The Good Old Days?

[Clive Evans]

When I first started going to football ( well over 50 years ago ) , the four main Football Leagues were more or less a closed shop. A club had to be elected to gain entry to Division Four. Usually the League Clubs rallied around the bottom League Four clubs and generally re-elected them. It was rare for a club to be ejected, unless they were in dire straights eg: Accrington Stanley. In more recent times the Leagues opened up. This has led to Orients demise. I had a quick look and at the present time, the highest of the " upstart " clubs is Peterborough, then Burton & Fleetwood. Under this more recent system some clubs have risen from the nether reaches, because of a rich benefactor and then had a sharp decline. I cite the likes of Boston and Scarborough.
It does give fans of lower League football a bit of variety, but I have been spurred to write because of some derogatory comments made by fans who have visited such soccer hot spots as: Maidenhead, Stevenage, Boreham Wood, Ebbsfleet etc. The older system gave stability to clubs in Divisions 3 & 4. Would you prefer that, or should we have the opportunity to visit: Hemel Hempstead, Billericay & Truro ?
Personally I was all in favour of the new system, but recently, I am not too sure. When clubs that have a large fan base, hit rocky times, their fans have a lot of difficulty following their team home and away.
Discuss!

[LeighO]

Wouldn’t fancy a trip to Truro in case they manage to get it abandoned/ replayed.

[Proposition Joe]

Peterborough were elected to the League in 1960, well before automatic relegation/promotion, so not sure why they've been cited here.

[tuffers#1]

Col U elected 1960
Oxford United 1962
Cambridge 1970
Wigan 1978
Mk Dons ( wimbledon) 1977


All Localish derbies ( not Wigan ) that came about due to.clubs elected to the Football league.

[Proposition Joe]

When did Oxford become a local derby?

[tuffers#1]

Ish PJ i said Ish !!

Would take an extra 22 minutes to get to than col u from walthamstow for me.so localish.

[Proposition Joe]

Fair(ish).

[MexicO]

When I first started going to football ( well over 50 years ago ) , the four main Football Leagues were more or less a closed shop. A club had to be elected to gain entry to Division Four. Usually the League Clubs rallied around the bottom League Four clubs and generally re-elected them. It was rare for a club to be ejected, unless they were in dire straights eg: Accrington Stanley. In more recent times the Leagues opened up. This has led to Orients demise. I had a quick look and at the present time, the highest of the " upstart " clubs is Peterborough, then Burton & Fleetwood. Under this more recent system some clubs have risen from the nether reaches, because of a rich benefactor and then had a sharp decline. I cite the likes of Boston and Scarborough.
It does give fans of lower League football a bit of variety, but I have been spurred to write because of some derogatory comments made by fans who have visited such soccer hot spots as: Maidenhead, Stevenage, Boreham Wood, Ebbsfleet etc. The older system gave stability to clubs in Divisions 3 & 4. Would you prefer that, or should we have the opportunity to visit: Hemel Hempstead, Billericay & Truro ?
Personally I was all in favour of the new system, but recently, I am not too sure. When clubs that have a large fan base, hit rocky times, their fans have a lot of difficulty following their team home and away.
Discuss!

You are very old

[Clive Evans]

MexicO:- I may be old, but is that really any reason to laugh? To celebrate, maybe, especially if you suffered a cardiac arrest 8 months ago, and still have all your marbles. I don't come on here and slag off yoof. In fact I don't pick on people at all, if they are: young, old, black or any other colour, male, female or any variant of gender or because of their sexual preferences. I think it is a shame that the immoderators on this board tolerate it. But there you go. I will however slag off twattish behaviour, any time I see evidence of it.

[Howling Mad Murdock]

With all the stuff we have nowadays I don't envy the younger generation.I really enjoyed the days before mobile phones and the birth of the internet/early days of computers was really good.

[greyhound]

when football was 1st 2nd 3d and 4th divisions and you could do the pools I loved it.
in the 1st division any club could win it not just 3 or 4 teams it made it more exiting.
thems where the days.

[BIGRON]

I thought this thread was about the TV programme

[Proposition Joe]

'Immoderators'.

Well, that's cleared up who this username belongs to.

[slacker]

I’m guessing MexicO is aiming to be first binned username on this new board. A contribution of little else but the smiley on every post is going to become tiring very quickly indeed.

