He’s spot on. A quick look on Wikipedia and read this about football in Holland:
The
Dutch football league system consists of two fully professional leagues (
Eredivisie and
Eerste Divisie), one semi-professional level (
Tweede Divisie) and seven levels of amateur football leagues, the highest of which is called
Derde Divisie, formerly Topklasse. All the leagues are connected by a
promotion and relegation system, but in order to be promoted to the
Eerste Divisie a club has to submit a solid business plan to be approved by the
Royal Dutch Football Association, as well as meet certain stadium demands, and some other demands that the football association stated for all the teams in the top two leagues. That way it was possible that the
IJsselmeervogels won the
2010–11 Topklasse, but was not promoted, because they did not want to be bound to these demands.
FC Osswas promoted instead. The Football Association obliges every team from the two fully professional leagues to contract 16 players full-time, in order to keep these leagues fully professional. In 2016 Tweede Divisie was reintroduced as a semi-professional level and placed between the Eerste Divisie and the Derde Divisie.
Surely its something we could and should implement in this country. 2 leagues of professional teams that meet a strict standard. Semi-pro below that, those that are willing to step up and meet the criteria can be promoted