league expansion early 1990s-calling football nerds..info needed

[bigc]

Ok a bit of irrelevant football question but interesting none the less.

1991/2 was sad for the fact Aldershot went bust before the season ended. Before I saw a league table..it always confused me how there were still 22 clubs at the end(back then div1(now prem) had 22, so it was 22-24-24-22 structure...or so i thought), as no club had "replaced" them.

In 1992/3 Maidstone also went bust just prior to the start of the Div3 season, and once again, the league consisted of 22 clubs, despite the fact nobody took their place.

After finding a 1991/92 league table before aldershot went bust i discovered Div4(as it was) had 23 clubs. Made me think..what the hell? why was the league expanded by 1 club...for 2 years.. then dropped.

in 1990-91 the league structure was how it is now

20,24,24,24.

Sorry this just completely puzzles me but passes by most people because according to offical statistics 1991-92 was 22-24-24-22, as was 1992-93. Now as Maidstone went bust in August, they never had a league standing...but...I found the last table before Aldershot went bust..

Div 4-5th March 1992
P W D L F A PTS
1 Blackpool 33 18 9 6 64 35 63
2 Mansfield T 32 19 6 7 66 40 63
3 Burnley 31 19 5 7 63 35 62
--------------------------------------
4 Crewe A 30 16 7 7 56 35 55
5 Barnet 31 17 4 10 67 47 55
6 Cardiff City 31 15 10 6 49 38 55
7 Rotherham Utd 32 15 9 8 49 33 54
--------------------------------------
8 Scunthorpe U 31 15 8 8 46 44 53
9 Rochdale 29 12 12 5 41 35 48
10 Chesterfield 30 13 6 11 31 35 45
11 Gillingham 31 11 10 10 47 36 43
12 Northampton T 32 10 11 11 39 39 41
13 Walsall 33 10 10 13 41 47 40
14 Scarborough 30 10 8 12 43 52 38
15 Hereford Utd 30 10 6 14 34 38 36
16 Wrexham 29 9 9 11 39 50 36
17 Lincoln City 31 8 10 13 28 40 34
18 York City 32 7 11 14 32 44 32
19 Halifax Town 30 7 8 15 25 48 29
20 Maidstone Utd 30 5 12 13 34 45 27
21 Carlisle Utd 31 5 11 15 32 49 26
22 Doncaster R 33 4 8 21 27 55 20
23 Aldershot 32 3 8 21 20 53 17

its just...that question about euro qualification with Wigan and League Cup etc, I wanted to see if any genius on here knew what happened.

 

[Hiney]

In 1990/91, it was 20-24-24-24 - as it is now.

At the end of that season, 2 were relegated from the top division and four came up, making the top division 22 clubs.

The second division had 2 go down with 4 clubs coming up from div 3, keeping div 2 at 24 clubs.

Div 3 had 4 go up, 3 go down taking the division to 23, but 5 clubs came up from Div 4.

Div 4 was then left with 23 clubs to start the 1991/92 season.

Basically, in 1991/92, one team in div 4 was 'spare' each week. During the season, Aldershot went bust and their records we expunged from the records, leaving the final league table with 22 clubs and a total of 92 clubs in the league.

In the summer before 1992/93, Maidstone went bust taking that division down to 21 but Colchester came up from the Vauxhall Conference to bring it back up to 22. There was no relegation from div 4 that season.

It stayed that way for a couple of years, but in 1994/95, 4 clubs were relegated from The Premiership and only 2 came up, bringing the Premership down to the 20 clubs we now see.

Div 1 had 4 go down but only 2 came up from Div 2.

Div 2 had 5 go down but 3 came up from div 3.

This then left us with the breakdown we now have, of 20-24-24-24

 

[bigc]

just seemed a bit botched to have 23.

couldnt they have synched it into 22

 

[Hiney]

I forgot to mention, the 2 teams that were stitched up by the league when they decided to reduce the Premiership from 22 to 20 clubs were Norwich and Palace

 

[Strike]

Take note pikey as your old kent rivals are there and were in the same division as u guys.

