I find the reputation-based system to measure club ability somewhat flawed. Given the proof found in these forums that reputation directly affects unplayable leagues, besides obviously affecting the quality of players a team can purchase, the affiliates it can get, etc.., I hereby have this suggestion for the SI team to consider.
Reputation would be maintained but a new stat would be introduced, called
Historical Reputation. That reputation would be a scale of how good the club has made it in the past.
What would be the use of this? Well, everyone agrees that a big club in the past is more prone to stage a comeback in the future. If, let's say, Chelsea folded and re-started in the lower leagues, it would be more likely it would get better sponsorships, or even be bought by some rich eastern european.
Obviously, you could say "but normal reputation already does that!", well, it doesn't. If a team consistently under-performs in FM, they end up without any reputation at all in the very end, and with minor chances of making a comeback, even if the club is a "classical giant". If a club goes down to a rep of 500, let's say, it would be immensely cool that, because of their historical rep, they'd nonetheless attract a fair amount of people interested in bringing them up again, this compared to other "500 clubs" that haven't achieved nothing great.
Feedback please!