National League chief executive Phil Alexander has renewed pressure on the English Football League (EFL) to implement a three-up, three-down promotion and relegation system between the two leagues, following Rochdale’s dramatic victory at Wembley.
Rochdale staged a remarkable comeback, overturning a two-goal deficit with just 12 minutes left in regulation time before defeating Boreham Wood on penalties in Sunday’s promotion final. The win came two weeks after one of the most thrilling matches across the top five tiers this season, where Rochdale and York exchanged stoppage-time goals in a title decider.
Despite accumulating an incredible 106 points during their league campaign, Rochdale appeared destined to miss out on promotion for much of the Wembley clash. Alexander believes this should sharpen the focus within the EFL.
“We think three up could be done, we think three up should be done,” Alexander said. “The EFL could take the higher ground and make that happen.”
EFL chief executive Trevor Birch and chief operating officer Nick Craig attended the final. Before the match, outgoing National League chairman Jack Pearce praised the pair but stressed that clubs—not executives—hold the power to adopt the three-up, three-down system.
The National League believes there is broad support for the change and had hoped a vote would occur at a meeting of all 72 EFL clubs in March. That did not happen. Instead, it was listed as a discussion topic, delaying possible adoption for at least another year.
In performance terms, the case for three promotion places is strong. The top tier of the National League is nearly fully professional, and the gap in quality to League Two is marginal. While two recently promoted teams—Barrow and Harrogate—have been relegated from the EFL this season, Bromley, who moved up from the National League two years ago, just won the League Two title. Notts County and Chesterfield, who faced off in the 2023 National League promotion final, are now meeting in the League Two play-off semi-finals. Wrexham, another National League club as recently as 2023, narrowly missed a Championship play-off spot on the final day.
However, the National League fears EFL clubs will maintain their position that changes to their league should wait until the Premier League—which provides significant financial backing to the fifth tier—reaches a funding agreement with them. So far, there are no signs of such a deal.
Alexander feels that the newly installed Football Regulator, chaired by David Kogan, could play a role but hopes a solution comes from within the game.
“Really the National League should be part of a larger pyramid with regards to connection with the EFL,” Alexander said. “It is league five in every sense and needs to be recognised in that way. At the moment it is on a bit of an island. The regulator has the power to make changes for the betterment of the game and that’s where I’m coming from. We do think there is good feeling within the EFL for three-up and pretty much everyone thinks it’s the thing to do but I am very concerned it might just drag on.”