[Howling Mad Murdock]

when football was 1st 2nd 3d and 4th divisions and you could do the pools I loved it.
in the 1st division any club could win it not just 3 or 4 teams it made it more exiting.
thems where the days.

Yes...Teletext and that vidprinter thing was more exciting than Game of Thrones.

Actually that vidprinter thing on the Beeb was amazing and would always stop for a little while,while you were waiting for the latest full times.

Then if a team scored 7 (seven) it would do it in that format.Amazing.

[slacker]

On Bloomster’s original point (for it is he, no?), I’d look to increase the promo/relegation spots between level 4&5, so that the drop doesn’t become so bloody difficult to reverse now that the NL mostly consists of full time sides. I could see the value in the old FL closed shop/re-election business when the non-league sides were all part-timers, the PL wasn’t detached financially, and the gate money etc was shared out more equitably to even up the finances of clubs a bit, but those days are gone (for now).

I’d be more worried about the FLC becoming PL2 and the drawbridge being raised to keep out the riff raff below that level, and ensure Big Clubs like Leeds, Leicester, Forest, Norwich, Sunderland, Wolves, Sheff Wed & Utd don’t have to sully themselves with the likes of Burton, Accrington...or Orient in Div 3 or below.

[Howling Mad Murdock]

Agree Slacker.

[greyhound]

when football was 1st 2nd 3d and 4th divisions and you could do the pools I loved it.
in the 1st division any club could win it not just 3 or 4 teams it made it more exiting.
thems where the days.

Yes...Teletext and that vidprinter thing was more exciting than Game of Thrones.

Actually that vidprinter thing on the Beeb was amazing and would always stop for a little while,while you were waiting for the latest full times.

Then if a team scored 7 (seven) it would do it in that format.Amazing.

you no what 1 won 1,600 pounds about 40 years ago I missed £110. 000 by half a point probably a million knower days.
doing the pools was the thing.now its the lottery. I know what was more exiting.

[Clive Evans]

Let's clear up one point. Leopold Bloom reverted to West Side Story, as many moons ago it was my name, but some b-stad nicked it. That has been explained many times. Also the pedants pull me up about Peterborough etc, but in the 1950's the media were becoming more involved in Football and were pushing for change, hence every so often new clubs did get elected. My feelings are that nowadays, chancers reckon if they get their hands on a club and throw money at it, in theory they could own a Premier League side one day. But often this ends in tears, eg: Boston, Hornchurch, Scarborough etc. This could even be the case with the mighty Orient ( don't really believe this scenario. I liked the suggestion of greater fluidity between Division 2 and the National League.

[Delamod]

Apparently in the days of re-election it could often come down to which club offered the best match day spread to the visiting directors.

[Proposition Joe]

3 up, 3 down from L2 to NL.

[CreamofSumYungGai]

Agreed. Is it too late to implement for this season?

[RientO]

Don’t know how relevant it is but last time Orient topped a league there was only one promotion place. No play off.
Probably need to have an extra promotion slot from national league to make it fairer.

[Howling Mad Murdock]

when football was 1st 2nd 3d and 4th divisions and you could do the pools I loved it.
in the 1st division any club could win it not just 3 or 4 teams it made it more exiting.
thems where the days.

Yes...Teletext and that vidprinter thing was more exciting than Game of Thrones.

Actually that vidprinter thing on the Beeb was amazing and would always stop for a little while,while you were waiting for the latest full times.

Then if a team scored 7 (seven) it would do it in that format.Amazing.

you no what 1 won 1,600 pounds about 40 years ago I missed £110. 000 by half a point probably a million knower days.
doing the pools was the thing.now its the lottery. I know what was more exiting.

Yup the lottery is crap but not so bad if you win it I guess.

[greyhound]

Yes...Teletext and that vidprinter thing was more exciting than Game of Thrones.

Actually that vidprinter thing on the Beeb was amazing and would always stop for a little while,while you were waiting for the latest full times.

Then if a team scored 7 (seven) it would do it in that format.Amazing.

you no what 1 won 1,600 pounds about 40 years ago I missed £110. 000 by half a point probably a million knower days.
doing the pools was the thing.now its the lottery. I know what was more exiting.

Yup the lottery is crap but not so bad if you win it I guess.

yep it would then be a big knees up, I would invite every boarder on here.
only trouble is I stop doing the lottery years ago.