Introduction
The football English league has a colorful history that spans several decades. The football English league is also referred to as npower football league which have featured professional association clubs from England and Wales since the league was begun in 1888. The football English league is the oldest competition in the realms of football. Since it was begun in the 19th century, the football English league has been the top level football league anywhere in the world until it split in 1992 when the twenty best clubs broke away to form the Premier league.
History
The football English league has enjoyed sponsorships from many quarters over the years. As a result the league has been referred to as Canon league, Barclay’s league, nationwide football league, Today league, Coca-cola football league and most recently in 2010 the npower football league. The English football league has its operations base at Preston, while the commercial base is located in London. The English football league consists of 72 football associations clubs both in Wales and England having begun with only 12 clubs at its inception by Aston Villa director William McGregor.
Features
The 72 member clubs of the English football league are divided in to three divisions namely, football league one, football league two and football league championships. Each of the divisions has 24 clubs and during any given season a club must play each other in the same division not less than two times. This is usually done on both home ground of a particular club and that of the opponents. When a club wins they gain 3 points while a draw attracts only one point, defeat does not win any point at all. At the end of a particular season a club with the highest number of points gets to move on to the next division, others with less points are demoted to lower divisions. Promotion and demotion is determined by final league positions, however in order to keep the interest alive in clubs a promotion from each club is decided according to play offs between four clubs. This makes it possible to have a club that finished fifth in the championships being promoted unlike clubs that finished immediately above them in the standings. The English football league organizes 2 knockout competitions; the football league trophy and the football league cup also known as Carling cup. Since the English football league was formed it has continually held competitions except during the World War 1 when the league was suspended but resumed in 1919. World War II also forced the league to be suspended for seven seasons.
Tips and comments
The English football league gets most of its revenue from sponsorships where different competitions have different sponsors. Another avenue through which the league gets funds is through television, from the 1980s there have been particular broadcasters who have rights to show the league matches. The arrival of satellite broadcaster, Sky TV with its huge following led to major changes of the scenario. The breakaway first division clubs which later established the FA Premier league signed a contract to have live coverage with Sky TV. As the English football league lost some of its best clubs the ability to negotiate lucrative broadcast deals was lost which left the league in much weaker position. In 2002 the fall of ITV Digital which helps the English football league rights cost the league huge losses in revenue.
