27-09-2016, 18:21
I agree with you both.
I thought my idea of conferences producing local derbies had both the potential to be exciting and would mean that everyone in the league structure would be only one step from the Championship, or two from the rich rewards of Premier status. But once a club like Preston is faced with the prospect of Barrow, Chester, Wrexham and Tranmere that does look twice as depressing as the slog of Division One football. The whole point of any reorganisation seemed to me to be to make the whole game better. Replace those four National clubs with exciting young players from Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool and Everton and it looks brighter for the other teams in there and that might help the development of English footballers. But who is really going to be enamoured by a potential trip to Barrow?
The irony is that there is something wrong with the EFL. Look at tonight's fixtures. Even though they are going to hammer us, do Gillingham really want to travel to Chesterfield on a Tuesday night? After Saturday, the "knocks" will probably have reported in on Sunday, Monday's training will have been light ahead of preparation for the game. Tuesday is a long journey and a match. Wednesday is more "knocks", getting over the game and light training and a sour atmosphere if by a miracle they lost. Thursday they might get to train and practice ..... Friday they are preparing for Saturday and more of the same. And we wonder why they look jaded and lacking in skills ....... Portsmouth go to Blackpool, Morecambe to Barnet, Yeovil miles across country to Cambridge, Newport can't wait to arrive in Cleethorpes, Luton must love the idea of Hartlepool and Plymouth go the Orient, Leyton not the real far east .......... I bet these games are feasts of football excellence, Cruyff turns, a few Ronaldo step-overs ....... Such a programme would turn Puskas into a journeyman.
One major trouble is every fan fears relegation, and a forced relegation for finishing almost halfway is unlikely to gain much support unless the EFL finds a few geese and golden eggs. The inherent conservatism of a body needing 90% to change anything might come to football's rescue this time. The trouble is that I fear even if we came up with a panacea for football even Michael Gove couldn't re-educate football's bosses sufficiently to achieve 90%.
I thought my idea of conferences producing local derbies had both the potential to be exciting and would mean that everyone in the league structure would be only one step from the Championship, or two from the rich rewards of Premier status. But once a club like Preston is faced with the prospect of Barrow, Chester, Wrexham and Tranmere that does look twice as depressing as the slog of Division One football. The whole point of any reorganisation seemed to me to be to make the whole game better. Replace those four National clubs with exciting young players from Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool and Everton and it looks brighter for the other teams in there and that might help the development of English footballers. But who is really going to be enamoured by a potential trip to Barrow?
The irony is that there is something wrong with the EFL. Look at tonight's fixtures. Even though they are going to hammer us, do Gillingham really want to travel to Chesterfield on a Tuesday night? After Saturday, the "knocks" will probably have reported in on Sunday, Monday's training will have been light ahead of preparation for the game. Tuesday is a long journey and a match. Wednesday is more "knocks", getting over the game and light training and a sour atmosphere if by a miracle they lost. Thursday they might get to train and practice ..... Friday they are preparing for Saturday and more of the same. And we wonder why they look jaded and lacking in skills ....... Portsmouth go to Blackpool, Morecambe to Barnet, Yeovil miles across country to Cambridge, Newport can't wait to arrive in Cleethorpes, Luton must love the idea of Hartlepool and Plymouth go the Orient, Leyton not the real far east .......... I bet these games are feasts of football excellence, Cruyff turns, a few Ronaldo step-overs ....... Such a programme would turn Puskas into a journeyman.
One major trouble is every fan fears relegation, and a forced relegation for finishing almost halfway is unlikely to gain much support unless the EFL finds a few geese and golden eggs. The inherent conservatism of a body needing 90% to change anything might come to football's rescue this time. The trouble is that I fear even if we came up with a panacea for football even Michael Gove couldn't re-educate football's bosses sufficiently to achieve 90%.