Not sure what the backlash is, not from a Premier League perspective anyway. Same number of games for us so no change. Has a bigger impact on the four divisions below than it does on any Premier League side
Makes no difference to the Premier League but half the league have played in the football league over the last few years so by the time the changes come into effect many of the Premier League clubs could be in the FL.
It largely effects Leagues 1 and 2. There's a backlash from Premier League fans, not because it will effect our sides, but because of the sheer pointlessness and lack of reasoning for the change. It seems to me like the FA are adamant to make some sort of change with the Football League, I don't understand why though, the League is fine as it is.
the 2 games a week been too much for players is nonsense, we have played this much games a year for many seasons. plus a 46 game season is not every mid game every week.
Against 23 other teams in the same boat. Someone has to win it. Championship teams can't really afford cup runs though if they don't want it to distract from the league. Most Championship clubs just throw the cup competitions. Hull went to Arsenal in the 5th round with a reserve team only this season. 8 less league games would at least free up space for them to have a proper go at the cups. I don't really see why a change is necessary but less games could improve quality. I remember reading an interview with a Championship manager he said for much of the season there's no real time to train and work on things because there's a game every few days and there's not many free midweeks once you factor in cup games. Players are playing on adrenaline a lot of the time rather than genuinely fresh and it sees players burn out quicker and more prone to injury. The German leagues are 18 teams and they have a long winter break as well. Personally I think 20 teams is about right for a division, but the football league does work well as it is.
Yeah you're getting 4 less matches but it sounds like their goal is to clear up the long midweek away days, which few fans go to anyway. I see the point of if it's not broken don't fix it but on the other hand if you never innovate you stagnate. This proposal brings another 8 clubs into the league, creates a uniform structure from top to bottom, and presumably ups the quality of the league with less fixture congestion. Not to mention as Ritchie said gives the opportunity for more clubs to focus on the cups.
On the PL it could afford to lose a couple of sides tbh and that would be a priority for me. In fact wasn't it always supposed to be that the PL would eventually go down to 18?
I think 20 is a about the right number of teams for a league, so to have 20 throughout the leagues does make sense.
I get it from a uniformity angle, but in terms of fixture congestion in the PL; 18 teams would go a long way to solving the problem.
