Promotion/relegation helps to reduce the number of meaningless matches. There are other methods as well, such as seeded playoffs (most notably byes, home advantage and the McIntyre system) and Apertura/Clausura mini-tournaments. Now, there are other considerations. Teams are more stable when they don't have the risk of getting relegated. Fans don't see their teams relegated, which reduces the risk of alienation.
They're upgrading their stadium from 3,800 capacity with 500 seats to 5,000 capacity with 1,000 seats to meet Football League minimum standards and unfortunately dig up their 3G pitch which was shared by the local community. https://archive.is/20120731185402/http://www.btinternet.com/~portconnection/grounds/harrogate.htm
Do we decide promotion based on who are the best supported teams? Oh wait, no we don't. The two best supported were Notts County and Stockport County... Anyway, as a visiting fan I'd rather visit Harrogate than Nottingham. It has a Betty's.
Quite impressive. They've rebuilt two sides of their stadium in recent years since I went to a game there when they played in the Conference North. Picture of their ground taken in 1979:
Wealdstone playing Notts County next year? Only one of us has won the non league double #biggerclub— east🏴 (@blancoseast) August 2, 2020
1,311.......and counting, no doubt the higher they go the more support they'll garner. Luckily that doesn't come into it, if that was the case dare I say Notts County Wimbledon and Bournemouth would never have made the top flight when they did?
A dose of realism from their chairman: https://www.bt.com/sport/news/harro...ver-aware-club-needs-bigger-crowds-in-the-efl
One challenge is that the most popular team in North Yorkshire is Leeds United who've just got a huge boost by being promoted to the EPL. We should move them to a modern 20,000 seat stadium, dress them in black and white and call them Notts County. Only kidding.
Harrogate fans will have a 100 mile round trip for home games until their G3 pitch is relaid. https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...are-with-doncaster-while-3g-pitch-is-removed?
It's kind of amusing that such a distance is remarkable in the UK. A 100 mile round trip to catch a sporting event isn't even notable in the US.
I wonder why not York? Has their ground deteriorated such that it's no longer Football League standard? It's an unfortunate situation, but it's probably only going to be for two home games.
Harrogate's lowest league attendance prior to the shut down this was 792, which included 105 away fans. So let's say 687 is their hard core.
Assuming fans are allowed next season, I will predict a 2k average, i.e. the same as Accrington Stanley, another team with a nearby Premier League (and Championship) side.
So the team now known as Istanbul Basaksehir used to be owned by the city of Istanbul, playing in front of a couple of hundred fans at the 80,000 capacity Olympic Stadium, which meant that fans of the big 3 Istanbul teams were financing them heavily through local taxation. So they found a solution. They were taken over by the ministry of sport and relocated from the Olympic Stadium to a purpose built stadium in the Basaksehir district of Istanbul, an Erdogan stronghold. Their first game at the new stadium was an exhibition match in which 60 year-old Erdogan scored a hat-trick. The club responded by retiring the number 12 he wore during the match. They're now basically a government owned and run club, with Erdogan as their number one fan. But to be fair they did win the League based on sporting merit