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Blue Square Bet Premier: Chief cautious over third promotion spot

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments24

Newport playing against Wrexham in the Blue Square Bet Premier

The Blue Square Bet Premier is unlikely to be given a third promotion place, says general manager Dennis Strudwick.

He has confirmed that the division made a request for an additional promotion place, but said the decision was up to League Two clubs.

"It would mean three down from the Football League, and turkeys don't vote for Christmas," he said.

Last week Newport manager Justin Edinburgh called for more Conference teams to be promoted.

Only one club is currently guaranteed promotion from the highest tier of the non-league pyramid, with the the second spot decided by a play-off.

Last season Wrexham lost out in the play-offs after finishing second in the table with 98 points, with fourth-placed York returning to the Football League following a nine-year absence despite accumulating 15 fewer points.

The north Wales club currently top the table, but the leading four teams are separated by only four points.

Strudwick believes Blue Square Bet Premier deserves a third promotion place, with the teams finishing first and second in the table going up automatically.

However, he warns it might be a slow process.

"It won't happen overnight," he said. "The Football League knows where we're at in as much as we've asked for three-up and three-down, two being automatic and one from the play-offs.

"So it's probably a dripping tap campaign. It's a campaign that we carefully need to manage."

There was no automatic promotion into the Football League until 1987.

Scarborough were promoted that year, and there was a 16-year gap before a second promotion spot was granted with Yeovil and Doncaster Rovers gaining places in the Football League.

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24 comments

  • Comment posted by D1690212849898, at 13:21 12 Mar 2013

    As a Grimsby fan I am obviously all for this. I can't see the league 2 clubs voting for change however. Maybe they would be more inclined to vote yes if there was a system where the top 2 clubs get promoted and then the 3 clubs placed 3-5th clubs enter playoffs with the league 2 club that finished 22nd. The league 2 club gets a chance to stay in the league, and would maybe vote for this change

  • Comment posted by dellboy67, at 13:32 12 Mar 2013

    Why not have a cut off point in February or March & split the top 10 of the BSP & bottom 10 of League 2 & have a mini league with 3 promotion & relegation spots - that would make for a more excisting finish to the leagues, improve attendances & finally PROVE that the BSP is better than most of League 2...

  • Comment posted by Talking Sense, at 09:27 12 Mar 2013

    While they show the crass unprofessionalism that lets some teams chose to change grounds at a whim (Gateshead) and not others (Newport County) they don't deserve an extra promotion place.

  • Comment posted by User0341941386, at 10:20 12 Mar 2013

    Cambridge spent to get promoted and finished second twice in a row only to loose play off finals when half of league two are not as good as the Conference teams. The league is not fair,

  • Comment posted by gertcha, at 16:49 12 Mar 2013

    They should merge League 2 and the Conference into North and South, more local derbies, less travelling and less expenditure for clubs that already spend far far too much

  • Comment posted by Geoff, at 13:06 12 Mar 2013

    It's about time natural order was restored and proper FL clubs such as Grimsby, Luton, Mansfield, Lincoln, Cambridge etc, replaced the non-league nobodies such as Morecambe, Fleetwood, Crawley, Yeovil, and Stevenage. Sadly the standard of the FL will continue to diminish for as long as these tiny bankrolled clubs are allowed to further ruin it for proper football fans.

  • Comment posted by User0925746214, at 12:16 12 Mar 2013

    The Conference is a far superior league to League Two. Almost to the point where I don't want my side to get promoted from it. Why would you swap away days at Luton, Cambridge, Grimsby, Wrexham, Lincoln, Stockport, Newport, etc, for the likes of Dagenham, Barnet, Morecambe, Accrington, Aldershot and York?

  • Comment posted by User0870192064, at 13:53 14 Mar 2013

    There has been a case for change for many years.

    The Championship, Leagues 1 and 2 and the Conference Premier all have 24 teams. But the promotion/relegation is a mix of :-
    3 up 3 down between the Championship and League 1;
    4 up 4 down between Leagues 1 & 2 and
    2 up 2 down between league 2 and the Conference.

