the North/South days, it was just the league winners! So only 2 teams went down from the Second Division to the Third tier and then they were assigned a region.

4 teams only came when the divisions were nationalised. Personally, I'd have 4 up 4 down in every division so more teams have something to play for each year!

Seems like a good idea, but it would never happen. The PL clubs wouldn't stand for it, look at the way they are shitting it now.

 

[Devon_Lad]

The only fair way is to make the whole league system nul and void - it's the only level playing field without have to go into averages and complex mathematics.

Is the correct answer.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Personally, I'd have 4 up 4 down in every division so more teams have something to play for each year!

Absolutely agree.

 

[shoddycollins]

Cannot believe we're even considering cancelling the season while Salford relegation is still a faint possibility.