Abolishing Collusion and Establishing Pure Meritocracy Between Tiers
Following a notorious match-fixing scandal between Stoke and Burnley, the Football League abolished the flawed "Test Match" play-off system in favour of direct, automatic promotion and relegation.
In the 1898 Test Match series, Stoke and Burnley only needed a 0-0 draw in the final match for both to secure First Division status for the next season. The teams played out an infamous goalless farce with neither side attempting a shot on target, sparking outrage across the sporting world.
Burnley’s involvement in the 1898 scandal proved to be the catalyst for the modern promotion and relegation system that defined British football for the next century.
1898: Division One and Division Two were expanded to 18 clubs each, cementing automatic promotion and relegation as standard sporting law.
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