Gab Sutton Weekly: Is 3UP the way forward?

EFL pundit Gab Sutton is back with his weekly column. This week, he looks at the hot topic of promotion and relegation between the National League and the Football League.

Is three a crowd?

I’m in a minority of people here who would respectfully oppose the 3UP campaign.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some fantastic community clubs in the National League, and some teams that play great football at the top of that division, who I’m sure would enhance the Football League.

So, if sporting merit were the only aspect at play here, I would be signing myself up for it.

I’m pretty sure, for example, that York City, 5th in the National League, are a team that would be more competitive in League Two than Harrogate or Accrington Stanley. So if that drives the standards up, then I fully acknowledge that it could be a really healthy thing.

Counting the cost

While sporting merit is a highly significant factor, it’s not the only one. The other factor is the unique nature of the drop from League Two to the National League, which is the most harmful relegation in English football.

If you go down from the Premier League to the Championship, you’re covered with parachute payments. If you’re relegated within the Football League, though painful, it rarely feels like the end of the world, and if you’re relegated within non-league, the financial shift is not enormous.

If you lose the revenue from being an EFL club, however, that’s an enormous drop-off, which has affected clubs deeply, especially those that don’t have much external investment.

When clubs have gone out of the league, they’ve had to close their academy down, they’ve had to cut staff, and people who have worked at that club for decades, in some cases, have had their jobs and livelihoods put at risk.

Now, some would say that this is simply part and parcel of football, and the opposite of that happens with promotions, which balances it out.

What I would argue, though, is that it’s not an even trade.

Real people, real consequences

Clubs that get promoted to the EFL, especially for the first time, are thrilled from a footballing perspective for obvious reasons, but from a staff and infrastructure angle, it can be a massive stretch for them to make the improvements they have to over the summer to tick all the boxes to be approved to compete at the level.

I think taking the job away from somebody who’s worked for decades, whilst elsewhere at another club, somebody else getting offered a job they’d previously volunteered for or done part-time, is a net negative.

READ MORE: Gab Sutton Weekly: Should managers be loyal?

It’s hugely destabilising for person A, whereas it’s a nice option for person B, but they might also have a job elsewhere that they wouldn’t necessarily quit. I would rather person A keep their job and way of life.

Then, there’s the prestige of being a Football League club. When Rochdale went down in 2023, for example, they mourned the loss of 102 years of Football League history. Whereas, when they went down from League One in 2021, it carried nowhere near that same weight.

Keep the status quo

For that reason, I think the gap between League Two and the National League should be treated a little bit differently; that movement should be restricted to two each way, and that heritage should be protected to a certain extent.

Football League status is a prized, treasured possession, and I think the bar should be a bit higher to attain it than it is to lose it.

That might seem unfair from a sporting merit perspective, but if you look at the specific historical and social nuances of what it means to become, or cease to be, a Football League club, then for me, two up, two down makes sense.