RYMAN Football League clubs have voted in favour of restructuring in order to keep the gateway to the Nationwide Conference and Football League alive.

At a meeting at Harrow Borough Football Club, the teams voted by a big majority to dismantle the current four division structure and replace it with a Premier Division, two regional first divisions and a second division.

The changes have come about as part of the Football Association's review and will come into effect at the start of the 2001/2002 season, subject to FA approval.

Under the proposals, the Premier Division in which Chesham United currently play, will be increased from its present 22 clubs to 24 while the first and second divisions will combine to form two regional first divisions, which will also include the top six finishers in this year's third division.

That's good news for Flackwell Heath, who are challenging near the top of Division Three this season.

The remaining third division clubs will go into a second division - which will eventually have equal parity with the three other feeder leagues to the Ryman League, leaving just one team with the chance of promotion each season.

Flackwell chairman Geoff Turner admits it will now be a mad scramble to finish in the top six.

He said: "It's vital we get in there. If we go up it will earn us a packet and save us a fortune in travelling expenses. Instead of travelling to Witham we will be playing derbies against Aylesbury, Oxford City and Marlow.

"If we miss out it will be fatal to us. We have got to finish in the top six this season. It is better to be minnows in a big league that it will be for us to be a big fish in a small pond."

Flackwell are hanging onto the vital sixth and last promotion slot in Division Three despite last week's 4-3 reversal at Dorking.

First Division pacesetters Thame United also voted in favour of restructuring.

They currently hold a nine-point lead at the top of Division One but, if as seems likely, and they go on to claim promotion they will face a battle royal to stay there with four clubs being relegated each season from the Premier Division.

Those four teams will be replaced by the winners and runners-up of the two regional first divisions.

If the bottom four don't all come from the same geographical regions as the promoted clubs the league will redraw the boundaries, with first division clubs in the middle of the map swapping between the east and west divisions to accommodate whoever comes down.

Marlow, in Division Two of the current system, have also welcomed the change although they have reservations.

Chairman Terry Staines said: "It means there are fewer steps to get to the Conference. Success can come quicker but it's also quicker to go down."