Birth of the Football League (EFL 1888 sim)

Also both Sunderland teams are winning and generally doing better. We may be in the end times.

So just going to jump in with one more quick post for today, talking about the end of season AGM voting.

In real life at the end of the 1898 vote, it was decided to expand the league to two division of 18 clubs. This however was not the only idea pitched forward, with 2 other ideas also being presented, both featuring a North/South split of the second division.

To allow people to vote on which of these new systems will be implemented into this sim without taking too much time between season, I'm going to move that particularly vote a season early, so at the end of this season there will also be a vote as to what the league structure should be for the foreseeable future.

The options will be as follows:

Option 1: 18-18. Both divisions are expanded by 2 teams, removing relegation from Division One and automatically promoting the top two sides from Division Two. The league election will still occur for the year featuring the bottom 3 from division 2 and a number of teams will apply for election, which will be voted on as per usual. Following this the last 4 sides will be added separately to the league in accordance with what I believe feels most accurate for the era (this will feature some clubs that did not apply for election)

Option 2: 18-12/12. We still expand the top flight by 2 clubs, removing relegation and promoting the top 2 from Division Two. There will be no re-election process as the bottom clubs will all automatically be re-elected (assuming financial stability). Instead I will select 6(?) clubs to automatically join the second Division, then provide lists to active commenters (currently rabbitman & armandopayne94) to select 1 additional team each. Teams not chosen from these lists will be put forward at the end of season AGM for everyone to vote on to select the final 4(?) teams. I'll then organise the the 24 teams into North & South divisions, which will each have 1 promotion spot and the bottom 2 sides facing re-election.

Option 3: 16-16/16. We do not expand the top flight and the pro-rel test matches still take place. However no teams will face re-election from Division Two, with all sides maintaining their status as Football League clubs (assuming financial stability). Instead I will select 8(?) clubs to automatically join the second division, then provide lists to active commenters (currently rabbitman & armandopayne94) to select 2 teams each from that will be elected. The teams not selected from these lists will be those put forward at the AGM voting which is open to everyone to vote on the final 4(?) teams. I'll then organise the the 24 teams into North & South divisions, which will each have 1 promotion spot and the bottom 2 sides facing re-election.

Numbers will vary in some of these cases based on the situation and this is kind of just a rough draft for how I'll organise things currently, although the 3 base options (18-18, 18-12/12, 16-16/16) are definite. The exact methods of everything is still being fleshed out but figured I'd put this out now to gather any feedback people had.