National League chief executive Phil Alexander has reiterated the league’s demand for the English Football League (EFL) to implement a system where three teams move up and three teams move down between the two competitions.
Rochdale staged a remarkable comeback on Sunday, overturning a two-goal deficit in the final 12 minutes of regulation time before defeating Boreham Wood on penalties in the promotion final at Wembley. The victory came just two weeks after one of the most dramatic games across England’s top five divisions this season, where Rochdale and York both scored in stoppage time during a league title decider.
For much of the Wembley final, it looked as though Rochdale would miss out on promotion despite an extraordinary league campaign that saw them accumulate 106 points. Alexander believes this situation should prompt serious consideration within the EFL.
“We think three up could be done, we think three up should be done,” Alexander said. “The EFL could take the higher ground and make that happen.”
Both EFL chief executive Trevor Birch and chief operating officer Nick Craig were present at Wembley. Before the match, outgoing National League chairman Jack Pearce praised the two men but noted that the decision on adopting a three-up, three-down system rests with the clubs, not the executives.
The National League believes there is broad support for the change and had hoped it would be put to a vote at a meeting of all 72 EFL clubs in March. That did not occur; instead, it was merely listed as a discussion topic, meaning it could not be adopted for at least another year.
In terms of performance, introducing three promotion places makes sense. The top tier of the National League is now virtually fully professional, and the standard gap to League Two is negligible. While two recently promoted teams – Barrow and Harrogate – were relegated from the EFL this season, Bromley, who moved up from the National League two years ago, just won the League Two title. Notts County and Chesterfield, who contested the 2023 National League promotion final, are now facing each other in the League Two play-off semi-finals. Meanwhile, Wrexham, also a National League club as recently as 2023, only missed out on a Championship play-off spot on the final day of this season.
However, the National League fears that EFL clubs will remain firm in their stance that no change should happen until the Premier League – which provides significant financial backing to the fifth tier – reaches a funding agreement with them. So far, there are no signs of such an agreement.
Alexander believes the newly established Football Regulator, chaired by David Kogan, could play a role, but he hopes a solution can be reached for the good of the game.
“Really, the National League should be part of a larger pyramid with regards to connection with the EFL,” Alexander said. “It is league five in every sense and needs to be recognised in that way. At the moment it is on a bit of an island. The regulator has the power to make changes for the betterment of the game and that’s where I’m coming from. We do think there is good feeling within the EFL for three-up and pretty much everyone thinks it’s the thing to do but I am very concerned it might just drag on.”
