Whilst Britain was gripped by election fever last week, the Vanarama National League representatives had a different agenda on their mind as they voted to increase the number of teams involved in the end of season Play-offs from four to six.
Previously the second placed side in the division faced the team in fifth, and the side finished third played against the team in fourth over two legs followed by a Wembley final.
Now, under the new revamped system, there will now be a first round which will see the sides finishing fourth and seventh and fifth and sixth playing each in a one-off fixture with the highest placed teams gained home advantage.
In the next stage the winner of the fourth vs seventh encounter will play the side in second place and the fifth versus sixth winner would play the team in third in another single leg match, with the highest placed side once again enjoying the luxury of playing at home before a final at Wembley.
Under the old system every team entering the Play-offs had an equal chance of winning promotion, but under the new format all Play-off contenders have the incentive of trying to finish as high as possible in the National League table to secure the soon to be much coveted advantage of acting as hosts.
Your correspondent once wrote an article concerning proposed changes to the Football League Play-off for Gullsworld Magazine - the now defunct Official Magazine of Torquay United Football Club - which would have seen a similar change to the Football League Play-offs in 2003. Those proposals were rejected by the Football League Chairmen of the time - including the then Torquay United Chairman Mike Bateson, who described them as 'unnecessary and merely complicates a good system.'
One possible criticism of the new system would be that it opens up the possibility of a team finishing seventh winning promotion at the expense of whoever finished second in the table - a total of 20 points separated seventh placed Barrow (75) from National League runners-up Tranmere Rovers (95) this season.
However, it would be extremely difficult for a team in seventh to do this though as they would have to successfully negotiate two away games just order to reach the final itself, let alone win promotion.
Regardless of the new changes, it could be argued that the biggest criticism of the National League promotion system is that in practically any other league Tranmere would be assured promotion with a total of 95 points (although they would have still have finished second to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership).
A second automatic promotion remains a long-term ambition for the National League and an extended Play-off system could be key to the league achieving that goal - especially if it was to help convince Football League clubs that they would have a greater opportunity to win back a lost league status.
