A Look at Non-League Football

Reading the Non-League Paper this morning there are a lot of promotions and relegations settled and we will be welcoming Lincoln City back to the English Football League. In the play-offs Tranmere, Forest Green, Dag & Red, and Aldershot are going to fight it out for the last remaining promotion spot into the EFL. Three of them but for Forest Green have football league experience.

Celebrating winning the Bog Standard league in front of a 100 so fans must bring just as much joy as winning the Premier League in front of thousands. Your football club is your football club no matter who you support.

There are three Welsh teams in the English non-league setup could be four next season if Newport County fail with the great escape with two games remaining. So I decided to check out how their season ended for the three.

In the National League, formerly the Conference National. Wrexham with one game left will finish the season mid table. It has been a disappointing season for them.

In the Evo-Stik NPL Division One North league, Colwyn Bay lost their final game but finish 15th in the league.

Merthyr Town have finish there league season but still have the play-offs and could still win themselves promotion.

Not a Welsh team but an old foe of Cardiff City Hereford won the Evo-Stik Southern Division One S&W in front of over 4000 fans having only lost one league game.

Barry Town (United) have been crowned champions and next season will be back in the Welsh Premier League again after a 13-year absence after all their troubles off the pitch. The new Barry Town have shown strong fortitude battling through the Welsh Leagues to reach this new high.

Remember Salford City ‘Class of 92’ named so because five former Manchester United players own 50% of the club Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs need a victory in their last game to guarantee a play-off promotion spot.

The could be away back to the play-offs for Salford City if they fail. Darlington who currently hold a play-off spot are banned from the play-offs because their ground does not have enough fan seating to reach “Category A” ground requirements. It is not just Darlington (who are appealing the decision) it is happing across non-league football.

Another non-league club I follow closely is Channel Island based Guernsey who have been fighting relegation for most of the season but they were lucky threes team were worse than they were.