CITY joint-chairman Mark Lawn has branded the Football League's proposals to introduce a fifth division to the competition as "ridiculous".

The League want to create four divisions of 20 teams below the Premier League in time for the 2019-20 season, increasing the number of professional clubs in England from 92 to 100.

But Lawn, who is hoping to see his club win promotion from League One in the coming weeks, is vehemently opposed to the plan.

"We've had this structure for years because it has suited the majority of clubs, so why change it?" he said.

"What they don't understand is that currently we have 23 home games. We need the crowds. We don't get the money Championship clubs get.

"Losing four home games means we lose four incomes. It's not so bad for us but for teams like Accrington and York, that's a lot of money. It's ridiculous."

Lawn said he had not heard about the League's plans for a radical shake-up until the announcement.

"They certainly haven't come out and consulted with all the clubs because this is the first I've heard about it," he said.

"If we were voting now, I'd be voting against it. The only reason I can think of is that, yet again, the Championship clubs want it."

Peterborough director of football Barry Fry said his club had not been notified of the governing body's intentions either.

He said: "I'm very surprised with all my contacts in the game that I didn't know about this already. Until I see the proposals and how it affects the clubs, I can't really comment further."

Accrington, as Lawn expected, are set to raise strong objections to the plan being implemented.

Club owner Andrew Holt said he saw no merit in the Football League's strategy and predicted it would be costly to Stanley.

He said: "I don't recognise it as a sensible plan. We want more games. We'd rather play 50 home games.

"We need revenue. We don't want to lose any games. I don't recognise it as having any sense.

"Our players will play as many games as we want. We pay them an annual salary; we want them to play games. We need the revenue. We certainly wouldn't want less games."

Holt added: "It's got to hurt us if we lose any revenue. I'm putting cash in to fill a black hole. If we have less matches and less revenue, I'll have to put more in and I'm not going to do that.

"If we're going to play 20 times a year, it's hardly worth having a stadium. I can't see any sense or any logic in the proposals.

"It's just not going to get our support. I need them coming up with better ideas where we can get more games on and generate more revenue for our clubs. These bottom clubs don't have a lot of revenue and we need to build it, not reduce it."