Premiership final

[crossref]

The trouble is .. let's say they enter into London 1 .. this means that the winner of London 2 is denied promotion .. and so on down.

Merit tables are easier .. you can adjust the size of the division plus you normally have clubs folding joining, double promotion etc etc .. more flexibility

 

[OB..]

The trouble is .. let's say they enter into London 1 .. this means that the winner of London 2 is denied promotion .. and so on down.

Look again at Hartpury's progress. By starting at the bottom, each year they denied one club promotion. If they had started higher up a group of clubs in the leagues below would have been denied promotion - a one-off occurrence for which the benefit is not being steam-rollered twice a year. Looks like a good bargain to me.

 

[crossref]

I don't think that's really comparable.
If a team starts five levels up there is no promotion in the five levels below that season

But I agree there are arguments both ways.

It's a tricky call

 

[OB..]

I don't think that's really comparable.
If a team starts five levels up there is no promotion in the five levels below that season

If they start at the bottom there is one lost promotion per year for 5 years. If they start at 5 levels higher that is the same number of lost promotions, but all at once. The compensating factor is not getting hammered.

(Promotion is usually two up and two down - but it makes no difference to the overall impact).

 

[Rich_NL]

Or you increase the number of relegations by one per level...