The Future of the 92 Club

The Future of the 92 Club

The 92 Club has been part of English football for 70 years (barring a brief expansion to the 93 Club in 1991 - see our History of the 92 Club section for more information), but in 2016, the EFL put forward a proposal to expand league football to 100 teams...

The 2016, 100 team proposal

Under the EFL's plans, the Championship, League 1 and League 2 would have been cut down to 20 teams each with a new League 3 created.

League 3 would be comprised of the bottom 12 teams in League 2 and the top 8 teams in the National League:

• Premier League remaining the same at 20 teams
• The Championship reducing from 24 teams to 20 teams
• League 1 reducing from 24 teams to 20 teams
• League 2 reducing from 24 teams to 20 teams
• A new 20-team League 3 created, made from the bottom 12 teams in League 2 and the top 8 in the National League

This would have seen the number of games each team played reduced from 46 (23 home, 23 away) to 38 (19 home and 19 away). The plans proposed most midweek games to be scrapped due to the (usually) smaller attendances.

The proposal was to make these changes at the end of the 2018/2019 season. However, despite receiving the backing of the Premier League and Football Association, the plans were rejected by the EFL member clubs and the idea has been canned.

The 100 Club isn't the only plan which has been proposed in the past...

Premier League 2, including Celtic and Rangers

Last really spoken about in 2009, it's long been rumoured that Scotland's top 2 clubs could join the "more competitive" English leagues.

Back in 2008, Bolton Wanderers chairman Phil Gartside recommended that Celtic and Rangers be invited to join a new Premier League 2. The scheme didn't receive backing from the lower league clubs and was abandoned.

Don't be surprised to see it raised again sometime soon though.

Premier League B teams in League 3

In 2014, former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke suggested allowing Premier League sides to field their B teams in a new 20-team League 3.

This new division would have sat below League 2, but above the National League and been comprised of the top 10 teams from the National League and 10 Premier League B sides.

The aim was to get younger players playing regular competitive fixtures, allowing them to break into the first team back at their parent club. Rules suggested include:

• 20 of the 25 man squad should be home grown
• 19 of the 25 man squad should be under 21
• No non-EU players allowed

Luckily, the Football League member clubs rejected the proposal, citing that there was "no appetite" for allowing Premier League B teams into the English pyramid.

A breakaway European Super League

The creation of a European Super League has long been talked about, partly due to the success of the Champions League.

The issue was raised again as recently as November 2018, with German newspaper Der Spiegel claiming that initial talks had been held involving a number of Europe's top clubs.

The talks centered around a league featuring 16 teams - a core group of Europe's 11 biggest clubs known as the "founders" and an invited list of 5 others.

According to Der Spiegel, these 16 clubs are:

• AC Milan
• Atletico Madrid (invited)
• Arsenal
• Barcelona
• Bayern Munich
• Borussia Dortmund (invited)
• Chelsea
• Inter Milan (invited)
• Juventus
• Liverpool
• Manchester City
• Manchester United
• Marseille (invited)
• Paris St Germain
• Real Madrid
• Roma (invited)

The 11 founders would be exempt from relegation for the first 20 years, hinting that promotion from national league to European Super League would be possible.

So, what does the future have in store for the 92 Club?

Only time will tell, but as we've seen above, the 92 Club could either expand to accommodate more teams or contract if a European breakaway league ever happens.

The powers that be will ultimately do what they think is right to raise the game's profile and income, but any change to this 70 year old tradition is likely to be met with opposition from many football fans.