*What should be decided before you even put the blank sheet of paper on the desk?

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Anyone building a physical pyramid starts at the bottom and works up to top.

A paper based pyramid should be constructed in the same way.

I wouldn't start with a blank sheet. If we did we'd probably end up with a system similar to that in Rugby League. History is football's greatest strength. Let's remember for all its faults the English football league system is probably the best and most open league system in any sport anywhere in the world. And it got there organically and piecemeal.

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Can you explain why you believe that to be the case ?

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Because any of three teams can win it

. I know we have leagues within leagues but actually progressing from league to league is more straight forward than most other sports or football in other countries.

I wouldn't start with a blank sheet. If we did we'd probably end up with a system similar to that in Rugby League. History is football's greatest strength. Let's remember for all its faults the English football league system is probably the best and most open league system in any sport anywhere in the world. And it got there organically and piecemeal. Although having said that: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,45,88.......

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Apart from USA, which countries were you thinking of ?

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Singapore and Australia

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Andy, surely you wouldn't expect me to cave in quite so quickly.

I reckon 20-24 might cause arguments in terms of gate receipts but I certainly think it would help to be flexible.

I know it won't ever happen because we like our home/away scheduling over here but I think US style scheduling could help.

My suggestion is to have 2 divisions of 24 at step 2, with teams everyone in their division once. They would also be split in to 'pools' of north/mids/south with 8 from each division forming the midlands division. Teams then play the rest of their division once.

This gives a total of 38 league games each with teams playing mostly in their own part of the country. A 'north' team, for example, would play 30 games against the teams in the northern 3rd, and 8 (4 away) against 'midlands' teams. The 'midlands' teams would play 22 games against other 'midlands' teams with a further 16 (8 away) against teams in the 'north' or 'south'.

Which old split divisions? What pairs?

You'd play 19 home and 19 away - that's the important thing isn't it?

I think you misunderstand my suggestion - teams would all get 19 home games and 19 away. There is no split at any point in the season, the pools/divisions are there to create the fixtures, but they can be played in any order - similar to the NPL Divisions 1 in their first season.

Initially you create 23 fixtures per team - one against each other team in the division (North or South). 12 of the teams in each division will play 12 home and 11 away while the other 12 will play 11 home and 12 away. In each division 8 of the teams playing 12/11 will be in the extremity (i.e. not the midlands) while 4 will be in the midlands pool.

In the second phase of fixture creation - using the pools - 8 teams in each pool will have played 12/11 and 8 will have played 11/12. As there are 15 more fixtures to be created per team, you give those who already have a 12/11 split a 7/8 split, and vice versa. This comes to 19/19 over the season.

I promise you it works. I've cone it in a spreadsheet and it works just fine.