 

[Strike]

I forgat mention, the 2 teams that were stitched up by the league when they decided to reduce the Premiership from 22 to 20 clubs were Norwich and Palace

Not forgetting Reading who finished 2nd in Div 1 but had to get promoted via the play offs and were beating Bolton in the final when they. :thud:

 

[Hiney]

just seemed a bit botched to have 23.

couldnt they have synched it into 22

Bizarre - in 1990/91 Wrexham finished bottom of the league but weren't relegated to The Conference but Barnet were promoted.

It was all to do with The FA and Football League going through their fight which led to the FA Premier League being formed.

Originally, the plan was to reduce the Premiership to 18, in line with some of the other leagues in Europe.

 

[Mr Burns]

In 1990/91, it was 20-24-24-24 - as it is now.

At the end of that season, 2 were relegated from the top division and four came up, making the top division 22 clubs.

The second division had 2 go down with 4 clubs coming up from div 3, keeping div 2 at 24 clubs.

Div 3 had 4 go up, 3 go down taking the division to 23, but 5 clubs came up from Div 4.

Div 4 was then left with 23 clubs to start the 1991/92 season.

Basically, in 1991/92, one team in div 4 was 'spare' each week. During the season, Aldershot went bust and their records we expunged from the records, leaving the final league table with 22 clubs and a total of 92 clubs in the league.

In the summer before 1992/93, Maidstone went bust taking that division down to 21 but Colchester came up from the Vauxhall Conference to bring it back up to 22. There was no relegation from div 4 that season.

It stayed that way for a couple of years, but in 1994/95, 4 clubs were relegated from The Premiership and only 2 came up, bringing the Premership down to the 20 clubs we now see.

Div 1 had 4 go down but only 2 came up from Div 2.

Div 2 had 5 go down but 3 came up from div 3.

This then left us with the breakdown we now have, of 20-24-24-24

I bet you can't say that when your pissed

 

[BensGrandad]

Originally, the plan was to reduce the Premiership to 18, in line with some of the other leagues in Europe.

Unless I am wrong haven't EUFA decreed that the senior Division for all countries should be a maximum of 18 and have given a time limit for countries to conform.

I am sure that I read that somewhere but haven't read that it has been rejected by Countries FAs.

If so when does it come into force.

 

[Curious Orange]

18 teams! The top flight are already a bunch of lazy tossers without reducing even further the amount of games they play.

 

[withdeanwombat]

18 teams! The top flight are already a bunch of lazy tossers without reducing even further the amount of games they play.

No,No,NO!

Arsene,Sir Alex,Jose and the Onion at Liverpool agree that there are just too many games.So many that traditional games like the FA and League cups only merit the stiffs turning out.

Proper games like EUROPEAN euro rich games have to be squeezed into a programme over stuffed with 38 (thirty eight)league games,Internationals and some of those very worthwhile and meaningful international club tournees.

Can't have the psuedo-luvvies overstretched at forty grand+ a week,eh?

 

[bigc]

still doesnt make sense it was 23.

surely for the reorganisation they would have dropped wrexham out the league?

just doesnt make any sense.

 

[Hiney]

In August 1990, clubs voted to return to a 22-club top division by 1991/92 and increase league to 94 clubs by 1992/93.

This was due to be achieved by promoting 2 clubs from the Conference.

I think the confusion caused by Aldershot's demise and the rumblings of discontent from the top clubs who wanted a 18 or 20 club top division, let to the ridiculous situation of 23 clubs in div 4.

As always, the League looked after their own by allowing Wrexham to stay in but conpromised by letting only 1 club up (Barnet).

I think

 

[bigc]

Cheers for that Hiney!

are you in the nelson in that pic?

I had always wondered what happened back then, cos according the offical records 1991/92 was 22-24-24-22 due to Aldershot having their records wiped.

I love the short sightedness of the FA.

2 league reorganisational plans in the space fo 4 years.

 

[Hiney]

are you in the nelson in that pic?

No mate, better than that.

That was in a bar in Majorca on the day of the Play-off final. There were about 15 Bristol City fans in there, and me.

That pic was taken about 10 seconds before they all walked out CRYING

f***ing hilarious