My thoughts on the FA's re-structuring plans for Non-League Football.

A couple of days ago, the FA released their initial plans to restructure the current system from Step 3 - Step 7 of non-League football. The plans were only brief, but did bring up some very interesting points, which today I give my thoughts on.

New Divisions

The standout point of their plans was the introduction of new divisions. A new division amongst the Northern, Southern and Isthimian Premier League step 3, as well as a new division also being introduced at step 4. Step 6 would see two new leagues, one being in the Essex area, the other being in the North West. Finally, in Step 7, there will be two new leagues in Sussex, one in East, the other in the West, alongside a new division in Lincolnshire in order to plug the gap in the region.
 The benefits of these new leagues would be great for non-league clubs. There is no way that some should have to travel on 3-5 hour all round trips for a league match, which could end up being rescheduled for midweek if postponed. At this level, these players are part-time, they have jobs, meaning responsibilities and commitments which they have to fulfil off the pitch. If they have to leave early, because they have a fixture miles away, they could lose their job, which they need to provide for their family, which is the reality of this level of football, they don't have the luxury that Football League and especially Premier League players have. So the introduction of these new divisions mean less travel time which means less money spent on petrol and other travel costs, and, also a massive reduction in travel time across the season. The fact that clubs will be spending less on travel produces so many positive knock on effects. They could do great things with that extra money; Improve their youth system as they could set up more teams as they could afford to pay more coaches, Refurbish an old part of the stadium, Improve the bar/clubhouse, have work done to the pitch, save up their money and build a new/fix a stand, be able to afford pitch covers or an extra floodlight. That little extra money they will have, may not seem like much when you see Man United spend £89million on Paul Pogba, but at this level, that little fraction of money goes a million miles and keeps clubs at these lower tiers of English football going.
 Creating new divisions does bring questions with it though like; Which teams will go into the new divisions? Will there be a season where a team won't get promoted/relegated in order to rejig the system? And most importantly, Will filtering through the non-league pyramid become a simpler, more efficient process? The system isn't perfect as it is, teams being promoted from different don't know where they're going in most cases. You could win the Southern Premier League and then be promoted into the Conference North, it's quite a complicated system as it relies on what teams go up and down, which gets more confusing as you go down the pyramid. Obviously, we won't get all the answers until the FA consult with the leagues to outline the regulations and reshuffle the teams, a process likely too happen next year, as this restructuring is planned to come into play in the 2018-19 season.

Less Teams Per Division

The other point which was brought up was to reduce the number of teams competing in each division. Step 3 would see the number of teams competing, reduced from 24 to 22, whereas Step 4 and Step 5 would see the number of teams reduced from 22 to 20. Step 6 and 7's limit of teams however, all depends on the decision of the leagues' committee.
 The benefits of this coincide with having more divisions, less money spent on travlling costs, a reductions in travel time, more money being available to help out with whatever the club needs to improve. The main benefit of having less teams is that it will reduce fixture congestion. In these lower leagues, there are so many postponements, especially in the December-January period. Not many clubs have pitch covers, pitches are played on by the reserve team, as that's the only place they can play, meaning that when the weather gets bad, the pitch can't cope and I experienced this last year when watching Hereford in the Midland League Premier. It got to the point where we had to play 5 games in 10 days, because of abandoned/rescheduled games. With less teams in the league, it'll allow more space for games to be rescheduled into, without teams having to play a ridiculous amount in a short period of time. It could also lead to the league being more competitive, sides who are normally at the bottom would have the extra funds to be able to improve the club to the next level, in order to challenge the teams at the higher end of the table.
 This also brings up the question of what teams will be in what division when the reshuffling occurs, and, how will the promotion and relegation work, but, as said before, we're unlikely to hear about that until a later date.

Final Thoughts

I'm a firm believer that the FA don't do enough to help out non-league clubs, whether it be providing things, such as pitch covers, or having a fund set aside which could help out clubs throughout the non-league pyramid, that are struggling financially through no fault of their own, but that's something to be addressed at a further date. However, I give them massive credit for this restructuring idea, the benefits heavily outweigh the negatives, and, could lead to clubs in the lowest tiers of English football, being more financially stable than ever. This could make the Non-League system more fluid and simpler to follow as teams will be progressing through their region, and not bouncing from region to region. It's not going to be perfect or please everyone as there is some, who won't accept change, however it is a step in the right direction and could turn out to be a massive improvement, when it comes into play in the 2018/19 season.