Calls for a third promotion place from the National League have grown louder following York City’s heartfelt open letter.
The 3UP campaign has support from all 72 National League clubs, and the league itself has publicly urged the EFL to debate and implement the proposal—but beneath the noise, there are deeper issues the National League must fix first.
Earlier this week, York’s frustration at falling short in the play-offs reignited a wider debate about the current structure between the fifth tier and League Two. In response, Lincoln City chairman Clive Nates offered a timely reminder: before asking the EFL to open its doors wider, the National League must first address the cracks in its own foundations.
Relegated EFL Clubs Are Set Up to Fail
Perhaps the most pressing concern, as highlighted by Nates, is the systemic collapse that greets EFL clubs upon relegation. Two years after dropping out of League Two, a club loses not just academy funding—but also the right to compensation for any academy players they develop.
This situation places youth development in jeopardy, especially for clubs with longstanding infrastructures. The financial and moral impact is significant; had three clubs gone down from the EFL in 2023/24, it could have included an academy with Category 2 status; Fleetwood, Crewe and Colchester are all Category 2.
Until the National League can protect and sustain these vital pathways, adding another relegation spot is an existential risk for EFL sides.
Governance and Fairness Must Be Reformed
There are serious questions over the transparency and governance of the National League. Nates references how Covid payments were distributed with minimal oversight, even prompting a 50-minute film, presented by Fred Atkins and directed by Jasper Spanjaart.
Nates also describes a deeply flawed compensation tribunal in which his club faced a chairman who also sat on the National League board. While he doesn’t go into specifics, that is believed to be the transfer of Sean Raggett, a defender who moved from Dover Athletic to Lincoln City. At the time, Dover chairman Jim Parmenter sat on the tribunal board, and later called the outcome of the decision ‘very satisfactory’. Quelle surprise.
Such conflicts of interest—and the lack of independent arbitration—would be unthinkable in the EFL. It is this disparity in governance that makes EFL clubs understandably wary. If the National League wants to be treated as an equal, it must behave like one, beginning with a professional overhaul of its decision-making structures.
Financial Controls Are Inconsistent and Ineffective
While the EFL enforces a version of financial fair play through the SCMP (Salary Cap Management Protocol), the National League has long lacked any credible equivalent. It is only now, years too late, that a version of SCMP is being introduced.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire pointed out that in recent seasons, promoted clubs like Wrexham and Stockport operated at multi-million-pound losses. That’s unsustainable in a league with no financial guardrails, and it warps competition. The “Wild West” label is well-earned: without enforced financial governance, three up, three down risks becoming a race between the rich and the wrecked.
A League That Doesn’t Listen to Its Members
The debacle around FA Cup replays is emblematic of a deeper cultural problem. Despite vocal opposition from clubs and fans alike, the National League aligned itself with the Premier League and FA in scrapping replays from the first round proper. This was done without formal consultation of its members—a decision-making style that fuels distrust. It was also done with claims of fixture congestion being a problem, before the National League promptly introduced the National League Cup, featuring Premier League 2 sides.
Calls for three up, three down are noble in theory, but when the league’s own stakeholders feel unheard and undervalued, its credibility suffers. If the National League wants to lead meaningful reform, it must first demonstrate that it works for its clubs—not against them.
Writer’s Viw
There’s no doubt that the principle of a third promotion spot is fair. The National League has proven its worth repeatedly; none of the sides promoted since automatic promotion began have gone straight back down. But fairness alone won’t win over the EFL.
Clive Nates is right. Before lobbying the EFL, the National League must clean up its own act. The issues of academy collapse, governance imbalance, fiscal chaos, and tone-deaf leadership must be addressed head-on. Until then, asking League Two clubs to risk their future on the promise of a “fairer” pyramid is, at best, premature—and at worst, irresponsible.
