Matt Maher: Lasting solution is required for lower leagues

The latest is the possible regionalisation of Leagues One and Two in order to help clubs in those divisions deal with the financial impact.

“Much as I like Gillingham, I don’t like going there on a Tuesday night, or Portsmouth on a Tuesday night. It makes no sense,” exclaims Fleetwood Town chairman Andy Pilley, the man who first floated an idea which has apparently gathered support among a number of rival clubs.

It is an interesting suggestion, there can be no disputing that. Neither is it the first time the notion of regionalising the lower divisions, in order to ease financial pressures, has been mooted in recent years.

Readers of a certain age will be able to remember a time when the third tier of the Football League was split into North and South divisions, before being nationalised in 1958 when Divisions Three and Four were created.

There is also no doubt the pandemic has exposed the need for a rethink in how the game operates and a structure which actually reflects financial reality.

The National League yesterday confirmed the cancellation of its season after more than 90 per cent of its 68 clubs voted in favour.

A number of those clubs, particularly in the nearly exclusively full-time National League Premier, have playing budgets which match or, in several cases, exceed those of clubs in League Two.

Yet it is the latter who still face the prospect of playing out the season behind closed doors, at a considerable cost to themselves (around £650,000, is the amount Scunthorpe chairman Peter Swann has placed on it).

Any restructure or regionalising of Leagues One and Two seems rather pointless without taking the National League Premier into account and the acknowledgement, finally, that the top-tier of non-league football is League Three in all but name.

Pilley’s proposal, in that respect, is not nearly bold enough.

Yet the biggest question would be just how much clubs would actually benefit financially from a regionalised League One and Two?

True, there might be some savings on travel expenses. But since when has the cost of coach hire been a key budget concern for professional clubs?

Cutting down on mileage does nothing to solve the far larger problems of wages, agents’ fees and the fact too many clubs are spending money they simply cannot afford.

That, in truth, is an issue at all levels of the game. There are non-league clubs at a local level playing in front of just a 100 or so supporters splashing out silly sums on players.

Fleetwood, ironically enough, were able to rise from the fifth tier of the non-league game thanks almost solely to Pilley’s millions.

He is also among the League One owners in favour of introducing a salary cap but while that idea has no shortage of merit, neither is it without complications. It would seem rather pointless, for instance, for clubs in League Two to approve such a restriction if it does not apply to those in the National League Premier.

Doing nothing is clearly not an option. But without finding workable and lasting solutions as to how clubs handle their finances, changing the geography of the divisions appears rather pointless.