by Stranded »
27 Feb 2024 09:11
27 Feb 2024 09:11
WestYorksRoyal wrote:I'm still bewildered why we have 4 relegation spots in this division. I get it's how it's always been, but that's no reason to keep it. L2 gets an easy ride, 4 promoted and only 2 relegated.
If it was only 3 down, I'd be about 95% confident of survival by now. As it is, it's more like 70%. I know it's a poor league, but the team in 21st really won't be much poorer than half the league in my view.
It's a hangover of the addition of the 4th division in 1958/59 season.
Prior to that, 2 sides from D3N and 2 from D3S had to apply for re-election if they finished 23rd and 24th. The decision was made to turn these directly into relegation spots - so that clubs below the 3rd tier still had the same available amount of spots available to take.
It has just hung around - the best thing to have done would have been to re-jig the relegation places once automatic relegation from the league became a thing in the 80s and even more so when the 2nd spot was added.
So yeah, thats why its there but I can't imagine teams likely to be in the bottom tier will ever vote for it as it drops their chances of promotion by 25% and also keeps the division more interesting for long term residents as they get 6 new opponents each season.