National League Statement

[behind the goals]

Is the Club folding after this one.

No but unless we get significant investment or promotion the playing budget will shrink once the parachute payments have gone
Shearers 40% shareholding won’t cover itself financially

Club can always go back to part-time and play the local talent that many have said can play at National league level.

[Adam29]

The budget is already drawn up for the doomsdays scenarios

It wouldn’t come in to effect for next season because we still have a £500k parachute payment if we don’t go up this year

In the event that we stay here for a 3rd season then we’d go back to a similar budget to what we had the season we won the league

[litefoot]

Would take a great deal of reform but the EFL taking over the NL and creating a L2 North and South would help with the rising costs for many teams. Must cost us a fortune with the number of Southern teams in the league with travelling costs. Then you get the issues of what happens below so no easy answers.


Agree plastic pitches need to go and needs to be the same salary cap as L2

You'd never get it past the EFL. L1 teams would be worried that one bad season and they could be playing 50% of their games against teams who are currently NL teams. Even L2 teams would be wary of swapping out a few big teams in the other half of the country (especially bearing in mind where the NL North/South split currently happens) for more local games when half of the NL averages less than 2000 a game, half a dozen less than 1500 and two less than 1000. You're splitting the EFL money 96 ways instead of 72, the EFL Cup probably gets a Preliminary Round and there's a possibility at least half of them have to play in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FAC.

One alternative might be to promote eight teams from the NL to give you 32 in L2 - 16 in L2 North and South. Play home and away against teams in your section and home or away against teams in the other - 46 games, same as now. You could even arrange it so that at much as possible, clubs play one of their two (or two from four) longest journeys home and the other away, so teams down south might play Barrow home and Carlisle away or vice versa. Same goes for your closest opponents, which might help sell it to teams in the south midlands who might otherwise be playing in the north as Gloucester, Hereford and Oxford City have done in the NL - if you're, say, Cheltenham andyou do end up in the northern section at least you might get Swindon or Bristol Rovers at home (and even away, it's still more convenient than most of your other away games).

This might even end up going to four up/four down between L2 and the NL - champions and one from 2nd-4th/5th promoted, 15th and 16th relegated - as three down from two sections would probably require a relegation play-off (or put the 15th placed teams in the NL play-off like the SPFL does with the second bottom team, although a day out at Wembley as a reward for being rubbish does a bit unfair).

You'd then have to do something with what's left of the NL as well as the steps below it, but that's doable.

[Jonty]

Would take a great deal of reform but the EFL taking over the NL and creating a L2 North and South would help with the rising costs for many teams. Must cost us a fortune with the number of Southern teams in the league with travelling costs. Then you get the issues of what happens below so no easy answers.


Agree plastic pitches need to go and needs to be the same salary cap as L2

You'd never get it past the EFL. L1 teams would be worried that one bad season and they could be playing 50% of their games against teams who are currently NL teams. Even L2 teams would be wary of swapping out a few big teams in the other half of the country (especially bearing in mind where the NL North/South split currently happens) for more local games when half of the NL averages less than 2000 a game, half a dozen less than 1500 and two less than 1000. You're splitting the EFL money 96 ways instead of 72, the EFL Cup probably gets a Preliminary Round and there's a possibility at least half of them have to play in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FAC.

One alternative might be to promote eight teams from the NL to give you 32 in L2 - 16 in L2 North and South. Play home and away against teams in your section and home or away against teams in the other - 46 games, same as now. You could even arrange it so that at much as possible, clubs play one of their two (or two from four) longest journeys home and the other away, so teams down south might play Barrow home and Carlisle away or vice versa. Same goes for your closest opponents, which might help sell it to teams in the south midlands who might otherwise be playing in the north as Gloucester, Hereford and Oxford City have done in the NL - if you're, say, Cheltenham andyou do end up in the northern section at least you might get Swindon or Bristol Rovers at home (and even away, it's still more convenient than most of your other away games).

This might even end up going to four up/four down between L2 and the NL - champions and one from 2nd-4th/5th promoted, 15th and 16th relegated - as three down from two sections would probably require a relegation play-off (or put the 15th placed teams in the NL play-off like the SPFL does with the second bottom team, although a day out at Wembley as a reward for being rubbish does a bit unfair).

You'd then have to do something with what's left of the NL as well as the steps below it, but that's doable.

It’s not so much the structure of the leagues, it’s the financial side of it. League Two clubs receive £1.1m to £1.5 million per year from the EFL's pooled basic awards, solidarity payments, and TV rights agreements. Relegation is a 60-70% drop-off. Until the distribution is equal between EFL and National League who is going to vote for that and take on that financial risk. We are currently cushioned with parachute payment , but we are facing this unless we get promoted or a wealthy backer gets on board.