  • Comment posted by User0263758767, at 13:02 12 Mar 2013

    With only 2 promotion places from 24 BSP is hardest league of all to go up from. That gives moneybags (eg Crawley) and cup windfalls (eg Burton) too big an advantage. Compare success of BSP clubs going up to League 2 with success of Championship clubs going into Premiership to see that BSP should have more promotion places.

  • Comment posted by Alex C, at 09:30 14 Mar 2013

    Given how well clubs like Stevenage and Crawley Town have done since getting promoted to the League, and how badly clubs from League 2 have done when relegated, it shows how little difference in quality there is between League 2 and the Conference.

    Regardless of which league you tlak about, a club that finishes 5th shouldn't go up at the expense of a team that finished 2nd.

  • Comment posted by Scorpion, at 15:53 12 Mar 2013

    Of all the clubs promoted from the Conference between 1987-2005 (19 years) only FOUR were non-league before 1987 and are still in the league today. The rest were previously Football League clubs or were Non League that have gone back down again!

    6 of the bottom 8 clubs in League 2 came up from non league, did well for a few seasons, and are now struggling.

    So why promote more clubs?

  • Comment posted by Muttley, at 15:24 12 Mar 2013

    My view [as a Wrexham fan] is that the League 2 clubs should think more about this as it is now increasingly difficult for clubs to get out of the BSP back to the league. Whilst 3 down would add to relegated numbers the 3 up system would reduce the risk of ex-league clubs becoming stuck in the Conference. It only takes 1 sugardaddy club such as Fleetwood buying promotion to scupper everyone else.

  • Comment posted by TwoWardrobes, at 14:48 12 Mar 2013

    16. yellowandblackarmy

    Agreed. Much better way of doing it. No need for more BSP games though, the league position is the league position - it's already been decided who plays.

  • Comment posted by User0025978330, at 13:46 12 Mar 2013

    Could we not have the top 2 from BSP go up, the bottom 2 from FL2 are relegated.
    Then some sort of playoff between 3rd bottom from FL2 and either 3rd in BSP, or the BSP could have its own playoff to decide whom plays the 3rd bottom FL2 team in the playoff... ( i think or something) or could we not just sue West Ham over the Carlos Tevez affair?

  • Comment posted by livpoksoc, at 13:12 12 Mar 2013

    Perhaps a middle ground can be made where the two leagues agree to the move, but the financial penalty of relegation is softened?

    As a Wrexham fan, it was heartbreaking to be relegated and then that pain was worsened when we lost out two years in a row in the play offs. Some clubs to go into financial hibernation in this league whilst others find cash and buy their way out (Fleetwood & Crawley)

  • Comment posted by User0563874146, at 15:55 14 Mar 2013

    As a Bradford City fan, I cant understand why some of the bigger and more established L2 clubs would not vote for a 3 teams to be promoted-

    City would rather Mansfield, Stockport, Lincoln and Grimsby in L2 as they will bring more fans - even clubs like Luton, Wrexham and Cambridge, a fair distance away, will bring more fans than clubs like Accrington, Morecambe & Burton which are closer

  • Comment posted by User0151457285, at 11:01 12 Mar 2013

    Short-sighted League 2 clubs. They all assume they will remain league clubs and don't want to increase the chance of dropping out of the league - which adding a new slot would do. So league 2 clubs will always vote no until such time they do drop out of the league and then they will campaign for another slot. Cannot see that changing unfortunately. But you're right - it is not fair.

  • Comment posted by Duke of Plazatoro, at 11:35 12 Mar 2013

    As a Wrexham supporter obviously I support this move.

    The standard of football in the BSP is much higher than most people realise - you can see it by the number of promoted teams who go straight through League 2 - and there are a lot of other big clubs like Grimsby and Mansfield who also are in this league for the wrong reasons and can't get out of it.

  • Comment posted by User0868400094, at 09:27 12 Mar 2013

    I would rate most of the top half of the BSqp above most of the bottom half of Div 2 in most of the last 5 seasons.

  • Comment posted by NotSingingAnymore, at 10:20 12 Mar 2013

    When BSP teams can beat Premier League teams in the FA Cup then you know that the top of the BSP is an unfair bottle-neck.

    The teams that get promoted from the BSP often then get promoted the next season from Lge 2. But, like the man says, turkeys don't often vote for Christmas.

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