Originally Posted by
applepie2
The Football League started as one (rather small, 12 team) league. Then Division 2 was added, then the Third Divisions, then Div 3 South and North became Div 3 and Div 4. Notts have suffered the indignity of moving into the bottom division several times, unlike say Everton who have remained in the top division almost all of their history. Being in the EFL (or the top four tiers, i.e. Premier League plus EFL) is nowhere near as prestigious as being one of the top 12 clubs in the land. The EFL expanded more or less at the same pace as our long term decline, or we would have been “non-league” decades earlier.