'National League is League Three' - inside non-league's 3UP campaign

Picture the scene. Your team has amassed 96 points, finishing 13 clear of the nearest challengers, but doesn't win promotion. Instead, the club who finished 23 points and three places below you goes up.

That was the situation York City were faced with last season when they agonisingly missed out on promotion from the National League to the English Football League (EFL) after finishing as runners-up to champions Barnet.

Only first place wins automatic promotion from the National League, while the teams who finish between second and seventh compete in a play-off culminating in a final at Wembley to decide who else goes up.

The beauty of the play-offs some might argue as Oldham Athletic ultimately benefitted, but a result which prompted York's co-owner Julie-Anne Uggla to slam the current promotion system as "unjust" and "no longer fit for purpose".

It's just one of many reasons why non-league clubs are once again ramping up the pressure on the EFL to increase the number of promotion places into League Two from two to three.

More than 100 matches, including all 12 in the National League, will kick-off three minutes later than usual at 15:03 GMT on Saturday to bring the issue into the spotlight.

The 3UP campaign is also backed by the 48 National League North and South clubs, as well as the 208 teams across the Isthmian, Northern and Southern Premier Leagues.

Momentum for the campaign has gathered pace in recent weeks, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer commending the efforts, 60 MPs backing the idea and broadcaster Jeff Stelling joining as a National League ambassador.

Big names in English football have also given their support, including legendary manager Neil Warnock, who said "common sense" should prevail to allow an extra promotion spot and that it's "only fear" from EFL clubs preventing it from happening.

"They're worried about these teams, and quite rightly so, because a lot of these teams will hold their own," Warnock said.

He may have a valid point.

Recent history suggests that National League sides compete well after winning promotion.

Of the 19 clubs promoted in the past 10 seasons - Grimsby have gone up twice in that time - only four are not still in the EFL today: Forest Green Rovers, Sutton United, Hartlepool United and Macclesfield Town, who folded in 2020.

Meanwhile, four of the 15 teams still competing in the EFL are higher than League Two, with Lincoln City, Leyton Orient and Stockport County in League One, while Wrexham are in the Championship.

Forest Green boss Robbie Savage is an advocate of the 3UP campaign and hopes "it will come to fruition one day".

"If you can get out of this league, look at what can be achieved," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"Non-league has completely changed. The National League is a League Three. Most teams are professional.

"If you combined League Two and the National League, I'm sure there would be seven, eight, nine, 10 clubs who could compete in that, no doubt about it.

"There are some huge football clubs with huge fanbases and the financial capability of easily competing in League Two."

The EFL has so far resisted pressure to make any changes to the system and its stance has previously been that it wants to address the "competitive balance" of the pyramid as a whole.

But the National League argues there is no competitive imbalance between the divisions.

"We don't believe this should be the reason preventing progression on the matter," said National League chairman Jack Pearce.

"Since two promotions were introduced to the National League in 2003, no title-winning club has ever been relegated from the EFL the following season.

"And almost half the clubs currently in the EFL's three leagues have competed in the National League at one time or another."

Last season marked by far the biggest gap in points between the runners-up and play-off winners at 23, though there was an 11-point gap between Wrexham and Grimsby in 2022, nine between Tranmere and Forest Green in 2017, and nine between Forest Green and Grimsby in 2016.

Even Notts County, who racked up an astonishing 107 points only to finish as runners-up in 2022-23, were still made to sweat with a penalty shootout win over Chesterfield in the promotion final.

And it seems York certainly won't be the last to miss out with the top six teams in the table currently only separated by three points and all on pace for anywhere between a 92 and 106-point season.

One of which, ironically, is York again.

Uggla said in an open letter in the summer that waiting for change "only deepens the injustice" for clubs like York, who have "already paid the price for a system built on outdated assumptions".

"For clubs, fans, and the integrity of the English football pyramid, it is time to reward merit and restore credibility to the system," she added.

Recently appointed Sutton United head coach Chris Agutter has sympathy with York after he missed out on promotion from National League South with Worthing by a single point to Truro City last season before being "left to the mercy of the play-offs".

"You look at what York did last year and the fact that Oldham were closer to the relegation zone than York's points total but yet they go up," Agutter told BBC Radio London.

"That's part of the beauty of the play-off system but equally when you've been that good and consistent over the season, it's only right - especially when higher up the pyramid there is that same system - that it's mirrored right the way down the pyramid."

Leaders Carlisle United were relegated from League Two last season but boss Mark Hughes says it's "really important" for another promotion spot to be added to the fifth tier.

"I've come down into the National League and I've been really, really impressed with the quality here," he said.

"There are seven or eight really good teams that can more than hold their own."

Positive talks had reportedly been held between the two parties in 2023 about a third promotion place, according to National League vice-chairman Steve Thompson, but progress was complicated by the introduction of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR).

The National League agreed a deal worth £2.3m in total with the Premier League in "solidarity money", but the EFL is still yet to reach its own agreement with the Premier League.

The EFL has previously said it intended to wait for the situation to be resolved before any changes to the system could be considered.

Thompson claims an "awful lot" of EFL clubs have privately said they support the 3UP idea but "won't put their heads above the parapet".

"One of the things we're asking is for the EFL to ask their clubs," Thompson told BBC Sport.

"Put it to a meeting and let the League One and Two clubs discuss it. So far, the EFL has refused to put it out to debate with their clubs."

But the EFL insists 3UP "has been debated by the EFL board and clubs at regular intervals, most recently in the past few months".

An EFL spokesperson said: "The league has been consistent in its commitment to looking downwards as well as upwards in respect of proposed changes to the pyramid, which includes the matter of promotion and relegation between League Two and the National League.

"It is important to stress that this should not be treated as an isolated decision and instead requires careful and detailed consideration of the other related issues and regulations at play, as part of a wider dialogue and package of changes across the pyramid.

"It is an issue that remains under discussion."

Out of the 20 clubs relegated from League Two since 2015, eight have since won promotion back to the fourth tier - Barnet, Oldham, Grimsby, Notts County, Chesterfield, Leyton Orient, Cheltenham and Tranmere.

Clubs who have paid a heavier price are Dagenham & Redbridge, who were relegated to National League South last season after nine years in the National League, and Macclesfield Town - though the club was dissolved due to financial issues which began while still in League Two.

The Silkmen have since worked their way back to National League North after being re-established as the phoenix club Macclesfield FC.

"The counter-argument for the clubs coming down from the EFL is that the National League is a safety net," Thompson said.

"If you look back at some of the clubs that have been relegated over the years, they've been in real trouble.

"But the National League's been there, it's a well-run professional league and those clubs have been able to regroup and bounce back up.

"So the extra promotion place actually, I believe, will benefit EFL clubs because it'll be easier for them to bounce back up."

Thompson also fears that continuing to make it "so difficult" to get promoted to League Two will force some owners of National League clubs to walk away.

"That would be to the detriment of football," he said.

"If 3UP comes into play, it is widely expected that the second-placed team in the league would be automatically promoted, with the third space achievable via play-offs," the National League says.

"The exact mechanism is something the National League would consult on with its members."

It means it is not yet known how many teams would qualify for the play-offs, whether it would remain as six or be reduced to four, as is the format in the Championship and League One.

Thompson added that he remains "fairly hopeful" 3UP will eventually be implemented.

Quite when it will be introduced, however, still remains to be seen.

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