north v south

[chalkies_shorts]

Not for me thank you. I watch Town - don't give too much of a fuck who we're playing be they North or South or points in between. The Scum games are great but thats because we don't do it every season as they are normally shite and below us.
I've also enjoyed some great trips up north. 
After a season or two we'd probably get bored as fuck and pine for Accrington.

[Ralphy]

What a stupid idea.

I look forward to the fixtures coming out and planning my trips to godforsaken northern shit holes.

[Costanza]

I don't think it's the most ridiculous notion ever suggested on TEF. On the surface, looking at a Division 3 (South), it looks quite fun for what it is. However, as a structure within modern football, it faces too many obstacles.

Firstly, you can still play each other twice instead four times (was that mentioned? If so then that would be suicide for the Football League - See Scotland).

There are teams based in places that could easily see them playing in the North despite being close to clubs in the South Division. Gloucester City play in the Conference North so would Cheltenham play in Division 3 (North)? In my quickly made list I've put Northampton Town in the Northern section because, well, I needed to.

How would the Football League make that geographical decision? What happens if four northern based teams get relegated from Division 2? Would teams like Walsall will be sent to Div 3 (South) to accommodate? Is that fair?

Then how would you decide on promotion? Two feeder divisions for the 2nd tier would result in only two clubs getting promoted from North and South.

- The Play-Offs would die as you would need two automatic places or it gets messy (Play-Off option could be 3rd Place North vs. 3rd Place South to face the 5th worst team in Division 2 that decides whether that team stays in Div 2)

- Without a Play-Off format, seasons could be over for most of the league by February if there are runaway leaders. Modern football is accustomed to this now and would not last without it.

There's probably more reasons.

Division 3 (North)

Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday
Huddersfield Town
Carlisle United
Tranmere Rovers
Hartlepool United
Preston North End
Bury
Scunthorpe United
Oldham Athletic
Chesterfield
Rochdale
Crewe Alexandra
Rotherham United
Accrington Stanley
Morecambe
Port Vale
Burton Albion
Bradford City
Macclesfield Town
Shrewsbury Town
Notts County
Walsall
Northampton Town

Division 3 (South)

Charlton Athletic
Franchise
Brentford
Stevenage
Colchester
Bournemouth
Yeovil
Leyton Orient
Wycombe Wanderers
Exeter City
Swindon Town
Torquay United
Crawley Town
Southend United
Cheltenham Town
Oxford United
Gillingham
Aldershot Town
Bristol Rovers
Wimbledon
Dag & Red
Plymouth Argyle
Barnet
Hereford United

[Ralphy]

It's a shit idea.

[Arriba]

Nothing wrong with the current way the leagues are. The only thing I think they could do is increase the amount of teams up and down into league 2 from the Conference

[Costanza]

It's a shit idea.

Yes. It's not practical but I felt explaining why I didn't agree was better than saying 'it's shit'.

[horlock07]

Speaking of the northern conference you end up with sitautions where Bishop Stortford have ended up in that division and have to travel to workington which is a 600 mile round trip.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/conference_north_table/default.stm

[Ralphy]

Where are Vauxhall Motors based ?

Ellesmere Port ? Or Luton ?

[Nick Bamosomi]

It also doesn't take into account those of us who live further north and who sometime only have the opportunity to go to a match when it is against a Northern team. I'd virtually never get to see Swindon play if that happened.

[horlock07]

Where are Vauxhall Motors based ?

Ellesmere Port ? Or Luton ?

Ellesmere Port

[Ardiles]

The gulf in class between teams at the top of those divisions and those at the bottom would be enormous.  As a result, you would have a stack of teams marooned in mid-table for season after season with little to play for.

I also look down the list of teams in the prospective Division Three (South)...and it hardly makes you want to go 'whoopie do!'  Southend, Yeovil, Stevenage, Barnet hardly set the pulse racing.  Admittedly, there aren't too many that do in the Northern section either, but at least you would keep the variety.

As an aside, it is interesting that the divide is drawn between Northampton and Franchise...a lot further south than I would have expected given all the teams in the Midlands and the North.  Most villages (well, almost) in Lancashire, for example, seem to have a League side these days.

[kerry red]

I think that for this season only the team finishing 7th should be relegated to the Conference - the club would then be relocated to Outer Hebrides and be forced to only employ amputees.

[Costanza]

Ellesmere Port

I remember watching Chippenham Town beating Vauxhall Motors in the Semi-Final of the FA Vase back in 2000. I seem to recall one of their board members doing a at fans during the post-match celebrations.

[Gnasher]

The books were better than the TV series, although it made a star of Patrick Swayze.

[Ralphy]

Apart from Charlton, we'd be the biggest club in the Southern league.