View Full Version : Football League renames the divisions
kevruth
10 Jun 2004, 02:14 PM
Today the Football League renamed all of the divisions. See the link below:
http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10794~531749,00.html
This is absolutely silly. It is so confusing not to mention renaming the First Division to The Championship? What's up with that? :p
MightyBees
10 Jun 2004, 02:26 PM
Today the Football League renamed all of the divisions. See the link below:
http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10794~531749,00.html
This is absolutely silly. It is so confusing not to mention renaming the First Division to The Championship? What's up with that? :p
Very, very, very stupid pointless, pathetic idea!
WHY? Whats the point?
Why is the division 1 "the championship"?
Pathetic!
At least we are in division 1 now!
Achtung
10 Jun 2004, 02:54 PM
So... the former Division One winners are now, what the Coca-Cola Champions or something? Do they plan to raise the profile of the leagues by making them as confusing as possible? Only in England would the lower divisions be thought of as anything other than the lower divisions...
kevruth
10 Jun 2004, 03:46 PM
You'll also note that the new logo looks a lot like a knockoff of the Premiership logo. I certainly wouldn't give second level league a crown.
I find it interesting that they kind of gave all of the clubs a "divisional" promotion just by renaming the divisions (i.e. second division to League 1, etc.).
It is also funny that the English Championship takes place one place below the top flight.
And don't you feel sorry for Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Football League had a nice ring to it. Now they've got the Coca-Cola League Championship and it doesn't even include Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool, etc. If I was Coke I'd ask for my money back.
Captain Splarg
10 Jun 2004, 03:52 PM
The Fourth Division is now the 2'nd Division....
kevruth
10 Jun 2004, 04:00 PM
I'm wondering if all of this renaming isn't being done to accommodate a possible merger of the Conference into the Football League. They'd then have a League 3. Just a thought.
kevruth
10 Jun 2004, 04:07 PM
You know, Leeds new something about this. They're going from the bottom to the Championship. Isn't football amazing.
Prenn
10 Jun 2004, 04:53 PM
I hearby forward a motion to do away with promotion and relgation between the Premiership and 'The Championship'.
'The Championship'? FFS!
RichardL
10 Jun 2004, 05:20 PM
Maybe they tapped into their new sponsor's marketing genius and used the same guy who brought 'new coke' to the world.
I used to support '1st division' Reading. What are they now? 'The Championship' Reading? A complete total fiasco that has the exact opposite of the effect it was trying to achieve in that by trying the pretend 'the championship' is the comparible to 'the premiership' all they've achieved is to highlight the difference. Possibly the biggest ********-up by the football league management since advising member clubs not to accept ITV digital's 50% reduced TV offer, then rushing into a deal with sky for a fraction of that figure when ITV digital folded (as they told the league they would do if they didn't accept the reduced offer).
Nacional Tijuana
10 Jun 2004, 06:01 PM
Next step: heck with "VODAPHONE". It's "MANCHESTER UNITED".
Dave_M
10 Jun 2004, 06:29 PM
I find it interesting that they kind of gave all of the clubs a "divisional" promotion just by renaming the divisions (i.e. second division to League 1, etc.).
Well thats what happened when the premiership was formed in the mid 90s. All the current division 1 teams were division 2, down to what is now division 3 was division 4...
...still stupid though
basso001
10 Jun 2004, 07:07 PM
I think we may see some official wiping egg off his face and canceling this stupid move before the season even starts. It's hard to imagine anyone saying this with a straight face.
RichardL's 'new coke' reference is spot on, I think.
b.
Dr. Wankler
10 Jun 2004, 08:02 PM
I was just watching Sky Sports News, and I thought I saw something about this across the bottom of the screen. But then I thought, "no, that would be too stupid." But I decided I would check bigsoccer to see if I read it correctly.
Yikes. While the 4rd Division being called the 3rd Division was pretty silly, it just got worse.
Anyone hear any reasons behind this? Was this supposed to make it easier to get international TV contracts or something? Surely the genius from marketing who thought this up must've had some reason that wouldn't bring tears of laughter to the eyes of fans, but I can't imagine what it might be.
Slim Pickins
10 Jun 2004, 08:15 PM
The Fourth Division is now the 2'nd Division....
Yeah, pretty hilarious. In fact, it's so stupid that it might be a good opportunity to go back to calling the divisions what they really are--call the Premiership the First Division, etc.
CrewDust
10 Jun 2004, 08:21 PM
This is so stupid!
This however is very funny,
http://www.comeontheengland.co.uk/
prk166
10 Jun 2004, 09:29 PM
I'm indifferent to the whole thing. As long as it makes the marketing folks happy.
http://skysports.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=207897&cpid=10
Caesar
10 Jun 2004, 09:52 PM
Well it's easy to see why it's been done, not that that makes it a good thing necessarily.
Every League has its own Championship, regardless of whether it's the Prem or a local Supply League. I guess the FL wanted to emphasise that D1 is the Football League's premier competition, rather than just having it seen as a lower rung of the PL - really nothing to do with the Football League at all.
It's a fairly weak attempt to take the emphasis away from promotion to/relegation from the PL, and put it back on Div 1 as a real competition in it's own right.
Captain Splarg
10 Jun 2004, 10:27 PM
This is so stupid!
This however is very funny,
http://www.comeontheengland.co.uk/
It's just too bad the rest of the film was crap.
(the film that is from is Eurotrip)
Captain Splarg
10 Jun 2004, 10:28 PM
Does feel a bit wierd to be relegated to the Championship...
Can't wait for the Championship match between Plymouth and Brighton
RichardL
13 Jun 2004, 08:34 AM
Yikes. While the 4rd Division being called the 3rd Division was pretty silly....
The football league didn't actually rename its divisions. The first division of the football league was still the first division of the football league, even though the clubs in it resigned and formed their own new competition. They just promoted everybody and were left without anyone in division 4. Had they taken all the conference clubs into division 4 nobody would have thought anything of it.